The Useful 10 Words of the 10,000 -- Describing Photographs in Words

Cynthia Miller - Henry Ford

1. Write about what you see - 10 words or less
2. Method of seeing - divide and conquer, start in the center, then look at quadrants for details
3. Who, What, When, Where, Why
4. Subject Terms - names, places, topics - who will use them, researchers, archivists, what's important to the repository, controlled vocabulary, consistent
5. What story are they telling? - clothing, surroundings, attitude, your imagination
6. Posed/snapshot - purpose
7. Exhibit titles can be different

Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject Terms

Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online