Friday, June 5, 2015

How to Write Captions

The Journal runs down the rules:

● Avoid using the wire-service description verbatim. Write your own caption.

● Provide only relevant information. Use the nut graf from the story as a guide.

● Describe the action only if it is pertinent to the article.

● Double-check facts against the article, with the reporter or using Google. If the story alleges any misconduct or wrongdoing, please take extra care in confirming the person/people and details. Confirm the identity of alleged wrongdoers in the photo with the reporter, and don’t rely on the caption information from the provider.

● Avoid being overly descriptive with unnecessary details, such as product model numbers and time of day. (Descriptions of military equipment and guns have led to several corrections, so be 100% sure or avoid being specific.)

● If the figures in the photo are obviously shaking hands (or talking, hugging or high-fiving) there is no reason to mention it in the caption.

● Consider a time element, especially if it is an older photo. Readers will assume that a photo was recently taken unless told otherwise. Apple CEO Tim Cook, at the WSJD Live conference in October, discussed the design of the company’s new smartwatch.

● If the time element isn’t relevant to the action, the present tense or present-participle form is used: A boy watches a bulldozer prepare for the construction of housing units in a West Bank settlement. Or: A boy watching a bulldozer prepare for construction of housing units in a West Bank settlement.

● If the time element is essential, use the participle form or the past tense: A boy watching a bulldozer prepare for the construction of housing units in a West Bank settlement on Monday. Or: A boy watched as a bulldozer prepared for the construction of housing units in the West Bank on Monday.

● Use commas, not parentheses, around identifiers such as right, left or wearing hat.

● Add a period to captions that are more than a nameline, even if they are sentence fragments.

● Forgo the constructions above and shown.

● Use single quotes, as in headlines: Amy Adams starred in ‘American Hustle.’

● Add SEO keywords for digital captions.

● Keep it concise in one sentence, if possible.

Slate improves upon some real-world examples:

1. Bad
Bruce Miller of the San Francisco 49ers was arrested on Thursday for domestic violence.

1. Good
Bruce Miller of the San Francisco 49ers was arrested on Thursday for domestic violence. Above, Miller during a game on Dec. 15, 2013

2. Bad
Wyden

2. Good
Sen. Ron Wyden at a hearing on March 5, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

3. Bad
Hannibal Buress, noted Internet spirit animal.

3. Good
Hannibal Buress, noted Internet spirit animal, performs on May 19, 2013, in Culver City, California.

4. Bad
Digital spray painting.

4. Good
Digital spray painting at the new Google store in [location] on [date].