Long Form Caption Example

Photograph Stephenie Hollyman, Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved

With the 8-11 and higher megapixel cameras such as Canon's D-20 and the even better D-5 available light photography without a tripod is now possible in some of the lowest light situations. Stabilizers on the lens allow exposures as long as 1/20 of a second. The larger CMOS CCD's allow shots to be taken at 1600 with less noise, such as this other photo taken in Tanzania.

This was taken while I traveled for two months last Spring with WHO assistance to document malaria for my multimedia project called " Fever Zone." In Ward One in the National Hospital in Dar es Salaamm Tanzania, beds were crammed with children of malaria along with their mothers. The last thing nurses tending IV drips needed was a photographer equipped with a video camera who was also taking photographs.

I took this shot at perhaps 1/20 second, handheld, using a stabilized lens. So I pushed the ASA to 1600 and began shooting, trying to find whatever available light available to help frame my shots. The shots aren't artful but they do tell the story. WHO is using them even as we speak.

You can read more about these remarkable lenses NY Times Article on Stabilized Lenses here.

Digital Low Light Photography

Photograph Stephenie Hollyman, Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved

With the 8-11 and higher megapixel cameras such as Canon's D-20 and the even better D-5 available light photography without a tripod is now possible in some of the lowest light situations. Stabilizers on the lens allow exposures as long as 1/20 of a second. The larger CMOS CCD's allow shots to be taken at 1600 with less noise, such as this other photo taken in Tanzania.

This was taken while I traveled for two months last Spring with WHO assistance to document malaria for my multimedia project called " Fever Zone." In Ward One in the National Hospital in Dar es Salaamm Tanzania, beds were crammed with children of malaria along with their mothers. The last thing nurses tending IV drips needed was a photographer equipped with a video camera who was also taking photographs.

I took this shot at perhaps 1/20 second, handheld, using a stabilized lens. So I pushed the ASA to 1600 and began shooting, trying to find whatever available light available to help frame my shots. The shots aren't artful but they do tell the story. WHO is using them even as we speak.

You can read more about these remarkable lenses NY Times Article on Stabilized Lenses here.

Photo Captions: Choosing Words

The carefully chosen word or well-turned phrase can help make a simple photo come to life. Pictures are only loaded by the words that are chosen to describe them. Read Anne Van Wagener's It's a Great Image. Now What? about the power of a great headline to lead into a photo. She uses the photos of the coffins of U.S. soldiers coming home from Iraq as an example.



Contest: Choose the Right Word

Active verbs. Oh yes. Powerful words? Think harder. It's also about context. In the last post I wrote about using a thesaurus if you don't have a good short-term memory or quick retrieval process. ( most right brain folks don't ).

Look at the pictures in this Slide show I took documenting malaria in Africa and use the visual thesaurus ( link to the right) to pick the right words to describe what you see. Kind of like sending me those word magnets for refrigerators, except this is for cyberspace. These photos aren't awfully dramatic so they beg for good captions.

Send your words back and I'll post them here at Crossing Media. E-Mail Pithy Words Back. Or send a haiku. If you want more background on what the stories behind the pix are contact me too. Or Google " malaria, Africa". I'll send the winner an 11' by 14" print of the photo of their choice from this slide show. The contest ends on March 1, 2006.

Caption Writing 101

The AP Stylebook details writing a good workman-like caption. But if you don't have that spiral-bound hard-copy, here's a link to Kenny Irby's Hot Tips for Writing Photo Captions that may prove helpful, kind of Caption Writing 101. " Don't assume" says Irby , or " make judgements". As the photo is a point in time use the present tense. "Be willing to allow for longer captions when more information will help the reader/viewer understand the story and situation," says Irby, especially quotes.

Stabilized Lenses: Slideshow Demo

Flash Slideshow Photos By Hollyman Demo Stabilized Lenses

All of these photos were taken in October while I stood braced on board a wildily bouncing Zodiac rubber raft which moved swiftly across the harbor swell. This is a potent demo of the efficacy of the new stabilized lenses. I shot this with my Canon 20D and the stabilizer set for vertical on my f 2.8 70-200 lens. As this is Flash it may take a minute for the pix to load.

If you want to read more about the story behind these pix go to my previous post action & stabilized lenses If you have a flickr account to host your photos, you can create sets there, copy the code and then go here, Flash Slideshow Code With Flickr Account to copy the code into your posting template. The slideshow may be too large at first so then go to your blogger template and rewrite the code as described in the "comments" section of the how-to page. It sounds complicated but really isn't.

Stay tuned for a later post on making a slideshow.

WWGSHD?Quick Digital Flash & Burn Lighting:

Photo by Eugene Smith Photo, Copyright 2006, Smith Estate


WWGSHD? What Would Eugene Smith Have Done?

Eugene Smith is the father of photojournalism as we know it. But that's another long post sometime later. Today we are talking about lighting. The photo above was taken by Smith in the Congo of Dr. Albert Schweitzer at work late at night. It's a prime example of flash and burn lighting that anybody can apply using 8 megapixel cameras with a stabilized lens, or just a tripod and flash.

Photograph Stephenie Hollyman, Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved

I took this photo above, after asking myself WWGSHD (What Would Gene Smith Have done?). With the ghost of Eugene Smith breathing over my shoulder, I lit this photo of a family mourning the impending loss of their child, who lay deep in a coma after contracting malaria.

This was taken in April while I traveled with WHO assistance as a solo journalist through Malawi, Cambodia and Tanzania, documenting malaria for my multimedia project "Fever Zone" . To do so, I shot both video and photography, a process that can be challenging at best. After arriving, for instance in a hospital, as in these two photographs, by the time I had introduced myself, adjusted audio levels, white balance etc. on my PD150 for audio , and then shot video, there was little time left to take photographs, much less perform like a compassionate human being

The emotional content on a two-month sojurn such as this one can be overwhelming. And documenting malaria visually is tough. In the words of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs it's a "silent tsunami", hard to depict. No marasmic victims like in famines. A child or adult in a coma simply looks as if sleeping...kind of like St. Exupery's Little Prince adage that " What is essential is invisible to the human eye."

I interviewed the doctor ( actually a clinician) responsible for treatment of this family's young child. By the time I had finished I was keenly aware it was time to move on. The doctor was in deep distress because he knew that this child's death could have been prevented if he had a an artemisin compound available, which he did not.

So I took one photo using available light of the doctor with the child. It lacked the visual drama that tells the story of a needless loss of life. So after sitting to chat with the family I suddenly realized that they were my "story". But how to make it visual? I flashed to Smith's masterful photo of Albert Schweitzer burning the midnight oil in Africa. Here the father of photo reportage , performed " flash and burn" in which he combined a time exposure ( the lamp) with flash bounced off a sheet on the floor to take a dramatic story of Schweitzer at work.

Following Smith's lead, I quickly popped out a Flexi-Fill reflector and placed it on a chair to right of the family. Bouncing the flash into the reflector I bracketed up and down on exposure as I flashed images, like playing piano scales. The time exposure helped create the fill light, as I burned in the room's ambiant light. Because the room was lit by flourescents I put a green gel in the Stoffen cap on my flash and set the whitebalance for flourescent,so that the family members in the back of the photo not lit by flash didn't turn green. The reflector created a quick and easy bank light effect. After looking in the viewfinder I saw had my shot, and left the family alone to mourn in privacy.

Coney Island, Vodka & Brave Polar Bears

On New Year's Day I stood at Coney Island knee-deep in sea-water, taking photographs as stalwart Polar Bears, young & old, fit & fat gathered to shiver and commune as they dipped into the chilly sea -- an annual tradition that some say began in Russia.


Slide Technology
Above you will see an " Photo Cast" using the new slide.com technology. These digi-pix were taken with a Canon D20 digital camera and flash. The slide only plays 20 pictures as a time so try exiting this blog and returning to see a new set. " Slide" is an interesting application still in Beta.

...Back to Polar Bears and Coney Beach

My friend Fumiko had invited me to join her to offer support to her husband George, a Columbia University post-doc fellow who wanted to perform this annual rite of passge into the New Year. I first met Fumiko in Lima Peru where we both were covering the take-over of the Japanese Residence by MRTA rebels. I was sent there ( freelance) for CNN and she by TV Asahi.

Now however, far from Peru and conflict, I watched Fumiko towel off George after his swim. This retiring academic was now transformed into somthing different, heroic in fact, although shivering. Fumiko suggested we follow his act of bravery with a visit to the Moscow Cafe, perched on the boardwalk at Brighton Beach. There, older men with grey poker faces cast furtive glances over shoulders while speaking in Russian. Fumiko and George proceeded to order a plate of cold cuts and slabs of whitefish at the bar.

George, Brighton Beach & Vodka

The bartender poured shots of vodka in small-stemmed shot glasses but ordered " No photos" when I asked his permission. As I was the designated driver for this caper - and certainly have no tolerance for such proof of liquor- I politely declined further vodka shots, now being offered by George's new friend, Michael, gratis. Dressed in plaid pants, Michael invited us to his apartment above the Moscow Cafe for tea. He said it was a Russian New Year tradition. But no tea appeared. There he began to tell us a story of his life as a commando in Afghanistan, forcing shots of vodka on us. ( I kept pouring my shots into George's glass when Michael wasn't looking ). In the words of the poet Hart Crane in To Brooklyn Bridge

"The City's fiery parcels all undone,
Already snow submerges an iron year . . ."

In this case it was cold water followed by vodka for George. On our way home he started to bark gently like a young dog. But that is another long story.

Catching Action w/ Stabilized Lenses

Manhattan Sailing Club Hagan Memorial Race, originally uploaded by Stephenie Hollyman Copyright 2005.

I took this photo in October during the last race of the season of the Manhattan Yacht Club as I stood in club's Zodiac rubber raft. The wind blew at 26 knots, gusting upward with sudden gale-force bursts. This snap is a solid and tangible demo for how well the stabilizing technology works. To take these pix I tethered myself with a line slung around my ample behind which was secured to the rubber raft's bow with a bowline. Like a dog at the end of a leash, I created a bosun's chair of sorts that gave me balance as we madly careened across New York harbor. I bounced right along, dipping and swaying, bracing my knees, sort of like Tai-Chi.

At this point you might well ask... " just what was she doing THERE?" I can't blame you. In fact I often ask myself that same question. It does get confusing.

But all of us " Cross Media" producers do have to wear many hats. Don't you? We have to be versatile and supple like bamboo. This day, however, I wasn't just wearing another different hat , but foul weather gear instead, in my role as official photographer for the Manhattan Sailing Club to which I belong. Everybody took a pounding that day but my camera kept ticking as we chopped across harbor swell, rushing to rescue the crew of this boat which looked as if would capsize. Luckily it righted itself.

I used Canon's 20D digital camera. Without the stabilizer on the Canon 70-200 f. 28 lens I never would have captured the shot. The photo was taken at 800 ASA with Canon's 70-200 f. 2.8 stabilized lens at 1/160 at F.14. I set the camera to shutter priority mode and wracked this zoom lens out to 200mm. I set the stabilizer to vertical mode to correct the up and down pitch of the boat.

Photocast: Snow Struck Seaport

You can view a photocast version of my " Snow Struck Seaport" photo essay. This was easily created using a new application Slidethat is in Beta,

Slideshow: Snow Struck Seaport

Allow slideshow to load in Flash. You can control the speed of the show with the gauge below. Click it to cycle at 2 seconds.

Harbor Dawn Snow Slideshow

Audio Blog: Hart Crane's To Brooklyn Bridge

Here are photos I took this morning of my South Street neighborhood in the snow, keeping in mind Crane's line...

" Already snow submerges an iron bound year..."

On a previous post on audio blogging I read Hart Crane's poem "To Brooklyn Bridge" and pledged to illustrate it with photographs over this next few weeks. Click here to hear the poem.

Hart Crane's " To Brooklyn Bridge"

Stabilized Lenses for Digital Photography

Photograph Stephenie Hollyman, Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved

The photo to the right probably leads you to ask," Why are these two men laughing? " Well they just bumped into each other after leaving the stage of a press conference at a Dead Sea hotel in Jordan and I was able to grab it because I had a stabilized lens. You can read about the new generation of digital stabilized lenses in NY Times story. . I took this picture as an afterthought two years ago, while traveling as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's photographer in Jordan while he attended the Quartet negotiations, seeking with others to broker a "roadmap towards Middle East peace."

I rushed ahead of the SG at the end of the press conference in order to get in the motorcade that would leave without me. Before heading out the door I turned around quickly and snapped this photo at 800 ASA with my lens in AF and stabilized mode, I had no idea I had captured this moment until later.

Once in the motorcade whizzing back to Amman from the Dead Sea, at maybe 80 miles per hour, I decided to test the
" sports" ( horizontal panning ) stabilizer selection on my then new, 70-200 F. 2.8 lens. I had previously used it hand held to shoot meetings of the UN Security Council leading up to the war in Iraq, but never used the lens in action. So while we blazed down a highway with sirens blasting, I set my Canon 10D camera to follow focus mode ( sports mode) and chose some flags out on the highway for my test.

Back in Amman while editing and transmitting the pix I was stunned. Although the meetings with SG, Colin Powell and the " Quartet" that day in attempt to broker a Middle East peace had gone nowhere, at least my test photos of the flags were acceptably sharp.