Caption Examples Cheryl Photoshop Question

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Caption Examples Cheryl Photoshop Question

Create a series of 8 – 10 images in a photographic essay format. Then write about each of the photographs and explain how they relate to a larger story.

Pick a subject for your essay. Remember, the difference between this photo essay and a narrative sequence is the emotional content of the story. Pick a topic that you believe in and can become emotionally involved in yourself. This essay should NOT be only a collection of images of things or an event; it must have an emotional context, such as:

  • Exhilaration
  • Depression/Despair
  • Extreme Effort
  • Misery/Loss
  • Pain
  • Anger
  • Passion
  • Disappointment
  • Glee

Left: Strangers; Right: Misery. Both by Victor Cristian Mitroi, Flickr, CC BY

Possibilities:

You might photograph a race or sports event if you can capture the exuberance of winning or the agony of defeat and the struggle that led from the beginning to the final result. Just people running or skiing or racing cars won’t create a strong essay. You did to show us the hope and promise in the preparation; the struggles during the race (the ups & down); the exhaustion, disappointment and triumph at the end.

You might shoot people arguing, but you’ll need to capture the depth of the argument, including the final resolution. How did it start? How did the couple resolve the dispute… or didn’t they?

The essay does not have to be – and probably should not be – a linear story, like the making of an omelet. You might, instead shoot a series of images that shows a waitress serving breakfast in a diner: the orders, the customers, the short-order cook. The waitress writing or ringing up the check. Coffee being poured.

Instead of showing how a cappuccino is made at your favorite coffee shot, take a series of photographs of the experience of going for a cup of coffee. The baristas. People sitting at tables with their coffee talking, meeting, or working on their computers. Closeups of different kinds of drinks. Wide shots, medium shots, closeups. (And don’t forget to get permission.)

W. Eugene Smith approached his photo essays as a humanist, and it’s the human condition you need to document. It doesn’t have to be as serious as a life or death moment. In fact, it could be something perfectly normal that people don’t often observe.

Take a bus ride. Spend a few hours at the local laundromat. Is there a local farmer’s market where you can shoot both the farmers and the customers? A local craft show? Could you shadow someone for a day and capture the ups and downs of a day at work? On the farm? A delivery driver the road? A fellow student?

  1. Shoot as many images as you need. It’s a short week, so you might need to quickly find a subject. You will NOT need to submit all of the images.
  2. After you have chosen your 8 – 10 images for the essay, resize them in Photoshop so they are 1500 pixels in the widest dimension at 72ppi.
  3. Number then in the order you want them to be seen, to make sure you don’t get the order mixed up when inserting them into a Word document. (You will be graded on the comparative strength of the first and last image.)
  4. Open a Word document.
  5. Page 1 is the cover page. Include your name, the name of your photo essay, the course, the term, and the section.
  6. On the following pages, place the 8 – 10 final images of your photo essay; one image per page. Below each image write a small caption or sentence of no more than 3 sentences describing the story you are telling visually.

With years of photo practice, the photography will be able to speak for itself and tell the story without the aid of copy. But for now, we are using the writing component to briefly guide the viewer through the story.

Caption examples:

“Cheryl arrives for her morning shift at Waffles and More. It’s the only quiet she’ll have for the next three hours.”

“The coffee is always hot and fresh. And circulating with a pot to warm up customers’ coffee is an important part of the job.”

“The orders hang on a rotating rack between the counter and grill area. The plated breakfast needs to be delivered as soon as it’s done, so it’s hot when it arrives at the table.”

Remember that the copy must flow from page to page, making sense logically. The photos must also be paired appropriately with the written copy. The entire photo essay must be cohesive logically and provide an obvious narrative.

Save the Word document and submit to the dropbox. Make sure the Word document is under 20MB. Ideally, it should be under 6MB.