How to Describe a Picture

Describing a picture is useful in many English exams. It’s also a good way to practise your general English skills. Let’s learn how to describe a picture in English.

Exam in Mind Level A2/B1/B2

Describing a Picture

To start your description summarize what you see:

  • The picture shows …
  • In this picture I can see …
  • There is … in this picture.

Then talk about where things are in the picture giving detail:

  • On the right/left there are …
  • In the left-hand/right-hand corner …
  • In the foreground/background there is a …
  • There are … in the background.
  • In the bottom left/right part of the picture there is a …
  • There are … in the top part of the picture.
  • At the bottom / At the top …
  • In the centre/In the middle …

Next, you should start describing your picture in more detail:

  • The people in the picture are …
  • The people in the picture look happy/unhappy/irritated/excited/tired because …
  • The people in the picture seem sad because …
  • The general atmosphere in the picture is positive because …
  • The picture was taken in …
  • The weather in the picture is …
  • The atmosphere in the picture is depressing because …

Speculating about the situation and the context of the picture (what you can and cannot see).

Speculating means talking about possibilities.

  • It may be …
  • The photo may be taken somewhere in …
  • They could be …
  • Perhaps …
  • It is probably …
  • Another idea is that …
  • It is also possible that …
  • It seems to me that the people in the picture …
  • I get the impression that the people are not very happy here …
  • They don’t seem to be enjoying themselves.
  • She/He is probably feeling nervous/excited/angry/bored/calm/relaxed/scared/shocked
  • Judging by his/her impression, I’d say he/she is happy.
  • To me, they look as if they’re feeling …
  • I expect they’re feeling excited, but maybe a bit nervous.

Express your opinion describing a picture

  • I think that …
  • It’s quite obvious that …
  • The situation in the picture is unusual because …
  • I don’t think this situation is very common, because …
  • In my opinion …
  • It seems to me that …
  • On the one hand / On the other hand …
  • All in all …
  • I wouldn’t feel comfortable in this situation …
  • I would love to be there!
  • Personally, I’d prefer …
  • I’d rather …

Comparing and contrasting

  • Both photos show …
  • In both pictures the people are …
  • One similarity is that …
  • What both these pictures have in common is …
  • The common theme in the photos is …
  • You can see … in both photos.
  • In both photos there are …
  • However, there are also some differences between the pictures.
  • The picture on the left is more … than the other one.
  • The first photos shows …, whereas the second photos shows …
  • In the first photo …, but in the second photo …
  • Unlike the first photo, the second photo shows …
  • The situation shown in picture A is more … than the situation in picture B.
  • The people in the first picture are less … than the people in the other one.
  • This man looks … while the other one is rather …
  • The main difference is that …
  • One obvious difference is (that) …
  • Another important difference is that …
  • In contrast, …
  • In contrast to the first photo, the second photo …

Here are some samples of describing a picture:

In the picture, there are two people sitting at a table, looking unhappy. There’s a woman on the left and a man on the right. In the middle of the picture, we can see some things on the table, like cups of tea, biscuits, milk and so on. The two people look sad or irritated, and they aren’t speaking to each other. They’re both looking down at the table. I suppose they had a fight and now they aren’t talking to each other, or they might just be bored and not have anything to talk about. I guess it’s a stock photo because otherwise, why would the photographer be in the kitchen with them?

The picture shows umbrellas hanging in the air. In the foreground, we can see a streetlight, and the umbrellas fill the picture from left to right. The umbrellas are of many different colours, mostly bright colours like pink, yellow or green. They’re hanging from wires. I can see at least four lines of umbrellas hanging down in this way, but there could be even more. Maybe this is some sort of art project. It might also be a festival or tradition, that people decorate the street with colourful umbrellas like this. I suppose the picture was taken in a city or town, though I can’t tell where exactly. Perhaps the photographer was a tourist, and was just walking around the city when he saw this amazing and strange scene.

The photo shows five people in a dinghy. They’re white-water rafting on a river. In the top left corner of the photo, there is a man leaning out of the boat. In the foreground, there’s a lot of water. The man at the back of the dinghy is trying to guide the dinghy with his paddle. The other four people aren’t helping very much. It looks as if they’re new to it. They’re all wearing the same life jackets and helmets. I imagine they’re doing this as a holiday activity. I think the people are enjoying themselves. Basically, you can see it in their faces. They don’t look scared at all. They’re smiling and they seem really excited. To be honest, I wouldn’t like to try this because I think I’d be really scared. For me, the worst thing would be that I couldn’t stop or get out of the dinghy.

Source: https://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/describe-pictures