If you do use positional identifiers, you’d do well to avoid beginning sentences with them (especially the first one). Similarly, a child and an adult would not need positional identifiers if you give the child’s age, which is customary for those younger than 18. You would not, for example, need to use this style if only a man and woman are pictured, unless of course, one could be mistaken for the opposite sex or one or both of their names are gender ambiguous. Identifying subjects: When identifying people in a shot with more than one person, use “left,” “center” and “right” and variations of those (far right, top center, from left, etc.) - but only when absolutely necessary because they are somewhat disruptive and complicate matters. Generally, rather than description, the reader needs background information. Give the reader something he can’t tell just by looking at the picture. If an image shows neighborhood kids silhouetted against the spray of a fire hydrant on a hot day, tell me how long the gusher lasted or how hot it was that day or that at one point 30 kids were playing there. Or tell me how much that hit is costing her and how much she makes an hour. Tell me that just outside the frame her 4-year-old is watching. If a drug addict is clearly shooting up, don’t tell me she’s shooting up. Obviously, you need to identify any people or situations pictured, and occasionally you do need to describe what is happening, but on the whole, avoid describing the obvious. In general: View captions as an opportunity to draw the reader further into your package use them to tell a part of the story not told elsewhere.
0 kommentar(er)
