“Security guards (from left) Winken, Blinken, and Nod stand watch.” “Security guards Winken, left, Blinken, and Nod stand watch.” “Security guards Winken (left), Blinken, and Nod stand watch.” “Security guards Winken, Blinken, and Nod stand watch.” Here are some alternatives (the first of which trusts readers to assume left-to-right orientation): If you must use such wording, be consistent about style and format. If more than one person is featured in the photo, use directional or other targeting terms (for example, “left,” “standing,” or “holding aardvark”) only if the distinction between the photo’s subjects is not obvious. (Of course, a publication that features humorous or satirical content is an exception.)ħ. Captions should not use judgmental or facetious language or make assumptions about, for example, a subject’s state of mind. The caption should allude to the running text’s topic, but the specific wording should at most paraphrase the running text.Ħ. Avoid replicating content from the running text in a caption.
WRITE CAPTIONS ON PHOTOS FULL
Subsequent photos of the same subject can be simplified (as when a person’s full name is used only in the first of several captions for photos featuring that person).ĥ. Because a person, place, or thing shown in a photo is almost invariably identified in accompanying running text, titles, affiliations, and other additional information, for example, are rarely required in captions. Use context to determine how thoroughly to identify photographic subjects. (A headline is optional.) The extent of the block of type shouldn’t be less than the space taken up by the photo, and the caption should be broken up into paragraphs if it’s more than a few lines long, and perhaps divided into columns if the image is more than one column wide.Ĥ. A brief article can be formatted as a caption it’s best to distinguish such special features with a box around the photo and caption and/or a different font treatment. (“Wiggle Wagon: John Smith takes the Inchworm personal-transportation device for a test drive.”)ģ. They are often formatted in boldface and followed by a colon, and they generally are capitalized like headlines. Some publications use a lead-in phrase to establish the caption these are either straightforward or may be conceptual and might be humorous and/or alliterative as well.
(“John Smith takes the Inchworm personal-transportation device for a test drive.”) Avoid eliding words, as in “John Smith takes Inchworm personal-transportation device for test drive” write the caption as if you were speaking it aloud, not as if you were writing a headline or dictating a telegram. (If the product caption is a description rather than an official product name, capitalize only the first word and proper names.)Ĭaptions for photos or other images showing events or occurrences can consist of incomplete sentences (“Taking the Inchworm personal-transportation device for a test drive”), but it’s generally better to use one or more complete sentences.
Portraits (often referred to as headshots), or images of places or products can simply be captioned with a name: “John Smith,” for example, or “Deluxe Dual-Purpose Widget,” without terminal punctuation. Caption format will depend on various factors. Determine whether captions should be formal or informal, or serious or humorous, or whether the tone can vary depending on circumstances.Ģ. Caption copy must match the tone of the running text (the general written content, as opposed to display type such as headlines and captions).
WRITE CAPTIONS ON PHOTOS HOW TO
Here’s some advice about how to write good ones.ġ. If you contribute to production of a print or online publication that includes photographs or illustrations, you’re likely, at some point, to write captions. 10 Tips About How to Write a Caption By Mark Nichol