Photo captions (“Cutlines”) are an underrated tool in the arsenal of the public relations professional. They aren’t complicated, yet highly effective in telling a story. Unlike a press release, photo captions play much more off of the beauty of brevity in catching people’s attention. It’s your job to tell a story from which people can relate, and as a result get them wanting to know more.
You may think of it as a bit picky, but consider for a second what it takes to make a message stick: a story that’s credible, concrete, simple, unexpected, and emotional. You aren’t writing a textbook. People don’t read photo captions for the information. They want to know who that woman is in the red dress who seems eager to make it across the street, or the man in the tailored business suite standing pensively beside the city hall office. Take it a step further, photo captions give your audience exactly what they’re looking for in the news: An eye-catching story in as few words as possible. It doesn’t take a genius to write a photo captions, as long as you know what makes one dynamic. Here are some tips for how to draft an interesting and effect photo caption:
According to the American Press Institute, photo captions should accomplish four things:
- Explain the action. Tell where and when.
- Name the principles. Don’t leave out anyone who’s in the picture. If their not important, crop them out.
- Tell why you’re running the photo. Go beyond the obvious. Try to pull the reader into the story.
- Note important detail. Explain all mysterious objects or circumstances. Allow for a longer photo caption if it will help the reader understand the story.
When writing, Keep these tips in mind: Use conversational language. Make it easy to read. Avoid cliches. Use present tense when describing action (Runs, running instead of ran or will run). Active voice reads stronger (Max is riding the bike” instead of The bike is being ran by Max). Take out needless adjectives and and adverbs (Ran fast, strong, skillfully, is running, or looks on). Don’t repeat information that appears in the headline or body. Remember to name the source of the photo and the date it was taken. Triple check the correct spelling of names.
Example of Bad Photo Caption: Young Ms. Riding Hood walking briskly to her grandmother’s cottage during a dreary fall morning. ["Yes, I can see that, but how young is she? Why is she walking briskly? Where is her grandmother's cottage? It doesn't look all that dreary to me."]
Example of Good Photo Caption: Red Riding Hood, age 9, carries a basket of flowers in Fable Forest to attend to her sick grandmother in Yorkshire
Thank you for this article! It was very helpful!
It offers an excellent guide. Clear and precise. Thanks !
a very good understanding of photo captions is given
kimberly,
Thanks for the article it was very helpful. (I love how Ms. Williamson
is more concerned about the Jackhammers than the cigarrette BTW lol)
Thanks for the article, I found it because it’s so vital to my photography and not overlooking the obvious when it comes to captions.
Fortunately, if you ever compose a photography book-there are a ton of places where captions and descriptors are invaluable. That’s what I’ve done in my most recent book “Our National Heritage: Enduring Images of Landscapes & Culture.”