A visual communicator can tell a story in many ways.
Theses modes include:
- Storytelling in a single photograph with caption
- Storytelling in 8 to 12 pictures
- Multiple still pictures with synchronized soundtrack of natural sound
- Video with edited shots
- Combination of video and still photos in a video format
Photojournalists are often called on to tell a story in a single picture. This is often the case with press services such as Associated Press or with local spot news. Space is always limited in print so single pictures that can tell the story are highly desirable.
A number of pictures on a single topic can often tell a more complete and enhanced story. Some of the pictures capture critical moments of interaction. Others provide context and detail for better understanding of what the visual story is about.
Adding a synchronized soundtrack really adds emotion to whatever emotion the photographs already carry. Carefully recorded sound can really make the pictures come alive. Some of the best recent enhancements to the tools of storytelling are inexpensive digital audio recorders and microphones that enable visual storytellers to capture both pictures and sound at the same time. It adds time to the editing process but the end product is worth the effort.
Video is a medium that has strong storytelling potential especially when motion is an important element in the story. Video editing has its own language and conventions, which when learned, can produce powerful stories. These stories require more than turning the camera on and following the action. The basics of video and film conventions must be learned as well as how to edit and juxtapose shots.
Still photographers who have learned video often combine the two in a single story. This can be a powerful combination because a still photograph within a video provides an opportunity to study a great picture and learn more from it than is possible if it were a fluid moving image.
This website will provide examples of all of these forms to help get your creative juices flowing.