Truth In Captioning, Photography

Mountain Lion - Puma concolor - This mountain lion is in captivity at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness, New Hampshire USA and like most animals at the science center it is injured or unable to survive in the wild
 Squam Lakes Natural Science Center – Mountain lion in captivity
 

Truth In Captioning, Photography – Working photographers have many responsibilities besides producing imagery. One responsibility is truthfully captioning images. Editors, publishers and stock photography agencies all rely on this piece of information for one reason or another.

The image caption is as important as the image itself because it describes what is happening in the image. The photographer is usually (not always) held accountable for properly and truthfully capturing his or her images. 

Mountain Lion - Puma concolor - This mountain lion is in captivity at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness, New Hampshire USA and like most animals at the science center it is injured or unable to survive in the wild.
 Squam Lakes Natural Science Center – Mountain lion in captivity
 

I could caption these images as being from the "Wild" and send them off to stock agencies and editors. I could even write an article about being deep in the Pemi Wilderness of New Hampshire and crossing paths with this awesome looking creature. Who would know? 

Mountain Lion - Puma concolor - This mountain lion is in captivity at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness, New Hampshire USA and like most animals at the science center it is injured or unable to survive in the wild.
 Squam Lakes Natural Science Center – Mountain lion in captivity
 

Intentionally writing untruthful captions will put a photographer in hot water with any editor, and could potentially ruin a photographer's career. The photographer should always be truthful about who, what, and when when captioning imagery. You may also be interested in Wildlife Photography "Code Of Ethics"

Happy image making..


 

Connect with us on Facebook | Historic Information Disclaimer | White Mountains History

One Response to “Truth In Captioning, Photography”

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>