Background Information in the Description Field

[Jill Morgan]

Do you think it helps sales to have background info in the description field? I hardly ever put anything there since it isn't searchable, but wondered if I should start.

 

For example, I have a couple of pics of the Peterborough LIft Locks to keyword. Would some background history on the Lift Locks be useful, or just a waste of my time? 

 

Jill

[John Gaffen]

I don't know if adding info into the description field helps sales, but I do enjoy researching  my subjects, particularly when there is a historical context of some sort..

[Niels Quist]

I don't know if adding info into the description field helps sales, but I do enjoy researching  my subjects, particularly when there is a historical context of some sort..

 

Yes, I also often enjoy giving more details or the full story in the description field, and sometimes it may become the reason that the image is chosen, I think.

[CandyAppleRed Images]

I quite often add a few lines if a building was designed by someone famous or has a bit of history, or maybe a specific architecture type. Not an essay, but enough to add a bit of interest, and also helps to back up certain keywords.

 

I'm not sure if it has helped any sales, but my hope is that the extra detail may sway a buyer if it makes a shot more "relevant".

 

As John says, it also helps make the research fun, and I've learned quite a lot doing it!

[John Mitchell]

I don't know if it helps sales directly, especially since the description field is no longer searchable. However, I would imagine that some editorial clients (e.g. educational publishers) appreciate having a bit of background info, etc.

[Bill Brooks]

Here is my caption for my image of the Peterborough Lift Lock:

 

"Peterborough lift lock on the Trent Severn Waterway at Peterborough Ontario Canada is the highest dual lift lock in the world"

 

I try to include enough information in the caption field so that an editor can use Wickipedia, if they want more information. If you fill the description field with text be sure to write it yourself. Any text cut and pasted from the internet could be copyright.

 

Sometimes, if digital alteration is present but not obvious, I will use the description field to explain the amount of, and location of, digital alteration in the image. Here is an example:

 

"Birds were moved a few meters by computer for compositional purposes only. IE the Geese were really in front of the building."

[Ed Rooney]

Do you think it helps sales to have background info in the description field? I hardly ever put anything there since it isn't searchable, but wondered if I should start.

 

For example, I have a couple of pics of the Peterborough LIft Locks to keyword. Would some background history on the Lift Locks be useful, or just a waste of my time? 

 

Jill

 

Only occasionally I might use the description box to put in something most others wouldn't know.  (Bill's tech data might be useful.) Mostly I try to think of myself as the picture buyer. Would I, as a picture buyer, maybe part of an editorial team, trust only the details a photographer gives me? No, I think my editor or a researcher would want to check the facts themselves in a few other places. 

[John Mitchell]

There is such a thing as "too much information" as well. At one time, some contributors were pasting long excerpts from Wikipedia articles into the description fields, which is no doubt one of the reasons Alamy eventually decided to make the description field unsearchable.