The other issue I’m facing is that for some reasons I cant get this code to output the co-author display name.
<p class="before_story"><?php dt_photos_number(); ?><?php printf(__('By <span>%1$s</span> - %2$s','news'), get_the_author_meta('display_name'), get_the_time('D M d, g:i a')); ?></p>