Capturing a moment can be as simple as pressing the shutter button or as complex as composing a shot to tell a story through the image itself. In journalism, allowing photos to tell a story alongside the text can be a powerful medium for expressing the visual story of an event. Some basic tips for storytelling through photos include utilizing emotion, shooting a sequence of photos, and making the audience relate or care about the event being depicted.

Utilizing emotion involves capturing a moment at the height of emotional response for the subject of the photo. Viewers can relate to the expressions made by subjects as a form of telling the emotional story of an event. At sporting events, shooting toward the crowd shortly after a point is scored or toward the scorer can yield emotionally-charged photographs. In student life or news photography, looking for peaks in emotion during the event or while with a student subject can yield storytelling photographs as well.

Shooting a sequence allows the photographer to capture a succession of shots that depict action unfolding or show a series of changes. These photographs are also very successful at telling stories when run together in a story.

Making the audience care is a subjective concept, but generally entails capturing a situation where the viewer can relate or “care about” the subject in the photo. Photographing an athlete and a coach in an emotionally-charged situation or another close relationship between subjects is one way to do this.

Storytelling in photography has the ability to heighten both the emotional response to photographs and build a stronger connection between the reader and the event described itself. While this effect is sometimes overlooked in journalism photography, by using emotion, shooting a sequence, or establishing a reason for the audience to care about the image, storytelling can become an integral part of any photographer’s images.