Caption Writing 101

If you're going to write good captions, you have to first understand what a "good caption" looks like. Here are the basics of yearbook caption-writing. 1. Every caption needs to start with a lead-in phrase. This is your mini-headline for your caption; it is designed to grab a Joe Yearbook Reader's attention and let him understand what's going on in the photo in very brief detail. Set off your lead-in from the rest of your caption by putting it in bold, italics, or both. 2. After the lead-in, your caption needs to have one present-tense sentence describing the action in the photo. This is the sentence that captures that photo's moment in time. 3. Every subsequent sentence (2-3) in your caption should be in past-tense. The reason for this is that the action in the photo has already become a thing of the past once your readers get their yearbook. You write about that action in the proper tense to maintain consistency. 4. Every caption should do a few key things: - Describe the action taking place in the photo. - Identify every person in the photo by first and last name. - Go beyond the photo by providing additional details about the event or program the photo highlights. - Avoid phrases such as "seems to be" or "looks as if." - Never start a caption with names. Always start with a statement about the action or the setting.

Sample Caption Let's review: Now you know what a caption looks like. You know the basic steps involved in creating a quality caption for your yearbook readers. You have also had time to look at the sample photo on page 1: the basic story behind it is that it's a photo of a young girl in her preschool program which was part of a high school Child Development class. Now let's put it all together. Start with the lead-in, move on to one present-tense sentence, and round it out with a few past-tense sentences. Identify the people in the photo and go beyond the obvious action in the photo to relate a larger story. Using the sample photo from the beginning of the article and the tips on page 1, I wrote a sample caption:

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Little Fire Chief. In a hands-on learning experience, preschool student Jillian Cook and Child Development student Jane Smith explore the local fire engine. During Fire Safety Week, local firefighters visited the Lil' Chiefs preschool to teach the preschool students about fire safety issues. Cook and the rest of her classmates got to try on firefighter uniforms, hear the sirens, and discuss plans for evacuating their houses in case of an emergency. The Lil' Chiefs preschool hosted educational events like this throughout the year for its young charges, under the supervision of Early Childhood teacher Mrs. Jill Hill and her Child Development students.

Notice that it took some time to write one full caption. Captions are mini-stories in and of themselves, and they should always be carefully crafted. When your readers flip to a yearbook page, their eyes will be drawn to the photos before anything else. (They want to see who they know on the page and get an idea for the page's content without having to commit to any heavy reading at first.) If your captions are interesting enough, they will continue to the rest of the page and read your copy and sidebar information as well. If your captions are boring, however, they will continue to flip to other pages in the book.

Your Assignment Look at the photos below. You will be writing captions for each photo. Since you probably don’t know the people in the photo or what was happening, I have provided some information and you can just make up the rest. Use the formula above and write one great caption for each photo. The rules matter, so take the time to follow them. Eden Stewart & Paul Stewart at Nascar in Vernon in Aug. between the time trials and the actual race Paul is photographing for one of the racing teams fans are collecting autographs from the drivers make up other details

Members of the band Hathaway from Kamloops but in Vernon fan is taking a photo after a performance at a park in Vernon band members in order: Kevin Corneau, Chris Gamble, Jaret Kirkland, and Josh Seymour make up other details

Rugby game between Brock girls and Valleyview You make up the details What happened right before? Right after? Who won? What was the score?

Kelsey Branchflower is wearing the lab coat You need to figure out who the staff members are Make up what is happening Why are they all watching? What happened before and after?

The signs tell you what you need to know. Make up names for the people if you don’t know who they are. Make up other details like how much was raised, where they did this, etc.