Q. Hello. I’ve been charged with editing the illustration credits for a new history textbook, but I’d like to know what you think should be done for crediting montage photographs. This is where two or more photographs have been morphed into one image for printing. Putting all the illustration credits on one line without some sort of distinguishing mark or word would make it difficult for interested persons to tell which part of the montage came from what company or photographer. What solution or alternative do you suggest?
A. Sometimes the pieces of a montage can be identified with terms like “clockwise from upper left” or “top, left to right; center, left to right; bottom, left to right.” An alternative is to make a small line drawing of the components and number them so the credits can be keyed to the numbers. For elements superimposed or blended beyond distinction, there’s not much point in trying to sort them out; just list the credits in alphabetical order. If it’s essential to match each credit to its original, you might have to print thumbnail images of the original art as a guide.