Yearbook Photography
Capture the Moment
Get the Picture
Get to the event
 Get close
 Capture the emotion
 Use interesting angles
 Avoid yearbook staff
 Be a photographer 24/7
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How to write good captions
(tell me something I don’t know)
Write the Caption
Get the facts straight
 Get direct quotes from those involved
 Get correct spelling of all names
 Get the info on the spot
 Double-check your info
 Get signature for quote verification
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Remember…
The caption is an extension of the
photograph.
 Use it to expand the moment in time. What
happened before and after the shutter
clicked?
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What’s in a Caption?
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Action lead in “mini-headline”
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Begin by listing attention getting words or
phrases that come to mind when looking at
the picture. Use these for the lead.
What’s in a Caption?
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Basic information
Who
 What
 Where
 When
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Complementary Information
Why
 How
 Use quotes for opinions and specific details
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Sample caption
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OUT OF TUNE. Embarrassed, Sloane Cotner
and Lexi Orozco stand frozen in the center
of the gym floor at the Flashback pep rally,
unable to remember any of the lyrics to the
songs in the Singing Duck contest. “It was
really awkward,” Sloane said. No one really
won the contest.
We know how to do this.
We have a winning formula for writing
captions.
 Judges love it.
 We’re sticking with it.
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Our winning caption formula
First sentence: PRESENT tense, tells the
basic who, what, where, when
 Second sentence: PAST TENSE, gives more
info about the event or person pictured
 Third sentence: PAST tense, is a quote like
this
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“Quotey quote quote,” Name said.
Second and Third can be switched around.
Caption Formula in practice
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Lead in: ROCK AND ROLL
present tense: Laughing his head off, Jace
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past tense further info:
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past tense quote: “Cameron Dupy (09)
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Fontenot (09) enjoys his classmates’
presentation of the Myth of Sisyphus in Mrs.
Richardson’s English I class.
In this
classic Greek myth, Sisyphus has to push a
boulder up a hill for eternity.
was excellent in the role of the rock,” Jace
said.
Sisyphus
(just in case you were wondering)
Vary the lead
There are at least twenty ways to start a
caption. Look it up.
 Every caption on your spread should have a
different lead. Seriously.
 WWWWWH. Swap them around.
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Vary the lead
Jace Fontenot (09) laughs his head off as he
enjoys his classmates’ presentation of the
Myth of Sisyphus in Mrs. Richardson’s
English I class.
 While his classmates present the Myth of
Sisyphus in Mrs. Richardson’s English I class,
Jace Fontenot (9) laughs his head off.
 In Mrs. Richardson’s English I class, Jace
Fontenot (9) laughs his head off while his
classmates present the Myth of Sisyphus.
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Vary the lead
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Adjective (Wild with excitement,…)
Adverb (Colorfully dressed as aliens,…)
Infinitive (To engage the crowd,…)
Prepositional phrase (Before the big game,…)
Participle (Dressed as aliens,…)
Causal (Since the half-time show had…)
Conditional (If the drumline performed perfectly…)
Gerund (Playing the Martian Mambo,…)
Do not use
The wrong verb tense
 The same beginning over and over
 Predictions
 Your opinion
 Many, several, a lot, dedicated, some,
diligently, paid off
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Sports Captions
These are hard. Get over it.
 Tell what is happening, using sports
language (not “Zoey runs with the ball.”),
but keeping it clear enough for the rest of
us to understand.
 Identify the players by jersey number.
 Identify the other team and mascot
(Rockdale Tigers, not just Rockdale).
 To really do it right, you have to identify
even the players on the other team (!!)
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Sports captions…
Name the players
 Even the one on the other team
 Name the team (not just mascot)
 Give the outcome of the play shown
 Give the outcome of the game or
tournament
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More on sports
Give the outcome of the play and game
(“Zoey’s touchdown started a rally that led
to a 67-48 victory for the Ducks.”)
 Don’t say THS or Ducks unless you have to.
 Talk to the players and ask them to tell you
about what is happening in the photo, and
their reactions to it.
 Do not accept lame or general quotes like
“I a beast.”
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Sample sports caption
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Preparing to serve, Amy Anderson (11) eyes
her opponent in the girls’ singles at the
Masonville Open. Amy’s serve was legendary
among area tennis players. “She’s quite
scary,” said Jenny Jones. Amy placed first in
every tournament of the season.
Where do they go?
Captions need to be right next to the photos
they describe.
 Avoid “gang captions.”
 All captions must be the same width, font,
etc. and follow the design plan of the
section.
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Prayers answered
It is now considered acceptable to have only
a name (grade) ID for a small photo in a
cluster.
 Thank goodness.
 This is ONLY for those tiny photos that are
all clustered together and leave no room for
captions. Don’t get lazy.
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One last thing…or two…
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At the end of every caption, put the photo
credit. Like this (note the punctuation):
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If the photo was provided by someone but
we don’t know who took it:
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Photo by Ryan Gonzales.
Photo courtesy of Amy Schmamy.
Use the styles.
Paragraph style for Caption
 Character style for Caption Lead-In
 Character style for Photo Credit
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