figure side by side , caption text problem

Question

I have a problem putting two figures side by side, I don't want the caption text to affect the beside figure.

Here is my code:

\begin{figure}[H] 
\centering 
\begin{minipage}{0.45\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{gull} % first figure itself
    \caption{HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD  }
\end{minipage}\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{gull} % second figure itself
    \caption{second figure}
\end{minipage}
\end{figure}

So the problem is if I write many things in one \caption I don't want LaTeX to carry the second figure down.

I want for the figures a steady position regardless of what I have written below of them.

Answer 1

You might use the position-switches for minipages:

\documentclass[]{article}

\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[h] 
\centering 
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.45\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{example-image-a} % first figure itself
    \caption{HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD HELLO WORLD  }
\end{minipage}\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.45\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{example-image-b} % second figure itself
    \caption{second figure}
\end{minipage}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

Answer 2

This is the default if you use floatrow. In addition you can make the caption width equal to the width of the figure with the optional argument of \ffigbox:

\documentclass[]{article}

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{caption, floatrow}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[!htb]
\centering
\begin{floatrow}[2]
\floatsetup{floatrowsep=qquad}
\captionsetup{labelfont=sc, justification=centerlast}
%
\ffigbox[\FBwidth]{\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{TheLarch}} % first figure itself
    {\caption{HELLO LARCH\\ HELLO LARCH HELLO LARCH HELLO LARCH HELLO LARCH HELLO LARCH HELLO LARCH HELLO LARCH }}%
   \ffigbox{\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{TheLarch}} % second figure itself
{\caption{A second larch}}
\end{floatrow}
\end{figure}

\end{document}