NC State Student Media

Captions

A photographer’s responsibility: to tell the rest of the story

The difference between photographers and photojournalists is that photojournalists are paid to report, photographers are not.

Photojournalism is more than just snapping pictures. That’s for amateurs. When on assignment, it is as important to gather written notes about a scene, including information from the people in the photo, as it is to capture the visual image. Caption information is vital, and without it a photo will not be published.

Comments From JASON IVESTER, photo editor, Technician

Well, first and foremost, as obvious as this sounds, EVERY photojournalist should have a notepad and a pen with them.

As for the second or more sentences, (not in sports) the photographer should ask reporter-style questions to find more information that isn’t quite obvious. Like this morning, I was shooting a soldier coming home to his family and neighbors at his home here in Rocky Mount. So, I made sure I had his name and title, age and I know he lives in Rocky Mount because I was at his home. But also, I found out how long he was gone, 15 months for mobilization and 10 of those were in Iraq. And, of course, I got the specific name for his unit and his title within that unit.

It also doesn’t hurt to get quotes while on assignment. There’s nothing wrong with putting a good quote in a cutline. Asking questions while at the assingment can also benefit the reporter (if he/she is there at the same time). Sometimes, a reporter may not think of a question that the photog has and that question may produce some great quotes.

BAD: Phillip Rivers throws a pass during a game against Texas Tech. Ray Black III GOOD: Philip Rivers launches a pass against Texas Tech on Sept. 20, 2004. Rivers completed 18-of-22 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown. The 49-21 win against Texas Tech ended a two game losing streak for the pack. Ray Black III

BAD: Phillip Rivers throws a pass during a game against Texas Tech. Ray Black III GOOD: Philip Rivers launches a pass against Texas Tech on Sept. 20, 2004. Rivers completed 18-of-22 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown. The 49-21 win against Texas Tech ended a two game losing streak for the pack. Ray Black III

Form

Quality captions are two to three sentences. The first sentence is present tense and generally explains what is going on in the photo. Avoid starting the caption with a name; 90 percent of captions start with a name and make the captions seem monotonous and repetitive. The rest of the caption is in past tense and gives background information on the person, place, event, or action. One of these sentences needs to be a quote from the person. Quotes tie the written word and photograph to a real person.

All captions should include the name of the subject(s) as well as year and major. If the content dictates, explain what the affiliation of the people in the photo is. For example, if it’s a student government photo, give each individual’s title.

Ideally, a page designer should be able to take the information, including the photo credit, right out of the Description field in Photoshop’s File Info dialog box. Not only will this information provide information for the page designer, it’ll also provide a historical record for people who might need this photo in a week, a month or a year. It should be well-written, grammatically correct and informative.

Ideally, a page designer should be able to take the information, including the photo credit, right out of the Description field in Photoshop’s File Info dialog box. Not only will this information provide information for the page designer, it’ll also provide a historical record for people who might need this photo in a week, a month or a year. It should be well-written, grammatically correct and informative.

Six questions

All captions should answer six basic questions; who, what, when, where, how and why. The first sentence should easily take care of who, what, when and where. The rest of the caption explains why and how.

Ideally, a page designer should be able to take the information, including the photo credit, right out of the Description field in Photoshop’s File Info dialog box. Not only will this information provide information for the page designer, it’ll also provide a historical record for people who might need this photo in a week, a month or a year. It should be well-written, grammatically correct and informative.

Assignment completion

An assignment is not complete until every photo archived has a complete caption, including photo credit, in the Photoshop File Info field. This information is not only for use in the current media but may be the only information available if the photo is retrieved from the archives.