Use Diptychs to Tell a Story
If a picture is worth a thousands words, how much is a diptych (pronounced diptik) worth?
Train conductor walking to a Japanese Bullet train in Tokyo Station, Japan
Photography is about visual communication: sharing stories, ideas, and feelings through images. A diptych of two images, or parts of two images, is an impactful storytelling tool. Look for thematic, compositional, and other visual synergies that will make your diptychs more powerful than the sum of their parts.
Combine wide angle and telephoto shots
By using a zoom lens, or simply cropping a larger photo, you can combine two images that have different effective focal lengths. This can be used to complete the story and prevent the viewer from asking “what’s going on here,” like in this photo of my son collecting acorns in a park. And by the way, what is it with kids and acorns? I remember stuffing acorns into a plastic soda bottle and keeping them in my bedroom as a child…
Boy collecting acorns
This diptych from from an engagement shoot in Kyoto, Japan, tells a story by combining a “before” and “after” image.
Smartphone portrait
Think about your final aspect ratio
There are endless possibilities here. Factors to consider are how the images work together, as well as your final use for the diptych. If your image will be viewed on computer screen, a horizontal orientation will allow viewers to appreciate a large photo without scrolling. If you’re thinking about printing the photo, or showing it on a tablet or smartphone then this isn’t as much of an issue.
Here are a few diptych aspect ratio templates that I like. These are not hard and fast rules, just some ideas to get you started.
Two square images placed next to eachother
Two 2:3 aspect ratio portrait images placed next to eachother
Two 3:2 aspect ratio images placed one above the other.
A 5×7 image next to a 5×4 image places the division between the images almost exactly at the golden ratio line of the larger diptych.
I hope this article has given you a few new ideas for how to showcase your photos. Feel free to post a link to your diptychs in the comments.
I appreciate feedback, please comment below or feel free to connect with me through Facebook or Google+. I’ll do my best to answer questions and reply to comments.
32 Responses to “Use Diptychs to Tell a Story” - Add Yours
February 21st, 2013 at 1:46 am
Did you get the labelling of the last example the wrong way round?
February 21st, 2013 at 1:47 am
So simple, and yet so helpful. Thanks Mr. Weddington.
February 21st, 2013 at 1:50 am
Pete – can you clarify?
Juan – you’re welcome, thanks for commenting!
February 21st, 2013 at 1:58 am
Sorry, of course.
Isn’t the 5×7 outline the one on the right and 5×4 on the left?
I forgot to mention that I enjoyed the article too. Are you planning a similar article for tritypchs?
February 21st, 2013 at 2:04 am
Pete – thanks for clarifying. No, the 5×7 outline is the portrait orientation outline on the left. A similar article on triptychs is a great idea, thanks for the suggestion!
February 21st, 2013 at 2:10 am
For the two images to match like the diagram they must have an equal height. If one is 5×4 and the other is 5×7 the dimension they share is “5″ which is the height. The narrower one is 4 units wide (on the left) and the other one is 7 units wide (on the right).
The bullet train example shows them the other way round.
February 21st, 2013 at 2:15 am
Pete – ah, I understand. I’m only showing aspect ratio, not physical dimensions in inches or centimeters. Maybe I should have written 5:7 and 5:4. Images cropped to a 5 x 7 aspect ratio and 5 x 4 aspect ratio (but scaled differently) will fit together this way.
February 21st, 2013 at 2:40 am
Interesting idea and article, I used a diptych approach to combine two photos that were failures on their own but together they worked perfectly! I just kept looking at them and something connected, I used bi-tone coloring to put emphasis on what is going on in the photos. My client liked it a lot and I was happy with myself
http://www.piotrekziolkowski.com/carl-portrait-session-in-fremantle
February 21st, 2013 at 3:29 am
Great article and info. I like the idea of using a wide and a tight image t tell the story. Gonna have to try that out.
Here’s one of mine from a while back:
http://jeffejensen.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-shoes-new-shoes.html
February 21st, 2013 at 3:34 am
Piotrek – thanks for sharing, I agree that diptych works well. It took me a second to figure it out, then I thought “oh, he’s jumping!” It’s always nice to have that “aha” moment when looking at a photo.
Jeff – nice! I like your DIY light table, great idea!
February 21st, 2013 at 4:03 am
Very nice topic and well written! As someone that grew up reading comics, a picture sequence immediately suggests a story. I really appreciate your aspect ratio suggestions and your use of B&W to keep it powerful. Will try this out soon.
February 21st, 2013 at 5:59 am
Interesting article – food for thought! Look forward to one on the triptych format. I tried my hand (once) last year at creating one in LR4. See http://flic.kr/p/dsL8wH for the result…
February 21st, 2013 at 10:58 am
I didn’t know diptychs consisted of only two photos, googled it and there it was.
This one has 9 photos (used to “tell the story” of our move from Germany), what is this one called? Any photographic viewpoint (asthetic, compositional, etc) as to why one differs from the other?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lendog64/5872172168/
February 21st, 2013 at 1:39 pm
thanks for this article – this certainly adds another dimension into composition, whether in time or space or some other seemingly unrelated photo (until you put them together). For sure, it influences your photography session when you are out to create diptychs or triptychs rather than self-standing photos.
February 21st, 2013 at 5:03 pm
Thank you for sharing Mr. Weddington. I’m going to have to start implementing this in my photos.
February 21st, 2013 at 5:32 pm
I think choosing the aspect ratio of a photo frame must come into the first step, different aspect ratio will determine different composition. There are traditional rules of how to choose different frame aspect ratio and their meaning.. back in 1920s… by artist via math model.
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:15 am
Thanks for the size guide options. However I am a bit confused about the “gap” between the photos. Some photos look good with a small gap (like the ones you posted) and some with larger “white” or “black” gaps. I usually eyeball it when composing my diptychs in Photoshop. Any suggestions on how the spacing should be?
Here is one of my diptych: Its a diptych of the same photo but in different orientations, zero spacing. It lets us see how a chameleon would, sitting on a railway track (Hence The Chameleon’s Panorama!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djkj/4443218980/in/photostream
I usually do not have a lot of them, but after reading this article I will surely try more story telling diptych (or is the plural diptychs).
February 22nd, 2013 at 4:06 am
Thank you very much for your article! It gave me a new point of view on my pictures and great inspiration. I tried to two immediately. So here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90949112@N02/8494603889/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90949112@N02/8495702068/in/photostream/
I changed the mirroring of the two faces and it created different feeling. Feel free to write in comments which one you prefer!
Thanks!
February 22nd, 2013 at 6:03 am
I like working with diptych and sometimes Triptychs too:
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3183/2438874407_1c128b2631_z.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3191/2837485065_e18c0cd14c_z.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3184/2665553705_490d2b73cc_z.jpg?zz=1
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3006/2665554705_3e09f172a0_z.jpg?zz=1
February 22nd, 2013 at 9:20 am
Thanks for all the comments!
bobbyv – good point. I used to dig through my photos after the fact and try to find ones that I could combine. Or the idea would come to me as I was reviewing images after a shoot. Once I started thinking about diptychs more, I starting seeing opportunities while out shooting, which certainly made it easier to combine the photos later.
Keith M – thanks for sharing the Pony Pedicure shot, I’ve commented on the Flickr page.
Kartik – for me it’s a matter of personal preference. Usually I feel that a thin white line between the photos looks less confusing visually. In the case of your Chameleon’s Panorama, the image works well without any space.
Scottc – thanks for sharing the storytelling image. I don’t know what this is called, though I’m sure there’s a name for it. For lack of a better word, I’d probably call it a collage. It does tell the story of the move well.
Leo – thanks for sharing, I think my favorite is the triptych with the cherry blossoms.
February 22nd, 2013 at 11:19 am
As a scrapbooker I can see the potential for diptychs on a page to enchance the storytelling. I love yours Jason, the close ups make the story more meaningful and intimate and the wide angles set the scene. I’m really glad I discovered this site.
February 22nd, 2013 at 7:16 pm
http://marius-fotografie.blogspot.ro/2012/12/diptych.html
February 23rd, 2013 at 3:18 am
Very interesting….It’s always good to learn new things to keep pushing creative boundaries (and boredom at times)….With this newly gained knowledge of Diptychs, I will certainly look at exploring sights/concepts differently. Thanks for posting….
February 24th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Triptychs are also a classic.
But, what software should I use?
I think Gimp is overkill for such a simple task.
February 25th, 2013 at 4:24 am
Shaunna – a scrapbook would be a great application for diptychs. You could even do creative things like combine photos and other object. Like a the back of a postcard, and a photo, or a plane ticket and a postcard.
Shekar – thanks!
Robin – I use Photoshop, because that’s what I used to process my photos anyway. The Gimp is also fine. I’d say use whatever you normally use to edit your images. If you don’t have any image editing software, maybe you can find a simple too just for creating diptychs and triptychs.
February 25th, 2013 at 4:38 am
Thank you for the fast reply. And thank you for the nice article.
I use Gimp for fancy editing. Or Inkscape if I wanna do layouting stuff. But usually I stay in Lightroom. It’s enough for what I do day to day. That’s why I’d like a simple diptych/triptych software. Just do a couple of clicks and get it over with. Having to make a drawing pane, cut and paste here and there, it’s just too much time.
Maybe a follow-up article on how to do it?
February 25th, 2013 at 7:03 am
Thanks for the post! I’m quite fond of diptychs. I like to combine opposite concepts.
All the best!
i.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iban_g_g/6732706923/in/set-72157626054011844
February 25th, 2013 at 9:26 am
i think you guys & gals run an awesome website an its very useful, thank you very much!
February 27th, 2013 at 3:04 pm
I just learned how to create diptychs and triptychs at our local camera club last night. So today, I was messing around with some photos I took a couple of weeks ago in Chicago. And then I saw this in DPS. How timely!
http://flic.kr/p/dYcQcs
http://flic.kr/p/dY78xX
March 5th, 2013 at 4:35 pm
Very helpful tip. Thanks.
March 9th, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Thanks for a great article, a friend sent the link to me. I’ve been working with a friend to make diptychs based around a theme and put them on our blogs each Tuesday. The catch is I’m I’m the UK and she is in the USA. It’s been a really great way of inspiring us to take more photos.
Feel free to look if you have time, http://www.eviewinter.typepad.com
March 11th, 2013 at 8:41 am
I am so glad I read this article. After many months (or years?) I finally created one diptych and one tryptich too!
Here is the diptych which tells the story of a man who collects the neighborhood trash:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djkj/8534842384/in/photostream
And here is a triptych of a suicide scene which I came across on a trip to India
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djkj/8516721177/in/photostream
I think they do tell a story. Any suggestions or criticisms are welcome. Thanks again for this wonderful and unique article to awaken the ‘typtcher’ in many of us!
Leave a Reply