Best examples of tags and captions

[Hellonearth]

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion recently on tags and captions. Many people have subscribed to the idea of going back over their images to revisit them some with apparent success. A lot of us struggle with tags and captions so I was wondering is anyone was prepared to give examples of what they consider to be high quality tags and captions. Of course these do not have to be your images but can be from someone else.

[stipe]

Till Alamy will change completely its search engine once again in a few years and everybody will have once again to adjust all the keywords/tag/supertags and whatever to the new Alamy's parameters. This is simply absurd!!

[Craig Yates]

4 hours ago, Hellonearth said:

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion recently on tags and captions. Many people have subscribed to the idea of going back over their images to revisit them some with apparent success. A lot of us struggle with tags and captions so I was wondering is anyone was prepared to give examples of what they consider to be high quality tags and captions. Of course these do not have to be your images but can be from someone else.

 

First i would not pull anyone else's image onto here. You could post one of your images and ask forum members to

suggest tags and captions specifically for your image.

 

Craig.

[Joseph Clemson]

You are welcome to look at my images, which I consider to be populated by fine examples of the noble art of captioning and keywording (even if my sales don't always reflect the excellence of my literary labours) . 

 

As Craig suggests though, putting up a typical image from your collection and seeing how other contributors suggest you keyword it  is an excellent idea. It will certainly give you an insight into the variety of approaches people take in this matter. An explanation of the context of any image you put up will greatly help other contributors to make appropriate suggestions

[John Mitchell]

Who knows how the search engine will evolve as the Alamy collection continues to grow. However, for now there is Alamy's "best practice" advice.

[Hellonearth]

Ok, here are 2 of my images for caption and tag critique

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MariaJ]

1 hour ago, Hellonearth said:

Ok, here are 2 of my images for caption and tag critique

 

 

 

 

 

Just took a quick look at your second image.  I would definitely add the tag 'shopping' and include it in the caption.   eg. "Two women shopping for fruit at an outdoor market in Bangkok Thailand".  Other tags I would add include:  Thai, markets, shopper, shoppers, fresh fruit, fruits, produce, busy, people, customers,.

Maria

 

[dlmphotog]

KFG4RR

Your Caption:

Group of Chinese tourists waiting for their bus at entrance to Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

 

My Attempt:

Group of Chinese tourists waiting for their bus at entrance to Kuta Beach, a popular destination for international tourist, Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia

 

Your tags/keywords;

Asian, bali, boy, boys, Chinese tourists, entrance, girl, girls, group, group travel, Indonesia, kuta beach, people, south east asia, tourism, tourist, travel, waiting
 

I would add;

cocont, palm, outside, sunny, tropical, entrance gate, Balinese architecture, Balinese gate, Asian tropical architecture , Kuta, Badung Regency, street, international tourist, people, tour, touring

 

Hope this helps.

 

David

 

 

[Hellonearth]

Just took a quick look at your second image.  I would definitely add the tag 'shopping' and include it in the caption.   eg. "Two women shopping for fruit at an outdoor market in Bangkok Thailand".  Other tags I would add include:  Thai, markets, shopper, shoppers, fresh fruit, fruits, produce, busy, people, customers,.

 

Thank you Maria I will incorporate your suggestions

 

Kevin

[Hellonearth]

1 hour ago, dlmphotog said:

Your Caption:

Group of Chinese tourists waiting for their bus at entrance to Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

 

My Attempt:

Group of Chinese tourists waiting for their bus at entrance to Kuta Beach, a popular destination for international tourist, Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia

 

Your tags/keywords;

Asian, bali, boy, boys, Chinese tourists, entrance, girl, girls, group, group travel, Indonesia, kuta beach, people, south east asia, tourism, tourist, travel, waiting
 

I would add;

cocont, palm, outside, sunny, tropical, entrance gate, Balinese architecture, Balinese gate, Asian tropical architecture , Kuta, Badung Regency, street, international tourist, people, tour, touring

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you David this helps a lot. I have also looked at your portfolio to see your captions and keywords which also helps a lot.

 

Kevin

[Hellonearth]

16 hours ago, Joseph Clemson said:

You are welcome to look at my images, which I consider to be populated by fine examples of the noble art of captioning and keywording (even if my sales don't always reflect the excellence of my literary labours)

 

No idle boast Joseph. Your captions and keywords are indeed excellent

[Clemency Wright Consulting Ltd]

Hi Kevin. Your caption and keywords are to the point and not incorrect. There are a few other ways you could optimise search/access. Alamy Captions are read by the search engine, so if you had a building 'designed by' a named architect, or completed on a specific date, then you can add this info in Caption. It is often appropriate to add Caption terms as keywords, but in the case of 'designed by' this is more background info and I personally would not include in keywords. Some may disagree. As for general Search Engine Optimisation, the search engines index image titles (Captions) and image file names, so another good practise is to implement meaningful image refs and assign helpful natural language Captions. This will improve search/access on Alamy but also on search engines like Google and Safari.

 

As for keywords, it's always good to think how different customers might search, but to avoid over-keywording. So for instance, I might add 'buying' and 'retail' to the market image as some people will focus on the activity / transaction and if you only add 'shopping' then that one customer searching on 'buying' may miss this relevant image. Apart from the activity, and the people, this image is a lovely example of fresh fruit and healthy eating food (so all of these terms can be applied). If a customer is searching specifically for 'apples' or 'grapes' then they would like to see this image, so you can also specify these as keywords. Again, it is about not over-keywording so I would avoid going into too much detail (don't keyword the plastic wrapper).

 

Conceptually, this image conveys to me the idea of quality, choice, selection, scrutiny - the woman seems to be contemplating whether or not to buy. So again, concepts add another helpful dimension to the search experience.

 

The keywords applied and suggested for the Balinese gateway are, I think, very good. I find that with travel, the focus is usually on location and the type of travel, and this has been well covered. The standard keywords, 'travel destinations' and 'tourist destinations' could also be added as these are the type of keywords art buyers use on sites like Getty, so adding them could increase your chances of selling on Alamy if those buyers are shopping around. There are perhaps fewer concepts for travel images such as this one, however I recommend adding 'symmetry' and 'between' and also 'landmark' to help customers who are not necessarily searching on specific location terms alone.

 

Hope this helps Kevin - keep an eye on your zooms and all the best!  

 

[Hellonearth]

23 hours ago, Clemency Wright Consulting Ltd said:

Hi Kevin. Your caption and keywords are to the point and not incorrect. There are a few other ways you could optimise search/access. Alamy Captions are read by the search engine, so if you had a building 'designed by' a named architect, or completed on a specific date, then you can add this info in Caption. It is often appropriate to add Caption terms as keywords, but in the case of 'designed by' this is more background info and I personally would not include in keywords. Some may disagree. As for general Search Engine Optimisation, the search engines index image titles (Captions) and image file names, so another good practise is to implement meaningful image refs and assign helpful natural language Captions. This will improve search/access on Alamy but also on search engines like Google and Safari.

 

As for keywords, it's always good to think how different customers might search, but to avoid over-keywording. So for instance, I might add 'buying' and 'retail' to the market image as some people will focus on the activity / transaction and if you only add 'shopping' then that one customer searching on 'buying' may miss this relevant image. Apart from the activity, and the people, this image is a lovely example of fresh fruit and healthy eating food (so all of these terms can be applied). If a customer is searching specifically for 'apples' or 'grapes' then they would like to see this image, so you can also specify these as keywords. Again, it is about not over-keywording so I would avoid going into too much detail (don't keyword the plastic wrapper).

 

Conceptually, this image conveys to me the idea of quality, choice, selection, scrutiny - the woman seems to be contemplating whether or not to buy. So again, concepts add another helpful dimension to the search experience.

 

The keywords applied and suggested for the Balinese gateway are, I think, very good. I find that with travel, the focus is usually on location and the type of travel, and this has been well covered. The standard keywords, 'travel destinations' and 'tourist destinations' could also be added as these are the type of keywords art buyers use on sites like Getty, so adding them could increase your chances of selling on Alamy if those buyers are shopping around. There are perhaps fewer concepts for travel images such as this one, however I recommend adding 'symmetry' and 'between' and also 'landmark' to help customers who are not necessarily searching on specific location terms alone.

 

Hope this helps Kevin - keep an eye on your zooms and all the best!  

 

Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to really consider my examples and give such very good advice.

 

My 2 examples were carefully chosen. The Bali image has sold twice this year albeit for small amounts, but that suggested to me that my caption and keywording were about right although anything can always be improved upon of course and your suggestions are both appropriate and welcome.

 

The other image, I considered to be a reasonable photo and very much representative of the kind of photos that I take. I added it without really checking my caption and keywording (There seemed no point in asking for a critique on something I had already critiqued myself!). You bring up some very interesting points especially about the conceptual ideas the image generates. Conceptual keywording is one area that I think I am generally lacking. 

 

I am generally conscious of not over keywording but maybe sometimes I should err less on the side of caution.

 

I take it, given your tiny portolio, that you are actually a G**** contributor. In nay case I am very grateful for your extremely valuable comments.

 

Kevin

[NYCat]

14 minutes ago, Hellonearth said:

Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to really consider my examples and give such very good advice.

 

My 2 examples were carefully chosen. The Bali image has sold twice this year albeit for small amounts, but that suggested to me that my caption and keywording were about right although anything can always be improved upon of course and your suggestions are both appropriate and welcome.

 

The other image, I considered to be a reasonable photo and very much representative of the kind of photos that I take. I added it without really checking my caption and keywording (There seemed no point in asking for a critique on something I had already critiqued myself!). You bring up some very interesting points especially about the conceptual ideas the image generates. Conceptual keywording is one area that I think I am generally lacking. 

 

I am generally conscious of not over keywording but maybe sometimes I should err less on the side of caution.

 

I take it, given your tiny portolio, that you are actually a G**** contributor. In nay case I am very grateful for your extremely valuable comments.

 

Kevin

 

They are a company that will do your keywording for a fee. They have occasionally "advertised" here so nice of them to give you some free work.

 

Paulette

[Hellonearth]

4 minutes ago, NYCat said:

 

They are a company that will do your keywording for a fee. They have occasionally "advertised" here so nice of them to give you some free work.

 

Paulette

Thanks for the info.

 

It is and very much appreciated too!

 

Kevin

[Brasilnut]

Quote

They are a company that will do your keywording for a fee. They have occasionally "advertised" here so nice of them to give you some free work.

 

It can be a wise business decision to hire someone for keywording, especially if you've got a big batch of images to go through and little time.

 

I've hired Clemency and positively impressed with the service I've received. Free advice is, however, always welcome so hope to see you around here, @Clemency Wright Consulting Ltd often!  

 

Here's a link to the business website.

[Foreign Export]

11 hours ago, Brasilnut said:

 

It can be a wise business decision to hire someone for keywording, especially if you've got a big batch of images to go through and little time.

 

I've hired Clemency and positively impressed with the service I've received. Free advice is, however, always welcome so hope to see you around here, @Clemency Wright Consulting Ltd often!  

 

Here's a link to the business website.

 

this thread is not about promoting business services though is it 

[NYCat]

I believe this is one of the keywording services that Alamy recommends though I get your point.

 

Paulette

[Brasilnut]

Come on guys/gals, we're here to help each other out.

 

<--- See a link to my portfolio on the left, looks like I'm "promoting my business" 

[Clemency Wright Consulting Ltd]

Hi Kevin - no, I am not a contributor / photographer. I worked with Alamy on a User Experience project last year, and they required me to create an account (which meant uploading some photos).  As some people have commented, I do provide keywording services I am recommended as an Alamy provider. However Alamy photographers are only part of my business; I work B2B with image libraries and corporate businesses to develop search methodology, so I hope the experience I have on the enterprise side of this business will be of benefit to some members of the Alamy community.

 

Since you mentioned the second photo is representative of the type of content you produce it occurred to me, a helpful and "on-trend" term to add to this type of image is "real people". If you look back over your portfolio, you might find this applies to more images. If I can help further, feel free to contact me directly.

[Shergar]

I would be very happy for Alamy to use some of the commission they take from my image sales to pay Clemency to keyword my images. 

 

Actually, I suggest extending this privilege to anybody over the age of 60 who needs a little help in that department! 

 

Kind of like the thing they do for students only for the old folks

 

Cheers and gone 

 

Shergar