When reading the newspaper, I look at the photos before reading the actual article. Captions are written to get a better idea of what the photo is about and are brief statements that explain the photo. What some people might not understand, though, is how difficult a task it is to write a caption that not only conveys the information of the photo to the reader in a sentence or two, but also is accurate with the information it presents and how it presents it.
Consider a photograph of three women sitting at a coffee shop. In the photo the middle woman is a teacher who is about to be laid off because of budget cuts, but the other two ladies own a computer hardware business. You want to only name the middle lady because the story is about the proposed lay offs of teachers, so you write, "Jane Smith, a teacher at ......." What does the reader get from this? First of all, they'll wonder why the teacher's friends don't just allow her to join in on their business. But more importantly, the readers will not know who the teacher is and will end up guessing. In turn, you're putting these ladies in a false light if the reader guesses wrong. It's a little frustrating to the reader.
To fix this, you would instead say, "Jane Smith, center, a teacher at....." By stating she's in the center, readers can easily figure out who the teacher is. This small detail in writing captions is just one of many tweaks that, if used correctly, will allow you to write a very concise and accurate caption, which is extremely important in helping you become the best photojournalist you could be.
Very nicely put Dennis. Using an example to illustrate the importance of "The Caption" is a wonderful way to draw the reader in.
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