The main motivation for my photography has been to describe and share my experiences. I believe this sentiment is common among photographers. Yet sometimes, it leads to obsession over capturing the one “great image” of a scene – when the best way to tell a story can be through a series of images instead.
Certainly, capturing a complete story in a single image is a significant achievement. However, when striving for the perfect single shot, I often find myself endlessly iterating the same concept or photo, particularly when I haven’t fully developed my central idea. The day can go by without really deciding what you want your photo to say.
On the other hand, I find that creating a series of photographs is a more intriguing and even beneficial approach to photography. It allows for a broader, more comprehensive mindset while taking pictures. We must alter our perspectives more often and capture a variety of images that are distinct, yet complementary, in order to weave together a clear narrative.
The theme of this article is why and how to broaden the scope of your photography, transitioning from the pursuit of a single great image to creating a small series of images instead. As someone who loves to photograph wildlife and show their lives through my photographs, this approach is always at the back of my mind. But today, I will demonstrate it using a series of landscape photos instead, where my main focus was on capturing the area around the Dardagna Creek in the Apennines, Italy.
Table of Contents
Why Do a Photo Series?
As I said in the introduction, a photo series is a good way to convey a clearer narrative with your photography. You are practically forced to think about what story you’re trying to tell and how each photo contributes to the theme.
Furthermore, when you aim to convey a story through photography, it is easier to surpass ordinary and cliché viewpoints. In wildlife photography, it prompts us to go beyond basic portraits and explore different scenarios and subjects. In landscape photography, it turns us away from the obvious shot and asks us to engage a little more with the scene in front of us.
In short, making a photo series becomes an exercise to motivate us and broaden our approach to photography. We don’t get locked into a thoughtless image, but instead, experience the world from a wider range of perspectives and possible shots. And when you do create a good photo series, it may have a greater impact than a single photo could.
Planning
Maybe that all sounds good, but how do you do it? What goes into a successful photo story? It begins with planning.
Before heading out to take photos, I start by thinking about what I want to capture. In this case, I wanted to photograph the waterfalls of the Dardagna Creek. I then brainstorm different aspects I want to capture. Here, it was the path leading to the waterfalls, the hues of the early autumn forest, and of course, the swirling water itself.
Your imagination is the only limit you have. Try to think of at least ten different, yet complementary photo ideas for your story. The first few ideas may be easy, and then they’ll get increasingly difficult, but that’s what creativity feels like. Feel free to take inspiration from other photographers and work that you admire. I also suggest carrying a notebook along with you while taking pictures and writing down ideas as they come to you.
I don’t just use a notebook for taking notes, but also to remind myself of many different things. After writing down all of my ideas for the photo series, I can refer back to the list and ensure I don’t just focus on the most obvious or spectacular scenes when I’m taking pictures. I will also write down a list of what equipment I’ll need for different images in the series. In this case, that included a tripod for long shutter speeds, a neutral density filter to adjust shutter speeds, and a polarizing filter to reduce reflections on rocks and leaves.
Planning is at the heart of a good photo story. Make sure that you give yourself the right opportunities and the equipment to capture your series effectively.
Variety and Originality
I have already discussed the importance of planning, but there’s more to it. Instead of striving for the one perfect image, aim to capture a variety of different and complementary images. This approach will naturally lead you to experiment with different ways of shooting the subject.
For example, when capturing this landscape, I found myself focusing on various subjects such as plants, the forest, the path, the river, and the waterfalls. It gave me a lot more variety than just taking a hundred photos of the waterfall. Also, you should consider using different focal lengths and tripod heights so that each photo contributes something a little different to the set.
This approach – variety and originality – benefits the viewers as well. It allows you to present them with a diverse range of images and keep them interested in what comes next. If done well, this will result in a more engaging collection of photos and more depth to the story that you’ve captured.
Emotional Impact
No matter how technically perfect the images are, they must also have an emotional impact on your viewers. This impact is evoked with strong individual images, but especially considering the theme of this article, it is also achieved by layering the meaning across the series.
Emotions come in many forms in photography. One of my favorites is color. Your use of color – by choosing different subjects, lighting conditions, white balance, and more – can accentuate the emotions of your photo series. When you want to create emotions with photographs, think about the colors, their variety and uniformity, and the composition of your photos.
Think of It as a Series
Remember, a good story, whether it’s told through words or images, should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. When creating a series of images, aim to arrange them in a meaningful way. It could be a chronological order, or an arrangement with good visual rhythm. This process can also help you identify and eliminate images that are too similar and don’t contribute to your story.
In the case of the photos through this article, it is arranged to take you closer and closer to the waterfall in each image.
Conclusion
By following the guiding principles above, you should be able to plan, organize, and create a meaningful photo series. Taking the viewer along the imaginary path defined by your narrative project, even when dealing with a simple theme, is an exciting thing. If, as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” then a well-made series is worth much more!
I hope you enjoyed this article and found my tips on making a photo series to be helpful. If you’ve tried this technique or have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments section below.