Cutlines/Captions

Nowadays the two are interchangeable Some deem cutline antiquated from print news.

Why they matter Provide context Give additional information Help tell the story Draw readers into the story In photo galleries or on Instagram, etc., they tell the story

Print Full cutline: Describes what’s going on and gives some background or context. The first sentence is written in present tense and describes the action in the picture (what reader can see). Second adds additional details, background, etc.

Can even pull out a quote from the story.

Once full cutlines were used only on pictures with no stories Once full cutlines were used only on pictures with no stories. Now, many papers use them on pics, especially print editions. Hope is the readers get enough information to want to reader story, if not, they learned a little more about today’s events. Use the full cutline to offer the reader background or additional information that is not already covered in other places. It is a turnoff for a reader to read a cutline that repeats facts in the head.

Don’t make assumptions you know what is going on

Skeleton lines – Just a brief description of what’s happening in picture. Many newspapers use these for all cutlines.

Gannett newspapers favor these

A little bit of “mystery” makes me want to read the story (why were they given aprons by Oprah?)

One line captions Little more creative, information than skeleton lines. Focus is not necessarily on describing what is happening in image. (Used a lot online)

Mix elements of full and skeleton

Namelines – used on mugshots Namelines – used on mugshots. Some papers use only name, others try to use as point of entry so get a little more information in.

Magazine type publications can have longer captions

Non traditional captions (15 to 30 seconds)

One caption for a lot of photos if you don’t have a lot of say about them

Social media The medium will dictate a lot. For example, with Instagram, show before telling. Lead with your visual. On Twitter, you have only a certain number characters. Must make a lot of choices.

Washington Post photo on Instagram

Remember that most people scroll through their Instagram feeds at a brisk pace. If there’s any doubt as to how long your caption should be, keep it brief. That said, if there’s an interesting story to tell behind the photo, then share it. National Geographic’s Instagram account is one of the best at the longer-form caption. As impressive as the magazine’s visuals are, the accompanying text always adds value.

Captions are cut off in users’ feeds after a few lines of text, so you need to convey your key point or call to action right away. Put any @mentions and hashtags (more on those later) at the end. Also, leading with the most important words is simply good writing practice. Hook the reader in and give her a reason to tap more.