How to Make Your Own Photo Story Book
- 1
Keep only the best shots.the mountains image by Roterplatz from Fotolia.com
Sort your photos into two piles: those that are in focus and those that are not. Discard the out-of focus shots unless they are the only photo you have of that person, place or event. Be brutally honest with yourself and do not look back once you trash the bad ones. - 2). Sort the remaining photos into two new piles: those with dates and those without.
- 3). Examine the "without dates," photos. Guess at an approximate date the photo was taken. Use whatever clues you can find in the photo that might help you. For example, if you know that you repainted your living room three years ago and bought a new recliner in August of that year, a photo with that recliner in it would be three years old or less. If your son dyed his hair for Homecoming that year and it is anything but his natural color, the photo was taken sometime between late September and late November. If your newest grandchild, born three days after Thanksgiving is in the photo, but there are no Christmas decorations in the background, you have fixed a working date.
- 4). Arrange the undated photos as close to chronologically as you can. Put the dated photos in order and merge the two piles. Have other family members look through the piles and adjust the positions of the undated photos.
- 5). Look at each photo in the merged pile one at a time. Pull photos of a single event into a separate pile. Pull photos that show similar scenes and events over time into other piles. Group photos by range of emotion as well as by action. Freelance photographer Jerry Walch states, "The individual photographs in a photo essay may have individual captions, but the average person would be able to grasp what is going on in a good photo essay without reading (them) (Reference 1)."
- 6). Examine the photos in one new pile at a time. Pull out any duplicate or near-duplicate photos.
- 7). Keep the photos with the best focus, most typical facial expressions and most interesting framing. Crop photos as needed to improve the framing. Professional photographer Andre Gunther places cluttered images at the top of his list of the ten worst amateur photography mistakes (Reference 2). Cut away the white ceiling above Uncle Joe's head but leave the boutonniere that had been carefully crafted by your cousin Isabelle for your daughter's wedding.
- 8). Make captions for each photo that state what is happening and why, not just who is in the picture and where it was taken. Print captions on slips of acid-free paper rather than directly on the photo.
- 9). Place the photos you selected for your story into acid-free photo sleeves in an album or binder. Attach labels to the outside of the sleeves, not the inside.
- 10
Embellish around each photo as desired, on the outside of the sleeves. Make copies of your photo stories to use as gifts.
