Tips by Darren Rowse, summarized with permission.
A Picture is worth a Thousand Words!
A photograph has the ability to convey emotion, mood, narrative, ideas, and messages - all of which are important elements of story telling.
The Short Story
Some stories are long, but others are short. In photography terms, these short stories might be one or 2 images. Think of a newspaper article - one image has to capture the essence of the accompanying written story. Such shots must have something in them to grab the attention of the viewer.
Short stories photos are often shots that leave the viewer of the photograph wondering about what they are looking at - not because they don't understand it but because they intrigue and leave people curious for more. These single-image stories can be just as powerful because of what is missing rather than what is included in the shot.
Introduce Relationship - When you include more than one person in an image, you automatically give the viewer an idea of a relationship. How the people are postured, their facial expressions, etc. will give the viewer clues about the relationship between the subjects of the photo.
On the other hand, sometimes carefully framing a second person OUT of your shot can add to the story you are trying to tell.
For example: Focusing on a girl leaning against a guy, but with the guy's face outside the frame of the picture, can tell the story of "Girl (with boyfriend)". Or a picture of somebody animatedly talking to somebody who is outside the frame of the picture can build intrigue of what the story is that is being told, rather than putting the focus on the people involved in the conversation. Or taking a picture of one person sitting at a table with two glasses can build intrigue into the story behind the photo.
Think about Context - What is going on around your subject? What is in the background? What do the other elements of the photo say about your subject and what is going on in their lives?
The Multiple Image Story
Quite often, photographers make the amateur mistake of trying to fit every possible element of the story into a single picture. This can lead to cluttered, confusing photographs with too many focal points.
The best way to avoid this and still tell a good story with your images is to take a series of them. Common multiple-image stories are those of vacations and weddings, where there are several elements of the story, or they take place over a longer period of time.
