27 CRITERIAS TO IDENTIFY STRONG IMAGES
Everyone
talks about Visual Storytelling today. And nearly everyone says that an image
is more than a 1,000 words. But is this really true? Not every image tells a
story, right? So, why are some images stronger than others? How do
photographers look at photos and what do they judge on, when it comes to find
the best shot? This
checklist – with 27 criterias - can help you to start a conversation on the
images you may look at and find out whether they are strong enough to tell a
story:
Technology: Each image uses specific technology
and techniques to tell a story. Watch out for their ...
- Exposed focus
- Depth of field
- Use of colour
- Insertion of Contrast
- Emphasis of Lighting
- Framing and viewpoint
- Background
- Visual impact
- Authenticity and/or use of manipulative techniques
- Information
- Emotion, Mood & Feeling
- Denotative and connotative content (symbolism, metaphor)
- Meaning
- Capturing a “momentum”
- Relevance
Viewers Response: Which reaction does the image
provokes (Visual, aesthetic, intellectual, emotional, excitement,
interest). Is this image an …
- Eye-Catcher: “Wow! OMG, what happened here?”
- Exe-Candy: “Wow! So beautiful!”
- Bullet: “Thank you. This image explains everything.”
- Door-Opener: “Lovely daydream! This image invites me to get lost.”
- Zeitgeist: “Aha – got that. This remindes me about …”
- Meme-Hijacker: “Great! That´s hot now and you jumped on this too.”
- Originality
- Style
- Photographic vision
- Context
- Empathy
- Insight
- Validity