Captioning Photo Topics - Your Views Please

[Bill Edwards]

Dear All

 

I mentioned captioning photo topics in a post yesterday, inviting members to add captions to their photo topics as, in my view it was desirable. Since that post, it has been mentioned by other members and I am curious as to your views on the subject. I've added a poll in an effort to get a feeling for this subject.

 

Your comments would be appreciated.

 

All the best

 

Bill

[harry m]

I voted for desirable as well . reason being it's always good when looking at posts to see whose the subject matter is. Not everybody knows whose equipment is whose when taking pictures, that's why it would be harsh to say it's compulsory.In the case of projects where the title says what and whose the subject is about, I don't think it's necessary to caption pictures, an example being John Fahy and his Ark.

 

[Bill Edwards]

13 minutes ago, harry monk said:

I voted for desirable as well . reason being it's always good when looking at posts to see whose the subject matter is. Not everybody knows whose equipment is whose when taking pictures, that's why it would be harsh to say it's compulsory.In the case of projects where the title says what and whose the subject is about, I don't think it's necessary to caption pictures, an example being John Fahy and his Ark.

 

A well thought out response - thank you! 

 

The reason I posted this topic is that three times since yesterday I've seen photo topics with a reply asking for captions or a fair report and I wondered just how desirable members thought captions were! 

 

I also voted for desirable as I do like to see captions. Regarding not knowing what is what, I posted photos from Harpenden with captions, but an unknown lorry. Another member was able to identify it, furthering my knowledge and allowing me to add to the transport list. If I hadn't captioned, I'd never have known. 

 

Clearly where the topic title says it all its unnecessary and I accept that. 

 

Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I'm keen  to hear as many comments as possible. Three members have voted for leave it up to the poster, which I fully accept, but I am a little curious as to why they don't consider it "desirable"? 

[harry m]

I think ' unknown ' or 'ID please' is acceptable , as we know other members will add the owners name in a reply usually.

[John Carter]

I'm not too bothered about the lack of captions, except when it concerns fairground model shows. I don't get to many and I like to know who these talented model makers are, particularly if they're forum members. The names often get added at the bottom of the topics, but scrolling up and down to put names to models can get really irritating. I dread to think what it's like if you're viewing on a smartphone. I've often wondered if it's possible to open up a topic temporarily to allow the original poster to add the names in the right place.

[Eddie Kelly]

I have aired my views on this topic previously & I still feel that captions with images are important. Firstly I cannot see much point in posting dozens of images from a particular fair or locality without providing some information about the subject matter, bearing in mind a majority of users will not have seen most of the included items or visited a particular fair or location. If any images are submitted for publication in the press particularly the Worlds Fair or one of the enthusiasts magazines it is doubtful they would be used or be paid for without captioned information.

 

The second point concerns archiving where a meaningful description is necessary to assist both the archiving process & future reference. Tens of thousands of images are held at NFA the vast majority having been filed & categorised at the time of capture enabling clear & structured systems to be in place for the benefit of users, researchers, the media etc,

 

Finally I have recently been asked  by several showmen why images of their equipment are displayed without any indication or clue as to ownership especially when they may have invested tens of thousands of pounds in acquiring, restoring or updating their equipment. Adding details provides showmen with a 'shop window' for their equipment especially when seeking new grounds or for lessees seeking something fresh for their own presentations. 

 

No showman to my knowledge charges a fee for photographing their equipment. I do feel the least we can do to thank them for giving us free rein on their grounds is to acknowledge ownership of their subject matter when posting here & elsewhere.

 

 

[Steve Barton]

I think that captions finish off the topic and make it look more professional. When this subject has been mentioned previously people have stated that either they haven't got time to add captions or that they don't know or are unsure of the owners of equipment so they don't add captions. I feel that if you have taken time to travel to a fair taken the time to take the photos and then taken even more time to edit and upload the photos it seems a shame that you don't have the time to add captions to finish off the job. As for not knowning who owns what there are two options open to you either check in the Rides or Transport Lists which I agree can be time consuming but there is an easy way and that is to put a question mark under the photo and usually it doesn't take long for someone to post who the subject in the photo is owned by. I also think that where captions are added they should be added under the photo in all case's because there are some posts where the caption is above the photo and others where the caption is under the photo .  

[Paul Ward]

I think making captions compulsory would not be a good idea as it may put some people off posting photos at all, i must admit i don't add captions much now as it takes to long to do, most of the time a member has taken the time to list the ride owners in the reports so is there anyway these could be linked?

[Steve Barton]

1 hour ago, Paul Ward said:

I think making captions compulsory would not be a good idea as it may put some people off posting photos at all, i must admit i don't add captions much now as it takes to long to do, most of the time a member has taken the time to list the ride owners in the reports so is there anyway these could be linked?

You could post a link from the Fair Report at the bottom of a photo post but that will only work if someone done a report for the fair, for example your last post is of Market Deeping but there is no report for that Fair so a link can't be added.

[Paul Ward]

Yes understand there must be a fair report, think in future i will use captions when time allows and if not link to a report.

[Bill Edwards]

4 hours ago, Eddie Kelly said:

I have aired my views on this topic previously & I still feel that captions with images are important. Firstly I cannot see much point in posting dozens of images from a particular fair or locality without providing some information about the subject matter, bearing in mind a majority of users will not have seen most of the included items or visited a particular fair or location. If any images are submitted for publication in the press particularly the Worlds Fair or one of the enthusiasts magazines it is doubtful they would be used or be paid for without captioned information.

 

The second point concerns archiving where a meaningful description is necessary to assist both the archiving process & future reference. Tens of thousands of images are held at NFA the vast majority having been filed & categorised at the time of capture enabling clear & structured systems to be in place for the benefit of users, researchers, the media etc,

 

Finally I have recently been asked  by several showmen why images of their equipment are displayed without any indication or clue as to ownership especially when they may have invested tens of thousands of pounds in acquiring, restoring or updating their equipment. Adding details provides showmen with a 'shop window' for their equipment especially when seeking new grounds or for lessees seeking something fresh for their own presentations. 

 

No showman to my knowledge charges a fee for photographing their equipment. I do feel the least we can do to thank them for giving us free rein on their grounds is to acknowledge ownership of their subject matter when posting here & elsewhere.

 

 

Thank you for another well reasoned reply - I agree with everything you say!

 

1 hour ago, Paul Ward said:

I think making captions compulsory would not be a good idea as it may put some people off posting photos at all

I agree 100% with this, which is why I voted for desirable and not compulsory. However there are some very good arguments above FOR adding captions

 

1 hour ago, Paul Ward said:

most of the time a member has taken the time to list the ride owners in the reports so is there anyway these could be linked?

That would be better than no captions at all, but in my view not nearly as good as having the captions there under the photos - always assuming there is a report.

 

 

Following on from a thought above - What would it be like to buy a hard back book with 1000 funfair photos in, but none of them captioned? Or if it came with a separate book with the captions in and you had to look up and cross reference every photo?  

[Paul McHaddan]

Well i think all photos should come with captions!!  But not everybody knows who owns rides, juveniles, games, transport etc!!

Its the enthuiast who wants to go that far to take the time & the trouble to find who owns what!! Not everyone has the time to go that far..

So photos with out a name is better than nothing at least they bothered so then i take my time to find out on this forum who does own what!!

 

So i think its best left upto the members to decide 

[Eddie Kelly]

1 hour ago, Steve Barton said:

You could post a link from the Fair Report at the bottom of a photo post but that will only work if someone done a report for the fair, for example your last post is of Market Deeping but there is no report for that Fair so a link can't be added.

The forum is I believe building an archive of the images. If reports were linked to pictures in some way I cannot see how information for a specific picture could be identified & transferred with the picture to the archive other than someone physically adding such information.

 

When I was much more mobile I posted pictures from fairs all over the British Isles while travelling with my job & socially. The amount of travelling did significantly reduce any time I had for posting items on the forum but I can honestly say adding a caption to images took up a negligible amount of that time. 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Eddie Kelly

[John Carter]

I agree with Waltzerman - better no captions than no photos at all.

I hope we're not going to intimidate new members who don't know the showmen, are too shy to ask, haven't got time or don't know the forum well enough to find the names of the owners after the event. They could well be at a fair, which no else has visited or an unusual one, like the Market Deeping one, which Paul Ward and Keith W covered. It would be an awful shame for the forum to lose photos in those instances. I like Steve Barton's suggestion to post photos with question marks as captions. There seem to be plenty of people on here with knowledge which they're willing to share. The question marks would give them the go-ahead with no risk of feeling they're butting in on someone else's topic.

[Bill Edwards]

15 minutes ago, John Carter said:

better no captions than no photos at all.

100% agree, which is why I didn't vote for this option, but I'm hoping that this discussion will encourage those who clearly do have the knowledge to take a couple of extra minutes (I don't accept it takes too long) to caption their photos.

 

The ?? idea is good - members don't currently have the ability to edit their photo sets once posted, but I could look into changing this if it would encourage captioning

 

 

 

 

[Steve Barton]

36 minutes ago, Waltzerman said:

Well i think all photos should come with captions!!  But not everybody knows who owns rides, juveniles, games, transport etc!!

Its the enthuiast who wants to go that far to take the time & the trouble to find who owns what!! Not everyone has the time to go that far..

So photos with out a name is better than nothing at least they bothered so then i take my time to find out on this forum who does own what!!

 

So i think its best left upto the members to decide 

As I stated in my post if you caption the one's that are known and put a simple ? under the one's not known someone is bound to fill in the gaps also other members might have in their photo collections photos of the same equipment and they don't know who owns it but by captioning things it helps others out.

[Steve Barton]

41 minutes ago, John Carter said:

I agree with Waltzerman - better no captions than no photos at all.

I hope we're not going to intimidate new members who don't know the showmen, are too shy to ask, haven't got time or don't know the forum well enough to find the names of the owners after the event. They could well be at a fair, which no else has visited or an unusual one, like the Market Deeping one, which Paul Ward and Keith W covered. It would be an awful shame for the forum to lose photos in those instances. I like Steve Barton's suggestion to post photos with question marks as captions. There seem to be plenty of people on here with knowledge which they're willing to share. The question marks would give them the go-ahead with no risk of feeling they're butting in on someone else's topic.

On the flip side to your comments about new members if photos were captioned surely it would be a big help to new / young members to identify things easier.

[Martin]

I agree with the viewpoint above. I have to hold my hands up and admit on my Facebook page I tend to slack captioning my photos. I have reviewed my own procedure following some questions of "whose is this" in replies.

 

However both on this forum and on my own main website I always endeavour to caption my photos as good practice. As it does take no more than an extra 2-3 minutes. I also voted for the middle choice as I feel it should be encouraged.

[Steve Barton]

One thing that is becoming clear from the few members who have bothered to vote in the poll is that the majority of voters so far either aren't bothered one way or the other about captions or don't see the need for them. I just hope now that those members who do add captions don't stop adding them thinking that they are wasting their time.

[Bill Edwards]

8 minutes ago, Steve Barton said:

One thing that is becoming clear from the few members who have bothered to vote in the poll is that the majority of voters so far either aren't bothered one way or the other about captions or don't see the need for them. I just hope now that those members who do add captions don't stop adding them thinking that they are wasting their time.

What is it they say about statistics?

 

I've looked at the stats and concluded that over 80% of our members think they are desirable and/or should be compulsory

 

Another good reason FOR captioning has come to mind today. We've 1880 photo topics over 76 pages going back to 2014. The topics that aren't captioned are NOT searchable and I would suggest won't get looked at again. If they were captioned they would come up on any search - e.g. someone searching for a particular Showmen's ride would NOT be able to find the photos that are present in an uncaptioned photo set! Perhaps there is an argument for deleting older, uncaptioned photo sets?? 

[Mark Franks]

I think that it is a good idea bearing in mind that you know who the owners of rides, stalls and juveniles ect belong to. But is it known whether every showman would want their equipment made known on this forum ??. The other thing that I would like to add is if a certain ride or attraction isn't known to an enthusiast, then could the moderators of this forum edit the topics in order to provide the names of ride owners ? This by the way is just a suggestion.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Mark Franks