The Shot List

Today’s homework asks you to think about the order of the images in your photo essay: what kind of image should come first? What does that first image do? What does the last image do? What other tasks should be accomplished in between?

This brief primer provides a list of key shots you may want to include in your photo essay:

• The Establishing Shot—the reader’s introduction to your topic
• The Signature Photo—an image that summarizes your take on the issue
• The Clincher—the photo that ends the story

The primer also includes several other important types of image (Close-Up, Portrait, etc.), but these three play a vital, structural role in a photo essay. For homework, identify from your image collection a photograph that might play one of those roles in your project and post it below.