TIPS & TRICKSPhotograph Description

  • 1 colour photograph
  • About 1 minute
  • You speak on your own
  • Everyday scenes

You get one colour photograph and talk about it on your own for about a minute. Describe the people, the place and what's happening, so that someone who can't see it could picture it.

The photos show everyday scenes, like studying, shopping or doing sport. Nobody asks you questions while you speak, and the examiner stops you when the time is up, so keep talking.

Big picture first

Start with one sentence that sums up the photo: 'This photo shows some young people studying in a library.' Then move into the details. It gives your description a clear shape and helps the listener follow.

Follow a route

Move around the photo in a fixed order: the people, what they're doing and wearing, then the place and the background. Phrases like on the left, in the middle and behind them keep you organised.

Use the right tenses

Describe actions with the present continuous: she's writing, they're waiting for a bus. Use there is and there are for things you can see, and is wearing or has got for people.

Guess what you can't see

Don't stop at what's visible. Say how the people might be feeling or what might happen next: 'They look a bit tired, so maybe they've been studying all morning.' It fills the minute and shows more language.

Missing a word? Explain it

If you don't know a word, don't freeze. Describe it instead: 'It's a kind of box you carry your lunch in.' Examiners reward this skill, and a simple explanation is always better than silence.

Fill the whole minute

A minute is longer than it feels. If you run out of ideas, go back and add detail: colours, the weather, the time of day, what people are holding. Keep going until the examiner stops you.

Strategy

  1. 1Look at the whole photo for a moment and decide what it's mainly about.
  2. 2Open with one sentence that sums up the scene.
  3. 3Describe the people: who they are, what they're doing and what they're wearing.
  4. 4Describe the place, using phrases like in the background and on the right.
  5. 5Guess how the people feel or what might happen next, with maybe, might or I think.
  6. 6Explain any word you don't know rather than stopping.
  7. 7Keep going with extra details until the minute is up.

Useful language

Starting and organising

  • In this photo I can see ...
  • This picture shows ...
  • In the background, there's ...
  • On the left / right, there are ...
  • Next to / Behind him, ...

Describing people

  • She's wearing ...
  • He's holding / carrying ...
  • They look happy / tired / busy.
  • They seem to be ...
  • He's about twenty years old.

Guessing

  • Maybe they're ...
  • It looks like a ...
  • I think it might be ...
  • Perhaps they're going to ...
  • They're probably ...

Explaining a word you don't know

  • It's a kind of ...
  • It's something you use for ...
  • I don't know the word, but it's ...
  • It looks like a ..., but smaller.
Practise Photograph Description80 exams to practise. The first one is free.