Six pro principles to capture successful stories with your landscape photos! With @darylswalker / "For my work, I look to include large vistas with intricate details. If you look at my carousel posts, they are often mini-stories documenting locations/trips/products, or even subject studies. In the case of this series, summer houses in the North. So what makes a successful story? I think it all depends on the subject, but you could follow these principles: 1) Identify your primary focus; a good story has a good character, but your character does not necessarily need to be a person. It can also be a product or a place. 2) If your character is a place, doing a good amount of research is always interesting. My process for location scouting is all part of the adventure. I will spend days or weeks on Google Earth, making custom maps, and marking all the spots I would like to hit on a trip or explore in my local area. I find getting to know the area makes exploring less stressful and helps maximize the amount of time available for shooting at each spot. I generally find locations via Instagram and will search for geotagged locations, and hashtags, or follow local photographers from the country before the trip. Do not forget Google, Pinterest, Behance, and Travel Blogs as valuable sources of location scouting. 4) Do not just focus on hero images; when building a story, focus on the wide context as well as the intricate details. This helps to add depth and purpose, as well as better connect the viewer with what you are trying to say. 5) Use different focal lengths; for example, you could use a wide-angle lens to make your subject feel small amongst the backdrop or you could use a telephoto lens to make the subject more powerful or prominent in an image compared with the backdrop. Lens selection would depend on the concept of the story and the feeling you wish to portray. 6) Close out with your starting point. For instance, when building a set of images, it is good to open with a similar photo to what you will close the set with, helping to tie the whole story together. And for you, what makes a successful story?" ✨