Consult your Style guide for information about caption formats.
Also see: the Reed College Image Workstation Help, which provides the following guidance (and more:)
MLA Handbook - Captions
- Images should be labeled Figure (usually abbreviated Fig.), assigned an Arabic numeral, and given a caption.
- The caption should appear directly below the image.
- Image captions should always include image creator's first name, last name (if available), title, work date, and the source of the image.
- For a more descriptive caption, it is acceptable to include a description of materials, measurements, the institution or individual who owns the work, and the location of the institution.
- Note whether the image came from a print, electronic, or other source and cite appropriately.
Print Source Caption Example
Fig. 4. Frank Duveneck, Portrait of Maggie Wilson, Oil on board, 38.10 x 30.48 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Unsuspected Genius: the Art and Life of Frank Duveneck, by Robert Neuhaus (San Francisco: Bedford Press, 1987) 227.
Electronic Source Caption Example
Fig. 9. Amasis Painter, Lekythos; Women Weaving, 17.15 cm height, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Accessed Jan. 12, 2007 from the Reed College CONTENTdm database <http://cdm.reed.edu/u?/vrcwork,38536>.
Other Source Caption Example
Fig. 13. Columbia River at Dawn. Personal photograph by author. 13 March 2008.