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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Tips for Captions
Matt Dean, Student/Intern, Photographer
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West Palm Beach | FL | USA | Posted: 2:24 PM on 01.26.07 |
->> I was just curious if anyone had good tips on getting good detailed captions quickly and methods for recording them. For example do you use the voice recorder on your camera, do you write them down, do you make notes right after the image is made. And what are some of your methods to make sure you have all the information you neeed. I know to follow the Who, What, Where, When and Why, but how detailed do you need to get. I'm sure this depends on the assignment.
I've been getting a lot of call back on my captions, and I'm honestly trying to do a better job, but when I get the assignment, Ive been putting a lot more time on the pictures and not the info.
So, again I'd love to hear some methods you use to make sure you've got all the neccessary info. |
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Randy Janoski, Photographer
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Marc F. Henning, Photographer
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Bentonville | AR | USA | Posted: 3:06 PM on 01.26.07 |
->> matt,
i use a simple pad and pen and i try to gather as much information as possible as if i were writing a small story myself, whether it's to be used as a wild art photo or a news story. i look out, or listen i should say, for a good quote from my subject(s). some people don't like quotes, my opinion is they can really give a photo legs. sometimes a colorful quote along with a great wild art/feature photo can give the image more impact. the same goes for spot news photos. sometimes you're the only contact your paper will have with a person who been involved in a widespread event such as a disaster. this was the case with the recent ice storms affected my area. i had contact with people who had no power and no means to contact the outside world short of getting in their vehicles and driving into town. some of the quotes i took down while talking to these people gave the reader a more emotional attachment to the subjects.
also. details, details, details. if you're at a large event, for example, or an event that was expected to be large, get or count/estimate the number of people at the event. other examples....name of the song the band was playing, the final score of the game or a player's stats, how long the man/woman has been with the company, etc.
always be prepared to stop shooting and jot down notes when on assignment. it sucks to get back to the office and realize you forgot to get a fact or figure you really need to tie your cutline together.
marc |
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Francis Specker, Photographer
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Riverside | CA | USA | Posted: 3:42 PM on 01.26.07 |
| ->> One trick for captions is to use your camera to gather data. At a sporting event, take a picture of the roster. If the people have name tags, shoot that. Take a photo of a business card of the subject. Take photos of locations, street signs, anything to jog your memory later. If your camera has voice recording, use that too. |
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Jeremy Harmon, Photographer
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Salt Lake City | UT | USA | Posted: 8:05 PM on 01.26.07 |
| ->> In addition to what others have said, when I shoot sports I use the recorder in the camera to record a quick thing letting me know what just happened. For example I'' record myself saying "So and so picked up 8 yards for a first down." or "Touch down. Score is now blah to blah." If it's baseball I say "The paint is still drying." |
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G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 11:27 PM on 01.26.07 |
->> I'd say Marc "King o' the Reds" Henning pretty much nailed it; other posters also make great points. And J-Harm -- I'll be muttering your final phrase into every frame I shoot during baseball seasons to come. Ha!
Couple of things to add off the top of my head:
- Those built-in camera recorders are great. I'm still impressed with their sound quality, and it's obviously an arse-saver when gathering cutline info and the like on the fly. One thing to keep in mind, though: if you won't be archiving the frames with sound files, it won't do you much good. When possible, jot the pertinent info in a notebook or the like you can return to at a later date. I've been burned by this a number of times.
- When possible, get phone numbers. This seems weird, I know, and probably doesn't fit every situation (sports, quick features, etc.). But it's a simple enough question to ask, and may potentially come in real handy if you (or a copy editor) second guesses the the spelling of a subject or some other detail. I've found most subjects don't mind at all. When you tell them it's for the sake of clarity, they tend to comply happily.
- I think the folks down at the DMN have a pretty nifty way of über-verifying cutline info. When you walk up to hand in your proofs to an editor (after they've made their selects and you've done minor toning and captioning), they have you check spellings in your notebook to the ones on their proofs. Introducing the extra person is a great way to catch those all-to-easy-to-miss mistakes that fly by when you're on your own (flipping letters in a name, tricky spellings, etc). Obviously this won't work as is at every paper or in all situations, but you can try to personalize it.
- Lastly -- and this goes without saying -- if you're in the biz, you need an AP Stylebook ... that is, if work doesn't always supply one. It has a great section on captioning. Further, I highly, HIGHLY recommend Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style." It's a wonderful little book -- easy to read and pretty funny at times. I know some shooters don't always feel comfortable on the word side (grammar and style are tricky things), and this book really lays out the whole shebang in an intuitive (and fun!) way.
Amazon.com has used paperbacks at four and a quarter ...
http://tinyurl.com/2e3gyc
Cheers,
- g - |
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Ed J. Szalajeski, Photographer
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Portland | ME | USA | Posted: 11:46 PM on 01.26.07 |
->> One trick that saved me in the past, if you take notes, take a photograph of them (PhotoCopy..), just like you do (or should) of the lineup.
That way, if you do need to go back into your archive, you have the notes in digital form..
What I would give for "the paint were drying" evening in the middle of summer, instead of being minus 7..
ed |
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Greg Cooper, Photo Editor
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Ventura | CA | USA | Posted: 7:15 AM on 01.27.07 |
->> Another check-for-accuracy trick I use is when I'm writing down the subject's name in my notebook, I turn the notebook towards them and have them watch me write down the info. If they see a spelling error, they correct me.
I’ve never played with the on-camera audio recorder but would if I were still shooting daily. However, doesn’t the sound file sequence right next to the image so that when you are browsing the files in order, it’s adjacent?
Steve, thanks for the link about captions. It's a good resource to use while teaching my students about captions (we cover it extensively at Brooks from day one with our students) and I second the AP style guide. That’s what we teach out of to our students.
Good luck,
--Greg |
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Bob Markey, Photographer
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Royal Palm Beach | FL | US | Posted: 7:34 AM on 01.27.07 |
->> Ask your subjects how to spell their first and last names.
I mostly use the 1D's audio recorder function. It's a major time-saver. I just wish Canon would not force us to hold our fingers on the button to keep the recording going, and eliminate the 30-second maximum recording time. |
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Rick Burnham, Photographer
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Enfield | CT | USA | Posted: 11:17 AM on 01.27.07 |
| ->> Bob Markey makes a good point about having the subject spell their first and last names. TV news is great for this before they interview someone they start with state your name and spell it, where are you from, whats your title, etc. With your voice recorder on the camera you'll have it all. |
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Davis Archibald, Student/Intern, Photographer
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North Logan | UT | USA | Posted: 3:07 PM on 01.27.07 |
| ->> I'm also a student and am not sure about captions either. This has been a great thread for me. But one thing I'm not so sure about is how to get the caption in the first place. Do you ask before or after the picture is taken? What about in situations where you have a few people in the picture but you can only find one of them? Again this a great thread! |
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Bob Markey, Photographer
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Royal Palm Beach | FL | US | Posted: 8:31 AM on 01.28.07 |
->> Shoot first.
But you've got to keep an eye on the group (herding them if necessary), and if you're lucky, the reporter will be there to help with IDs and keeping them from slipping into the crowd.
If you lose a person or two, note their detailed descriptions and try to catch them later.
I was once an editor and would just "love" it when the subject's name would appear spelled differently by the writer and shooter. |
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G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 12:44 PM on 01.28.07 |
->> Furthering Bob's point ...
It is great to work with a reporter and make sure you're on the same page with ID's, facts, etc. Editors at my paper are big fans of "synergy" (people in photos also being mentioned in the copy) -- it's a good thing when it's NOT forced -- so, when working with a reporter, I'll check in now and then with he or she and let them know who I've talked to; vice-versa.
BUT ...
Don't rely on the reporter to get your information for you. That's a recipe for disaster. Personal experience here; have hated it when it's happened to me, been burned by it a couple of times.
Be your own journalist. Ask your own questions. Get your own info. Sometimes you'll be surprised -- the subject may tell you something they didn't (or forgot to) tell the reporter. You can share the info, everyone goes home happy.
(Bob wasn't saying anything differently ... just thought I'd clarify).
One more tip (one I wish I'd follow more often!): If you do have a whole bunch of different photo subjects at a gig, take the time to archive ALL their names with the IPTC info in PhotoMechanic or the like. Put them in order they were shot, and/or use clothing, etc. to help ID. As in ...
Photos from 4th annual Rubber Chicken Parade. Subjects are: Michael Bolton (stripe shirt); Howard the Duck (talking duck); Parker Eshelman (long, greasy hair); Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (big pink hat); G. Joseph McCarthy (balding guy with mustard bottle); etc ...
It's a pain, extra step, no fun. But, in the off-hand chance you later need that info ... well, it sure beats digging through dust bunnies for that particular notepad.
- g - |
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Evan Parker, Photographer
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Valparaiso | IN | USA | Posted: 1:18 PM on 01.28.07 |
->> One thing to remember when using the voice recorder and Photo Mechanic. When copying files from PM to another destination, remember to check the "Copy WAV Files" box or you will copy only the image files. Leaving behind you recording.
I have been burned on this after ingesting the entire contents of a shoot, then copying an edit to a client. W
..ev |
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Tom Sperduto, Photographer
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Piscataway | NJ | USA | Posted: 2:06 PM on 01.28.07 |
->> A few things that have helped me greatly with captions.
Using the voice recorder on my camera to tag names. If there is going to be a lot of them, I'll shoot a quick headshot of each person and add the name spelling out each letter on the recorder. i find that if I do this slowly, I don't jump back and forth between PM and PS to much.
I did corrupt a card once, and lost all names. Nothing works better than a pen and a reporters notebook. But, for the sake of time I find a person who has names and get a phone number in case of emergency.
Another thing that has helped a lot with captions is saving the MetaData Template for each assignment in PS. This saves time and a lot of times the info is similar, especially for sports captions.
Also, AP stylebook is a must and reading good captions on Yahoo News Photos helps you get in the flow of writing good consistent captions. |
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