Writing Captions that Help Your Photo Book Tell a Story

Every photo book you make tells a story. You can do everything from capturing your wedding day to showcasing your year in review. It's true that carefully chosen photos are the cornerstone of any photo book. But well-written captions make a great addition too. They keep readers engaged with your photo book and help you tell your story.

Using Captions to Tell a Story

Photo book captions help you preserve memories and add value for your readers. When you sit down to look at your photo book decades from now, you want to remember all the little details. Recording them in captions is the best way to do so.

Captions help make sense of your photo book by saying the things that your pictures can't. You can use captions to share contextual information about a photo, like the place or time it was taken. Think about captions you've seen in newspapers and magazines. Almost all captions in these publications include

• The date the photo was taken
• Who or what is in the photo
• How the photo is related to the story

Captions are one of the best tools for creating a story arc when making a photo book. It's like connecting the dots from one photo to the next: Captions provide information about each shot so your readers can follow your narrative.

When you're writing captions, it's important not to skimp on the details. Think of what you need to include to bring clarity to your story. Captions like "Bob was excited" are descriptive but leave too many questions unanswered. Focus on telling the why. "Bob was excited to earn his Ph.D. degree" isn't much longer than the original caption, but it offers better insight into the photo.

How to Write Engaging Captions

Engaging captions are important, but where do you get started when you need to write them? Think about how you'd caption the photo if you posted it to Instagram or another social media platform. You can also draw inspiration from these caption ideas.  As you write captions, keep these two important questions in mind:

1. What do I want my readers to feel when they see this photo?
2. Why am I including this photo in my book?

Remember to keep captions consistent throughout your book. Using the same tone for all your captions helps build a cohesive narrative. It also makes it easier to navigate your book. Consider these family heritage photo book projects. The creators used clear, consistent captions to tell their family story. Some creators opted to list only names under photos, while others used captions to tell stories about how a couple met.

Don't feel pressured to come up with all of the captions for your photo book in one sitting. Take time to think about what you want to say and jot down your thoughts. You can even write your captions in your favorite text editor, then copy and paste them into the Mixbook editor.

Creative Caption Ideas for Every Project

Captions can add value to any project you're creating, even a pint-sized custom mini-book. It's essential to write clear captions, but don't forget to have fun while you're doing it. More than anything else, the captions you write will capture your personality on the printed page. Be creative!

Captions can be used in myriad different ways. Consider these unique ways to craft captions that tell your story.

• Use lyrics from your partner's favorite songs as captions in a romantic anniversary photo book.
• Think about how a photo makes you feel, and write it as a caption — try something like "This is what happiness looks like."
• Incorporate friendship quotes into a photo book to gift your best friend.
• Ask your reader engaging questions that will make them feel like a part of your story.
• Craft "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style captions to make your next travel photo book a lot of fun.
• Write professional, gallery-style captions to include in your art portfolio.

Tell Your Story in a Photo Book

Crafting a story in a photo book using pictures and captions is fun. It's a great way to preserve your memories too. Feel like trying your hand at writing clever captions that build a narrative? Get started on your next Mixbook project now.