The best photo captions do these things
Every photo caption in your life story book should either tell a story or provide vital information.
Whether you are designing a family photo book with highlights from the past year or creating a long family history book with plenty of narrative text alongside a few select images, writing good captions is a key to success.
Why do I even need captions?, you may ask—especially when you already know who is pictured and you immediately recognize the scene. Who wants to state the obvious?
Well, consider this: You (and even your immediate family) are not the only ones who may be looking at this book. What if your cousins or a friend pages through it? What if—and hopefully this is the case—your kids’ kids one day read it?
And think about the effect of time: Just because you currently remember that Tom’s birthday party was held at the bowling alley two towns over, will you really remember that detail a few years from now (I can say with certainly I would not!).
Don’t worry, though, as I’ve got a little cheat sheet for you. Every caption should do one of these two things:
Every family photo caption should…
Tell a story…
Sure, you may have told a long story in the main text portion of your book that relates to a given photo, but you want to deliver value to the reader who is combing through the pages quickly, too. Admit it—sometimes you just want to page through a book and read the graphic type and look at some pictures! I guarantee your descendants will one day do this, too. So either add a new detail in the caption (how wonderful it is to get even more context or emotional punch through a caption!) or concisely reiterate what the photo is showing.
Sharing interesting info alongside the photos in your book entices new readers to go further and read the whole story. Strong captions also provide touchstones for someone who has already read the entire book, but wants to revisit the stories to reminisce and sit with their memories for a while.
…or give vital information
Indicate who is pictured in a photo with clear directionals—for example, “clockwise from top left” or “from left.”
Family photo books don’t need full names for immediate family members, but do consider using first and last names for your children’s classmates or your work colleagues, for example.
In more in-depth storytelling books such as a memoir, a legacy book, or a family history book, do use surnames to identify people the first time they are shown. And occasionally be specific about relationships, particularly as you get further back on your ancestral lines (“my paternal grandmother, Betty…”, for example, orients the reader so they don’t have to flip back to your text or a family tree to avoid confusion).
Include dates and locations for milestone events such as a bar mitzvah, a wedding, or a ship passage across the ocean. If you know an approximate date, you can say something like, “circa 1912” or “early spring, 2020.”
Ask yourself: If I encountered this photograph in a book, what would I want to know about it? That simple strategy will help guide your caption writing.
Photos that don’t need captions:
secondary shots from the same scene or location, when details are enumerated in a nearby caption
mood shots, such as the spring flowers blooming in your yard or the sunset on your camping trip
photos used graphically on section openers, as long as they appear again in the main text
images that are self-explanatory (so if it’s a location shot and there is a sign saying where it is, for instance)