Photostory Layouts

Photostory Layouts 

When creating a photo story, not only do you want the images to be visually appealing, but it needs to make sense to the viewer as well. In order to do this, there are certain techniques to follow. These include: 

-Use only five to six photos; too many are distracting. 
-Avoid cliches; you want to create an original story. 
-Arrange the photos by ideas rather than chronologically.  
-Have one large, dominant photo to lead the story. 
-Keep the white space between the images consistent. 

If you follow these simple "rules", then you will be able to create an effective photostory that is easy to follow and is visually appealing to your audience! 


Poor Layout:  

I chose "Blood, sweat and gears" as my example for how not to do a layout. Overall, the photostory is very confusing. Although the number of images is okay and meets one of the "rules", they are all very large, which is distracting. There should be one photo that is distinctly larger than the rest in order to draw the viewer's eye to first to direct the story. There should also be captions directly under the images to further explain what is going on and to give reason as to why these specific images were used to portray the story. As I was looking at this photostory, I had no idea where to begin and I just kept looking from image to image in an attempt to piece the story together. A photostory should not be that complicated, and it should be clear what it is about. 

Good Layout: 

 

I chose "Paul's Last Days" as my example of a good layout. There is one image that is clearly larger than the rest, which directs the viewer's attention to first. This image is also powerful because it captures the entire meaning behind the story. It is emotional and shows the interaction between two people, portraying the concept that these are the man's final moments of life. There are also a good number of images and they are easy to follow, and the captions are directly under the images which clearly explain the story. The text is kept all to one side away from the images, which also creates a visually appealing photostory since it is not distracting. The only thing I would change about this example is that the title is barely visible. However, in the article about photostories, it stated that this example was a continuation of a story from a previous page and that is why the title is missing. So if this were the front page of the story, I would simply make the title large enough to see and above the text on the right in order to keep it orderly.