Photography Merit Badge
Eight requirements, and the one that shapes everything is requirement 7: it names requirements 4, 5 and 6 by number in order to forbid reusing their photographs. That makes this badge fifteen to nineteen distinct images rather than the handful it looks like, and the badge never says so. Requirement 7 also hides an approval in the middle, on the plan and before the shooting, and requirement 4 is simply requirement 2 demonstrated with a camera.
The plan behind this
How many photographs this badge actually needs
The badge never adds them up. It should, because the total decides how you shoot.
| requirement | photographs |
|---|---|
| 4 | Four. You do two of its four options, and each option is one subject photographed two ways |
| 5 | Three. Three subjects from a list of six |
| 6 | None new. It says select a photo you have taken, so one of the seven above will do |
| 7 | Eight to twelve, and none of them may be any of the above |
Fifteen to nineteen distinct photographs.
The trap is not the number, it is the order. A Scout who shoots one strong afternoon, picks the best frames for requirements 4 and 5, and then arrives at requirement 7 finds that the best images they own have been spent. Requirement 7 is the largest single body of work on the badge and it must be shot from scratch.
So plan requirement 7 first, or at least alongside. Decide the event or topic early, because everything else can be photographed on any afternoon and the photo story cannot.
What requirement 7 actually says
Using images other than those created for requirements 4, 5, and 6, produce a visual story to document an event to photograph OR choose a topic that interests you to photograph.
Note what kind of sentence that is. It names three requirements by number, which normally means "bring that forward". Here it means the opposite: those images are spent and may not appear in your photo story.
This plan draws no arrow for it, because there is no arrow that says "must not share material with". The badge's own numbering already runs 4 to 5 to 6 to 7, and the exclusion is carried as a label on that link and as warnings where a reader can act on it.
Requirement 7 has an approval in the middle of it
| what happens | |
|---|---|
| 7(a) | you plan the images your photo story needs |
| 7(b) | you share that plan with your counselor and get their input and approval before you proceed |
| 7(c) | you shoot, then select eight to twelve images, order them, and present them |
The approval is on the plan, and it comes before the shooting. A photo story shot over a weekend and shown to a counselor afterwards has missed this, and there is no way to approve a plan for work that is already finished.
It is also the most useful conversation on the badge. A counselor who sees the plan can tell you that eight images will not carry the story you have chosen, or that the event you picked happens indoors in poor light, while there is still time to change it.
Requirement 4 is requirement 2 with a camera in your hand
Nothing in the badge points this out, and it decides which two options to pick.
| requirement 4 option | the term it demonstrates |
|---|---|
| 4(a) one subject from two angles or perspectives | 2(e) angle of view |
| 4(b) one subject under two light sources | 2(a) light |
| 4(c) one subject at two depths of field | 2(c) depth of field |
| 4(d) one subject with two compositional techniques | 2(d) composition |
Four options, four terms, one to one. Choose the two terms you understood best in requirement 2, because requirement 4 is where you have to show you meant it.
Three of requirement 2's seven terms are not in that menu: 2(b) exposure, 2(f) stop action and blur motion, and 2(g) the decisive moment. The last two get their outing in requirement 5 instead, where 5(c) asks for an action shot.
Requirement 6 opens with a job, not a heading
Describe how software allows you to enhance your photograph after it is taken. Select a photo you have taken, then do ONE of the following.
The description is compulsory and it is not one of the three options. It is easy to miss because the eye goes to the lettered list.
The three options themselves are small, and one of them is open-ended: 6(c) is any other way you could improve the picture for impact, which means you may do something more interesting than a crop if you want to.
6 costs no new photographs, because it asks only for a photo you have already taken. Take that literally and it is the cheapest requirement on the badge. Remember, though, that whichever photo you use here is then spent for requirement 7 as well.
The two ways to present a photo story are not the same size
| route | what it costs |
|---|---|
| prints mounted on a poster board | Ordering or making eight to twelve prints, plus board and mounting. Days of lead time, and money |
| an electronic presentation | An evening, and nothing to order |
Both satisfy 7(c) completely. If you want the printed version, order the prints when the selection is made rather than the week you meet your counselor.
The safety video is not only this badge's
Requirement 1(b) is the Personal Safety Awareness "Digital Safety" video, viewed with your parent or guardian's permission.
Five merit badges in the current requirements require that same video. On four of them, including this one, it is a lettered or numbered requirement in identical words: Photography 1(b), Cybersecurity 1(a), Programming 1(a) and Digital Technology 1. On Competitive Gaming it appears as a note inside requirement 2.
Whether viewing it once can satisfy more than one badge is your counselor's decision and not one this page will make. It is worth raising rather than discovering.
The Photography merit badge, drawn so the image budget and the mid-requirement approval are visible before you start shooting. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year.
Sources for this page
- Photography Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-07-22 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .