Hints and Instructions on Photo Titles (and File Names)

Remember that the judges are critiquing the title as well as the photo. A good title will sometimes sway the judges into upgrading the photo's rank.

Gary R Hook says "Titles are hard, but important. A good title should direct the viewer. If it can do that while being clever, that's fine."

Mary Day Long says "Give me a terse, obscure, or simply descriptive title any day."

Here are some general hints and rules for applying titles to your photos:

• The title is very important to the judging, so make it descriptive, terse, obscure, intriguing, humorous, or something that will catch the judges’ fancy. See some examples below.
• The file name of the photo doesn’t matter since the judges never see it.
• Do not put personal information (such as your name) in the title.
• Do not enclose the title in quotation marks, although you can have quotation marks in the title if they are relevant.  (see example below).
• Do not put the date into the title unless it is important for understanding.
• Do not use the default camera title, such as “IMG_5192”,
• A photo can be submitted to multiple competitions with restrictions. When submitting a photo, the submission process allows you to use a unique name for each competition. Look for the “Optional Title Override (For current competition only)” box.
  • A photo can be submitted to multiple monthly competitions as long as it doesn't win any awards in the earlier competition(s) and it it relevant to the current competition theme and rules.
  • Photos which were submitted to monthly competitions can be submitted to art show competitions.

Examples of Good Titles

Click on a photo to see the full-size version.