Learning Log Meeting 12 Journalism - Using photographs: Writing captions

Vocabulary Logs
Topic	Using photographs: Writing captions
Date	June 16th, 2023
Sources/Links	Smock, John (Oct 30, 2018) Writing photo captions in Journalism Basics. Retrieved from https://ijnet.org/en/resource/writing-photo-captions
Learned vocabularies, pronunciation & part of speech, definition, and in context (e.g., in a sentence)	1. Caption  =  [ˈkapSH(ə)n] Part of speech: Noun Indonesian: keterangan Definition: a title or brief explanation appended to an article, illustration, cartoon, or poster. e.g., “he designed a series of posters with the caption: “No One is Innocent” " Synonyms:  Title , heading, wording   2. Diminish = [dəˈminiSH] Part of speech: Verb Indonesian:mengurangi Definition: make or become less perceptible by touch. e.g., “a tax whose purpose is to diminish spending” Synonyms: Decline, reduce, lessen   3. Essential  = [ˈəˈsen(t)SHəl] Part of speech: adjective Indonesian: penting Definition: absolutely necessary; extremely important. e.g., “it is essential to keep up-to-date records” Synonyms: Crucial, key, vital   4. Immediacy  = [iˈmēdēəsē] Part of peech: Noun Indonesian: kesegeraan Definition: the quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement e.g., “electronic mail works because it has the immediacy of a scribbled memo” Synonyms:   5. vague= [vāɡ] Part of peech: Adjective Indonesian: tidak jelas Definition: of uncertain, indefinite, or unclear character or meaning. e.g., “many patients suffer vague symptoms” Synonyms: Indefinite, unclear, hazy

 

 

Synopsis

According to Smock, John (2013) in his blog entitle “Using photographs: Writing captions” it was stated that writing photo captions is an essential part of the news photographer’s job because photo captions are often the first elements of a publication to be read. A photo caption should provide the reader basic information needed to understand a photograph and its relevance to the news. Professional standards of clarity, accuracy and completeness in caption writing should be as high or higher than any other writing that appears in a publication.

In most photo captions, the first sentence identifies the people and place in the photograph, and the date and location where it was taken. The second (and perhaps third) sentence should provide contextual information to help readers understand what they are looking at. In writing photo captions, you basically have to clearly identify the people and locations, Include the date and day the photograph was taken, Provide some context or background, write the caption in complete sentences and in the present tense, and most important  it should be brief.

 

 

Reflection

Through the material “Using photographs: Writing captions" I learned about the importance of images as news openers. The images presented can help attract readers to want to read the entire contents of the news. So let us include images that are appropriate and eye-catching. I also realized that the short text under the image is called a caption. Through captions, the author tries to convey the intent of the images presented, which relate to the news content briefly. After studying this material, in the future I will try to take pictures that can support the contents of my news. Not only the results of the photos themselves, it turns out that we also use images from other sources. However, the most important thing is that we must include the source of the image we are using. Apart from that, I also learned how to make good captions. A good caption, of course, must be able to represent the entire contents of our news through the images presented.