Caption Writing

PE Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17wSRauhrwxNoszCEcUEEB3ftyYOwyYdp/view?usp=sharing

Five Photos:

Edit Your 5 best photos
Write a caption for each
1. Nature/ Portrait / Group
1. Texture
1 your choice

Place pictures on MS Word and upload to www.turnitin.com

Caption Writing:
1.Check your facts. One of the most important aspects of any type of journalism is accuracy. If you use incorrect information, the story or photo loses credibility. Before uploading or printing any photo captions, make sure you’ve checked that anything stated in the caption is accurate.^[3]

• Don’t print an incorrect caption if you have trouble checking your facts, either because you can’t find an appropriate source, or because you’re on a deadline. It’s better to leave the information out if you aren’t sure it’s accurate.

2

Describe something that isn’t obvious. If a photo caption simply describes the visuals in the photo, it’s fairly useless. If you have a photo of a sunset and simply caption is as “a sunset” you’re not adding any additional information for the reader. Instead, describe details of the photo that are not obvious, like the location, the time of day or year, or a specific event that is taking place.^[4]

• For example, if you have a photo of a sunset you might want to caption it as: “Pacific coast sunset, March2016, from Long Beach, Vancouver Island."
• Also avoid using terms like: “is shown,” “is pictured,” “and looks on,” or “above."
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1. Do not start a caption with certain words. A caption should not begin with the words ‘a,’ ‘an,’ or ‘the.’ These words are too basic and take up valuable captioning room when they aren’t necessary. For example, instead of saying: “A blue jay in the boreal forest;” simply say: “Blue jay flying through boreal forest.”^[5]

   • Also, do not start a caption with the name of someone, start the caption with a description first and then include the name. For example, don’t say: “Stan Theman near Sunshine Meadow Park.” Instead say: “Jogger Stan Theman near Sunshine Meadow Park."
   • When identifying where someone is in a photo, you can say “from left.” You do not have to say “from left to right."
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   Identify the main people in the photo. If your photo includes important people, identify who they are. If you know their names, include them (unless they’ve asked to remain anonymous). If you don’t know their names, you might want to put a description of who they are instead (e.g. “protesters on the streets of Washington, DC”).^[6]

   • While it shouldn’t need to be said, make sure any and all names you use are spelled correctly and have the proper title.
   • If the photo includes a group of people, or some people who are not relevant to the story (i.e. their names are not required to tell the story), you do not have to name each of them in the caption.^[7]
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   Be as specific as possible. This advice goes hand-and-hand with being accurate. If you are unsure of where the photo was taken, or who is in the photo, find out. Showing a photo without any specific information may not be useful to the reader, especially if you cannot inform them of the context in which the photo was taken.^[8]

   • If you were working with another journalist for the story, contact them for more information if needed.
   • If you are trying to identify a specific person in the photo, describing where in the photo they are is very useful. For example, if Bob Smith is the only one in a hat, you can say: “Bob Smith, back row in hat."
   • While specific is good, you can also phrase your caption so that is starts general and becomes more specific, or starts specific and ends more generally. Either method ensures specificity, but creates easy-to-ready statements.^[9]
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   Label historical photos properly. If you’re using an historical photo in your story, make sure it’s labelled properly and includes the date (at least the year) it was taken. Depending on who owns the photo, you may also need to credit another photography and/or organization (e.g. museum, archive, etc.).^[10]
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   Use the present tense in captions. Because most photos being shown as part of a news story are of things happening “right now,” use the present tense in the caption. An obvious exception would be any historical photos, where using the past tense makes sense.^[11][12]

   • The nice thing about using the present tense is that it portrays a sense of immediacy and increases the impact of the photo on the reader.
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   Avoid humour when the photo isn’t intended to be humorous. If the photo you’re captioning is of a serious or sombre event, don’t try to be funny in the caption. Funny captions should only be used when the photo itself is a joke or of a funny event that is intended to make the reader laugh.^[13]
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   Remember to always include credits and citations. Every photo should include the name of the photographer and/or the organization that owns the photograph. In actual photographic magazines and publications, photos also include the technical details of how the photo was taken (e.g. aperture, film speed, f-stop, lens, etc.)^[14]

   • When writing the credits, you don’t have to use the term “credited 
   • to” or “photo by” if the information is presented in a consistent and understandable format. For example, maybe the credits are always italicized or are a smaller font size.

   Avoiding Caption Mistakes:

   1. 1. Do not be arrogant. Arrogance in captions comes when the person writing the caption doesn’t care about the reader, and simply writes a caption that is easy at the moment of writing. This can also be consider being selfish because the writer cares more about themselves than the reader who is trying to decipher what the photo and story are about.^[27]

      • This can also happen when a writer is trying to be ‘fancy’ and try something new or clever. There is no need to get complicated. Keep things simple, clear, and accurate.
   2. 
      
      2
      Avoid making assumptions. You know what they say about people who assume … ! The same goes for writing captions. These assumptions could be on the part of the journalist, photographer, or even someone else at the publication where everything is being put together. Don’t make assumptions about what was going on in the photo, or who the people are. Find out the truth and only include what’s accurate.^[28]

      • This also goes for style and format. If you aren’t sure if the publication has a specific format for captions, ask. Don’t use a format you like that may need to be completely revised later because you didn’t ask.
   3. 
      
      3
      Make sure you aren’t sloppy. Sloppiness happens when someone just doesn’t care, or doesn’t consider the situation important enough to double-check. The result of sloppiness can be incorrect spelling, the wrong names for people in the photo, captions that don’t match the photos, referring to a photo in the story incorrectly, etc. If you’re proud of your work, do a good job from start to finish.^[29]

      • This can also happen when someone tries to use another language in the caption, but doesn’t check if it has been written properly. Google Translate is not the same as double-checking if the language is correct!
   4. 
      
      4
      Remember that what you print is considered fact. As a journalist, whatever you print either in your story or caption is usually considered fact by your readers. They rightfully assume you’ve done your fact-checking and that what you’re telling them is accurate. If you were too lazy or sloppy to do the job, you risk passing along incorrect information to a large number of people.^[30]

      • Also remember that once information gets “out there,” it can be hard to correct. Especially if that information is related to an event that was tragic, stressful or still ongoing.

Libel and photo journalism

Libel and Photo Journalism

Goal:
Students will explore the various elements of the FIRST AMENDMENT
Students will study the ethical principles of journalism
Students will recognize and discuss some major criticism of the press
Students will understands libel/ malice laws and what defenses journalists have
Students will be familiar with major court rulings regarding the scholastic press

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Quiz on the First Amendment- Wednesday, 2/7

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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 Libel: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uaZd8p6qkHexSYqvTW-kwsmKL4FqzR40/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=115237694256539959089&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Let's talk about Libel: Links

http://www.splc.org/presentations/

http://www.rcfp.org/

http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/first_amendment.html

http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/constitution/amendment01/06.html

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Ethics in Photo Journalism

Quizzes:  First Amendment
http://www.splc.org/page/first-amendment-quiz

Ethical Decisions in Journalism part 1

Overview and Rationale:

The lesson will help students understand the ethical considerations necessary in the

production and post-production process of photojournalism.

Goals:

Consider the potential effect on the viewer when selecting and taking photos.

Try to use proper angles and lighting to produce appropriate effects in photos.

News photos are a form of journalism, not art. Find the iconic photo, not the cool one.

-When it is appropriate to use posed/staged photos.

-Photoshop, and other postproduction software, is a tool to help you improve your photos,not alter them. (cropping, etc.)

The difference between photojournalism and photo illustrations.

Essential Questions:

What do we mean when we refer to “journalistic ethics?”

What role do these ethics play in photojournalism?

Photo Journalism

Ethical Decisions in Journalism

From the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics:

" Journalists should . . . never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.”

For a code of ethics entirely on photojournalism, see the National Press Photographers Association Code of EthicsSome clauses from this code:

• Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
• Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.
• Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects.
• Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups.
• Recognize and work to avoid presenting one's own biases in the work.
• Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.
• While photographing subjects, do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.
• Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.
• Respect the integrity of the photographic moment. 

Situation 1: Bridge accident

Situation 2: Car Fire

Students will be presented with situations of libel and libelous photography. They will justify is situations are printable in a newspaper or must be held back.



-Students will review works by a photo  journalist .   What does it take to be a great journalist?

A great journalist cares about people and an ideal world. A great journalist can approach a topic as vast as the universe and make it simple and interesting to both Einstein and the new immigrant, who is trying to learn the language.

The written word has power. With skill, reporters can expose the dark deeds of the world and bring them into the light. However, journalism is limited to non-apathetic, monolinguistic people with some time to kill and a few neurons still firing.

Enter photojournalism. It destroys almost all barriers. Justice can draw its sword in the time it takes an eye to scan an image. An image has no age, language or intelligence limits.

What is a photojournalist?

A journalist tells stories. A photographer takes pictures of nouns (people, places and things). A photojournalist takes the best of both and locks it into the most powerful medium available - frozen images.

Photojournalists capture "verbs." This sounds simple, but a room of professional photographers was dumbfounded by this realization. Even after a full-length lecture with documentation and visual evidence, half of the photographers still had no clue what the difference was.

At the end of the presentation. One man said (he really did), "So, what's the difference between photography and photojournalism?" Luckily, two people (only two) turned to him and yelled, "Verbs!"

Although photojournalists can take properly exposed and well composed photographs all day long, they hunt verbs. They hunt them, shoot them and show them to their readers. Then, they hunt more.

A photojournalist has thousands of pairs of eyes looking over his shoulder constantly. The readers are insistent: "What are they doing?" "What did you see?" and "What happened?".

The readers wake PJs up at night. They keep PJs awake. The eyes always want to know what they missed. Readers can't see what they missed with a noun. It works if the question is specific enough (what did the condemned building look like?), but most answers require verbs.

To tell a story, a sentence needs a subject, a verb and a direct object. News photos need the same construction. Photojournalists tell stories with their images. Also, words are always used in conjunction with photojournalist's images.

The words below a photo are called a cutline. I write the cutlines that go with most of my images. At many newspapers, photographers provide names and nothing else. They don't write cutlines because they sometimes can't write a lead (lede) graph for a story. They also may not be able to photograph a sentence (sports being the exclusion, and there are plenty of supporting images to prove my point in this genre as well).

To be a photojournalist, we must understand the relationship between the image and these basic elements of language (all languages - worldwide).

     The girl hits (or misses) the ball. There are no other options.

The girl is easy to photograph. The ball is easy to photograph. The verb is the hard part.

As a servant of the citizens, it's the photojournalist's OBLIGATION to capture the entire sentence involved in EVERY event. There are no excuses. It's hit or missed. Some photographers don't care. They have a picture of the bat. "Hey, that's what tried to hit the ball." They just don't get it.
More on the photojournalist

A photojournalist is a visual reporter of facts. The public places trust in its reporters to tell the truth. The same trust is extended to photojournalists as visual reporters.

This responsibility is paramount to a photojournalist. At all times, we have many thousands of people seeing through our eyes and expecting to see the truth. Most people immediately understand an image.

In today's world of grocery store tabloids and digital manipulation of images, the photojournalist must still tell the truth. The photojournalist constantly hunts for the images (or verbs), which tell of the day-to-day struggles and accomplishments of his community. These occurrences happen naturally. There is no need to "set up" reality. There is no need to lie to a community that bestows its trust. In a nutshell:   If a photojournalist isn't going to fake a fire or a street stabbing scene, why would he set up "person A" giving "person B" an object (award, check, trophy etc.)?

The photojournalist simply wants to hang around, be forgotten and wait for the right moment. Then, the hunt begins anew.

Like the police officer or firefighter, the photojournalist's concern is his community even if that means sacrificing comfort or life. Many photojournalists die every year in the process of collecting visual information, which lets the public know of atrocities, dangers and the mundane.

Back to TopWhat makes a photojournalist different from a photographer?

Photographers take pictures of nouns (people, places and things). Photojournalists shoot action verbs ("kicks," "explodes," "cries," etc.). Photojournalists do shoot some nouns. These nouns can be standard photos of people (portraits), places (proposed zoning areas or construction sites) and things (name it). However, the nouns we seek still must tell a story.

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Legal Considerations in Photojournalism

Here are some potentially troublesome situations you might encounter. Discuss what you think is the correct answer legally and discuss how you personally might handle it.


1. If you take pictures of someone in their home with a hidden camera, could you be sued for invasion of privacy? (yes)
2. Is it legal for you to photograph a celebrity walking along a city street, even if they don't want to be photographed? (yes, because it's a public street)
3. If you photograph Ricky Martin driving down the street in a new BMW, could BMW use one of your pictures in an advertisement? (no, they need written permission)
4. You are editor of a feature magazine, and you need a picture of some troubled teens to illustrate a story. Your photographer goes by the high school and shoots some pictures of some teens waiting outside for their rides. You print one of the pictures, only to find out later that these were some of the school's top scholars. Could they sue you successfully? (yes, because you potentially hurt their reputations)
5. , You take a picture of woman with her dress blowing up, showing her undergarments underneath. Although her face is not visible, her children are next to her. Since she was in public view, can your editor run it without fear of being sued? (no, she could successfully prove that the photo was embarrassing but not newsworthy)
6. You're at the hospital visiting a sick friend and have a chance to get a photo of a local celebrity being wheeled into the X-ray room. This would be of great interest to your readers. You take the pictures and turn one into your editor. Can she legally run it? (no, the law protects people privacy in hospitals -- she would need written permission to run it)
7. . You see a bad car accident and begin taking photos immediately, of the smashed cars, of the victims being tended to and put into the ambulance, etc. The police at the scene order you to stop. As a representative of the media, can you legally continue? (yes) If so, are there any limits to what you can shoot? (you cannot take pictures of a victim in an ambulance)
8. From the street, you photograph two teenagers kissing on a front porch. Even if you did not ask their permission, can your editor legally run it? (yes, legally it's OK since anything on a public street is fair game, but ethically you might decide against it)
9. . There has been a bad fire in a person's home, and you want to take pictures inside the house. The owner is not home, and the police and firefighters do not object. Do you, as a representative of the media, have a right to enter the house, or would you be trespassing? (you have a right to enter the house and take pictures)
10. You're shopping in a grocery store and witness a woman cut by a broken pickle jar. She sees your camera and asks you to photograph her wound. Can you legally take a picture? (yes) What if the manager sees you and asks you to stop? (you must stop since you're on their private property) What if the manager demands you turn your film over to her? (you don't have to -- that's your property)
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Ethical Considerations in Photojournalism

Pair 1

Photographer: You are working with a reporter on a story about a coach who holds some national records for weightlifting. You still need a shot of him working out, so you arrange to meet him at the gym and take pictures of him lifting weights just as he normally does. Make an argument for running your photo.

Photo editor: Do you run this set-up photo? Why or why not?

Pair 2

Photographer: A baby left in a locked car died from the heat. You heard about it on a police scanner and were able to get a picture of the policeman taking the baby out of the car.

Photo editor: Do you run this as a warning to other parents? Why or why not?

Pair 3

Photographer: A fire escape collapses during a fire, plunging a woman to her death. A child who also falls miraculously survived.You get a picture of them in mid-air, just as the fire escape gives way. The photo is a potential Pulitzer Prize winner.

Photo editor: Do you run this photo of a woman falling to her death? Why or why not?

Pair 4

Photographer: A woman takes off her clothes in protest of being denied entrance to a building. You get a picture of her protest.

Photo editor: Do you run this photo of a nude woman? Why or why not?

Pair 5

Photographer: During a news conference, an important political figure makes an obscene gesture at some hecklers in the crowd. You take the picture and turn it into your editor.

Photo editor: This is definitely newsworthy but potentially offensive. Do you run it? Why or why not?

Pair 6

Photographer: A man notifies the press that a newsworthy event will be taking place at a certain time and location. He makes a statement protesting a government action, then douses himself with gasoline and lights a match. You get some dramatic pictures of the event, potential prize winners.

Photo editor: Should you run the picture because it's newsworthy or deny the protester the publicity he was seeking? Explain your decision.

Pair 7

Photographer: You photograph a family grieving over their son who drowned in a local canal. You capture them at the moment the authorities unzip the body bag for them to make identification of him.

Photo editor: Do you run this to urge other families to be cautious or respect the privacy of their grief?

Pair 8

Photographer: You photograph two students exchanging money and a bag of something. You realize this would be a great photo to go with a story your staff is doing on drugs on campus.

Photo editor: Do you run this? Why or why not?

Standard -
1.9.11.A: Use media and technology resources for research, information analysis, problem solving, and decision making in content learning. Identify complexities and inconsistencies in the information and the different perspectives found in each medium.
1.9.11.B: Evaluate how the techniques used in media modify traditional society.
1.2.11B - use and understand a variety of media and evaluate the quality of material produced