Requirement
7. A visual story, from images you have not used yet
Required Often forgotten
THE LARGEST PIECE OF WORK ON THE BADGE. Eight to twelve images, none of which may be any photograph made for requirements 4, 5 or 6. An event you document, or a topic that interests you. Plan this first: everything else can be shot on any afternoon.
Notes and warnings
Warning. THIS IS FIFTEEN TO NINETEEN PHOTOGRAPHS IN TOTAL, AND THE BADGE NEVER ADDS THEM UP. Requirement 4 is four images: two options, each photographing one subject two ways. Requirement 5 is three more. Requirement 6 needs no new image, because it uses a photo you have already taken. Then this requirement wants eight to twelve, and none of them may be any of the ones above. The trap is not the total, it is the order. Shoot a good afternoon, spend your best frames on requirements 4 and 5, and you arrive here to find the strongest images you own are the ones you may not use. PLAN THIS REQUIREMENT FIRST, or at least alongside the others. Everything else on this badge can be photographed on any afternoon; the photo story needs an event or a topic decided in advance, a plan, and your counselor's approval before you shoot any of it.
What this is made of
Where this step comes from
- Photography Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-07-22), Requirement 7 · The requirement states that the images used must be other than those created for requirements 4, 5 and 6.