Caption Text

Definition

Caption text is a short text used to accompany an image. Caption text usually appears below images, photos, graphs, posters, and even tables.

Aim

The primary aims of caption text are:
1. to describe what's in the image.
2. to emphasize the content of articles, essays, or reports.

Types of Caption Text

1. Identification Caption

This type of caption is typically used to describe or identify each person in the photo, but doesn't necessarily tell a story. The focus of this type of identification caption is on clarity.

2. Group Caption

Group captions are typically used to describe multiple images. These captions should contain at least two sentences per image and include quotes whenever possible. Group captions should clearly explain which image each caption describes.

3. Storytelling Caption 

Storytelling captions are ideal and can be used whenever possible. They tell a story behind the image. Using them often makes the image more engaging to read.

4. Summary Caption

For the summary caption type , it usually contains an explanation of the subject in the image, the activity carried out in the image, the time of the incident, the location of the incident and the reason why the activity was carried out.

5. Quote Caption

Quote caption means it contains a quote from someone in the picture.

6. Cutline Caption

The cutline caption is the most common type found in images and text in newspapers and other media, both offline and online. A cutline caption describes the subject in the image and what the subject is doing.

7. Expanded Caption

The expanded caption type is the most comprehensive type of caption. As the name suggests, this expanded caption text is an extension of the previous text, specifically the summary caption.

Structure

Here is the generic structure of caption text.
1. Title
2. Lead
3. Section heading

Language Components

English captions can be written in any sentence, but it's best to use the simple present tense . This is because simple present tense sentences are easier for readers to understand, making the message easier to convey.

How to Write Caption Text 

1. Accuracy
You need to know what you want to convey. Don't write or make judgments about the moods of the people in the picture.

2. Don't Be Too Real
Avoid phrases that tell the reader about very obvious actions, such as shaking hands, looking at each other, gesturing, chatting, etc.

3. Avoid Clichés
Avoid clichés or trite words. Avoid using words that describe actions with feelings, such as happy, rejoicing, jumping happily, clapping happily, etc.

4. Showing the Photo Subject
Don't show the subject of the photo in a way that sounds like talking to them like "Hey Joe, what are you doing in front of that building?" "Hey Jane, where are you right now?" and so on.

5. Style of Language
The style of language can be adapted to the image. For example, a humorous photo can have a humorous caption . Serious photos, such as tables and graphs, should also have serious captions.