Writing captions is an adventure in context and clarity

  I’ll admit that despite the fact I have a reasonably strong background in writing (I’ve written quite a few papers for classes, articles for the web, explanations on forums, rants and arguments, and even a few grant applications), I find the task of writing a caption for a photo somewhat daunting.

   Five W’s and an H. Who, what, where, when, why and how. Photojournalists must answer these questions when writing captions. This is a challenge for me, almost everything I have ever written I’ve had lots of space available to me in to answer these questions, less limited area to spread out and find my own path to the answers. Photojournalists don’t have that luxury. A photo caption is a scant few lines in which to lay the foundation and set the context to properly tell the story recorded in your image.  A picture might well be worth a thousand words but if your viewer has no sense of the context, you don’t get to chose those words. Without a clear concise well written caption, the photographer is less able to effectively convey the story intended in their image.

   Our textbook, Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach, tells us that Associated Press caption writing follows a simple formula.

   “The first sentence describes what the photo shows, in the present tense, and states where and when the photo was made. It must ALWAYS include the day and date the photo was made….  

   The second sentence gives back-ground on the news event or describes why the photo is significant.”

   These two sentences change how the reader views your picture. It sounds simple but writing accurate concise sentences that place your image in context is every bit as important as knowing how to use your camera.  It’s half the story, half the meaning of your image.