Captions in a photobook

[herut]

I'm translating captions for a photobook. Some are short (i.e. "A conductor" or "A worker"), others are full sentences (i.e. "Jack Jones shows how to catch mice for research purposes". I'm unsure about using determiners, should I use them everywhere, or is it perhaps customary to omit, say, indefinite articles in this context?

Also, I'm a bit hesitant about tense . "A woman is looking for her cat" or "A woman looks for her cat" (an old lady is shown scurrying about, looking for something) - any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Thomas Tompion]

It's rather a matter of style, Herut.

Woman looking for cat - would be perfectly normal
A woman looking for a cat - would be ok, but a bit fussy
A woman is looking for a cat - is too much, to my taste. We don't need sentences as captions.
Woman looks for cat - is an unhappy mix, to my ear. The simple present isn't suitable for captions and the sentence sounds funny without articles.

As you can tell, I favour the simple informal style here.