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

Aesthetic: The beauty of an image is built on specific aspects such as ...

• Framing and viewpoint
• Background
• Visual impact
• Authenticity and/or use of manipulative techniques

Content: An image can trigger a story. Therefore the content needs to contain

• 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.”

Overall: now step back and judge on your general impression ...

• Originality
• Style
• Photographic vision
•  Context
• Empathy
• Insight
• Validity

 PS: This checklist was inspired by the Photographic Judging Criteria List of CCJ Judges.