Captions, yay or neigh?

tommyl2010

Do you caption your photos? Do people like others that caption their photos?

Personally i would only caption a photo on the likes of flickr with the event title, but i find some of the very cringe worthy captions very off putting and for me can ruin a photo by trying to tell you a story of 'oh this is what he might be saying' instead of allowing you to use your imagination and get your own perspective on what might be going on in the photo.

I understand that some people just do it for fun but does it not ruin it in a way?

Promac

I like a caption that tells you what's going on or gives some info at least about the scene. I'm with you on the made up stuff though, like putting a caption on a baby picture that's supposed to represent what it's thinking or saying.

That's just me though - if the target audience is clucky women then it'd probably be a hit.

paulusdu

yeah, it sort of depends on your target audience, some will find it nice/funny, others will think it ruins the picture and is just tacky
i would go with no captions 99% of the time

Kintarō Hattori

Very rarely would I give a photo a caption. As Frank said, I'd only do it to give the viewer an idea of what's going on or why the image exists if it isn't immediately obvious.

condra

My preference- No caption 99% of the time, unless it is subtle and descriptive.

magicbastarder

use another photo as a caption.

Trigger76

I like some, some I see as pointless, Ive used pointless ones myself

I dont get worked up about it and dont see why others would. I think longshanks does it well in fairness.... The purpose of the pic & target audience is important as has been pointed out.

I guess to some its right up there with HDR stuff and they get all itchy and irritated about it....I suppose the purist photographers would dislike it as its more an addendum to an image and is an artificial inclusion....but then were does the line get drawn in terms of processing...its very subjective really innit?

I wonder what view is taken of it on accreditation panels, would ya have to resucitate them if you had a panel with captions on all your shots?


Here's Spot
"dog scratches balls"

Here's a swan in the park
"the power of grace" CCCRRRINGGGGEE

Pointless really...but bleahhh so what. I dunno , Im tired and confused.:(

.Longshanks.

Yep - im guilty of using captions recently.
Sometimes its done for a laugh, sometimes its highlighting something that mightn't be so obvious and sometimes its done to develop part of a 'style'.
But i mainly started doing it to try to discourage my pics popping up on various websites or being used without my permission. I used to put my name on pics but then I started to think that watermarking started to take away form the shot or something.
Added a caption became a happy medium:D

Like so-->

Zillah

magicbastarder wrote: »

use another photo as a caption.

Infinite chain of photos!

Also, it's yea or nay.

Tallon

I was about to post about Kev longshanks... He always captions his photos, but they're suptle bits of text that deffo add to the image

If it works, then I think it can look really good

humberklog

Same as Tallon with regards to Kev. I really like his captions but I don't think that that's what the OP meant. Kev's add to the picture while being in the picture, I find them a lovely oddity.

However...a title for a pic? I do now and again but when looking at others it really depends on if I like the person:pac::pac:.

The Snipe

Well, sometimes if I title them (Which is rare) I'll caption them, but I only ever title them with something that makes you think about what it means.

Thecageyone

I think Kev's made it his style, you always know it's one of his, and it works in his case.

Are we talking titles or captions? Like quotes underneath? I sometimes do on facebook, because I only really upload family snaps there. I find that when i don't others try to be funny and do it, rather get in before them.

.Longshanks.

humberklog wrote: »

Same as Tallon with regards to Kev. I really like his captions but I don't think that that's what the OP meant. Kev's add to the picture while being in the picture, I find them a lovely oddity.

However...a title for a pic? I do now and again but when looking at others it really depends on if I like the person:pac::pac:.

Cheers dude.

ditpaintball

I generally just title them according to their subject. If it is a picture of a model and I have 10 of them, then I name them Orla 1, Orla 2 etc.

Other info I usually put is lighting information instead of any of that story stuff.

zerohamster

When I saw this thread I was going to say have a look at kev_Longshanks100's photos with the captions as I have always found they looked awesome and worked really well with the photo but I think everyone got there already :rolleyes:

In general I think that if done right captions can look great but if not they can be cringeworthy and can ruin an image.

If OP meant titling the photo I think it can work but sometimes titles on photos just dont sit right with the image if they are too deep compared to the image as the emotion intended is lost to the viewer most of the time.

scr33n

Neigh - but only if you're an equestrian photographer.