Writing Captions for Photographs

CAPTION: The caption must be written in the Simple Present Tense, (runs, studies, eats, fixes, etc.) and it should include all of the Who, What, Where and When information. The person/people should be identified by their first and last name, and by grade if it's a student (by grade number in parentheses after their name), or job title (before the person's name) if it's a staff person. Example: Mary Johnson (12) or Math Teacher John Heineman. Be sure to include a space in between the student's name and grade, and be sure not to use a comma in between the staff person's title and first name.

The caption must also contain a second sentence written in the Past Tense telling something else about what's happening in the photo or some other information about the person or event photographed.

Captions must be spell checked, and all of the names of people MUST be spelled correctly. Captions with misspelled names will result in an automatic 0 for the assignment.

The Caption is worth 40 points out of the total 100 points for the assignment. It will be graded as an all-or-nothing grade. If it is written in the correct style with all of the correct information in the correct form and everything is spelled correctly, you will receive all 40 points. If any of the information is missing, or if it is written in the incorrect style, you will receive 0 points. That means the best grade you could receive on the assignment, assuming everything else is perfect, would be a 60% which is an F.

Captions are extremely important! Write them carefully!

If you have questions, ask Mr. Keller BEFORE you submit the assignment.

Captions should ALWAYS contain the following information:

1. The person's FIRST and LAST NAME.

2. The person's GRADE if she/he is a student. The Grade should come after the name and should be the GRADE NUMBER in parentheses, and there should be NO COMMA.

     Example: Kevin Johnson (12).

3. The person's JOB TITLE if she/he is a staff member. Identify them by their specific title. Ask them what their title is. DON'T use general titles such as Mr. or Ms. The JOB TITLE should come BEFORE the person's name and there should be NO COMMA.

     Example: English teacher Chris Maly, or ELL Department Chair Hilde Dale.

4. The answers to as many of these questions as possible:

 -WHO is in the photo? - Be specific and include grade or actual job title. You should generally identify every person in the photo whose face is visible and recognizable. Generally this means people who are within 10 or 15 feet of the camera. You don't need to identify everyone in a photo if it's a large group of people (more than 6) or a crowd shot, BUT you should identify the people who are the subject of the photo if you are taking a picture of them specifically. For example if you have a photo of a band performing for a crowd, you should identify the singer/musicians, but you don't need to identify the people in the audience.

 -WHAT are they doing? - Tell specifically what is happening. Don't just describe what we can see in the picture. Instead of saying that someone " shoots a basket," say that she/he "shoots a free throw during a game against Southeast." Instead of saying that someone "sits at her desk," say that she "studies for an upcoming test for Advanced Algebra." To get this specific information, you will need to actually speak to the person and ask some questions. Find out exactly what class the photo was taken in ("Precalculus" rather than just "a math class") and who the teacher is. Ask the person what they're reading/studying/doing. Engage them in conversation to get good information.

 -WHERE was the photo taken? - Be specific. Not just "in the hall." Say "in the 1st floor main hallway," or "in South Hall." Not just "at her desk." Say "at her desk in the Associate Principals Office." Not just "at a soccer game." Say "during a soccer game against Northeast at Abbot Sports Complex."

 -WHEN was the photo taken? - Be specific. For newspaper publications you don't usually need to give the date, if it happened within a week of the paper coming out, but you should always tell the day of the week (...on Wednesday.) For sports you should tell the month and day (..in a game against East on February 16th.) For photos during the school day, indicate the period (...during 5th period on Tuesday.)

 -WHY is this photo newsworthy? - What was the point of taking the photo? Avoid photos of inanimate objects (chairs, trash cans, clocks, lockers, etc.) Take photos of things or people that have some news value. Avoid having people huddle together and smile at the camera. They will want to do this, but that's a snapshot, not a photograph. It has no journalistic value. The photos you take should be ones that could reasonably be used in the newspaper or yearbook. You will be graded partially based on the news value of your photo.

 -Include as much additional, interesting information as possible. - Again, talk to your subjects. Find out some information about them. They will usually be happy to talk to you. People like to feel that they are interesting and worthy of having their picture taken for publication. In return, you should treat them with respect and try not to make them look foolish or unflattering (unless that's what they were going for).

5. THE FIRST SENTENCE OF A CAPTION SHOULD ALWAYS BE WRITTEN IN THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE. That means the verb should be "runs" instead of "ran" or "is running." Studies, reads, speaks, cleans, answers, throws, etc.

6. The caption should be at least two sentences long. The first should follow the form above. The second sentence should be in the past tense or the present continuous tense, and it should tell more interesting information about the subject of the photo. The second time you refer to a person, you should identify them by last name only.

Example: Social Studies Department Chair J.P. Caruso discusses the importance of voter registration with his Citizenship Issues class during 6th period in the Media Center. Before becoming a teacher, Caruso was very active in national politics, and he takes voting rights and responsibilities very seriously.

7. Since the photo should be a captured moment or a recording of an event rather than a posed picture (except for the portrait assignments) captions should NEVER say things like "poses for the camera" or "smiles for a picture." Don't draw the viewer's attention to the fact that you were even present. They should be drawn into the photo as if they were there themselves. Also don't use captions that demean or degrade the person pictured, for example, "acts goofy," "makes a stupid face," or "pretends to pay attention," etc.

Examples of good captions:

- Jason Lenz (9) practices his tuba during second period in the Johnson Gym Hallway. Like many students at LHS, he does not like that the vending machines are turned off durring the day.

-Students and staff line up at a food service cart in front of Lincoln High during Festivus last Friday to get freshly grilled hamburgers. For this special spring event, sponsored by DECA and Student Council, the kitchen staff also served up the usual food offered for lunch, including pizza, soda, and chips.

- LaReshia Weaver (12) leads IIG in a routine during a Pep Rally Friday in the Johnson Gym. Under her direction as captain, the squad will perform during half time at the State Basketball Tournament this Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.