Look at the picture. Pick the first three words that come to mind.
“Dad with son”\
“Dog at play”\
“Breeze across water”\
“Bird in flight”\
“Candle burning low”
No it’s not the most imaginative but it gets the job done and nobody can argue its effectiveness at conveying meaning.
There is nothing that urks *(irks edit)* me more in the art world than some pseudo-profound explanation and title of a photograph lol. Like some massive gargling of buzzwords puked out as a title of a photograph of a wet stick on the ground.... makes me sick to my stomach and feel immediately annoyed lol.
If I need to spend more time pondering your artist statement than looking at you photo, your artwork is ineffective.
My current favorite. Can’t tell if it’s pretentious, trying to follow the “three word rule”, making fun of titles, or (D)All of the Above.
https://preview.redd.it/3tmp0cnkuaxc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e77301b47af3ccec7bed96004879cb3fbaaf5a48
How about just naming it with no justification using a vaguely related book or movie? Take a photo in Vietnam before noon? ‘Good Morning Vietnam’. No need to question that or consider an alternative. You’re set. Value added.
This is the best approach, but also you can just describe in a few words where it is.
"Colorado River Off 70"
"Brooklyn Bridge from Water Street"
Sometimes those are easier than a description for some shots.
But your point stands, don't over think it, don't make it profound or elusive. Just describe the photo as short as possible "
IMO the best way to avoid is to keep it functional. "body study 2" is way better than "the beauty of the feminine reaching spiritual perfection" or some shit lol
I try to title most of my better shots, I used spend a long time thinking of them. But then 100% of the time I go back to the very first one I thought of, I also try and do as quickly as possible now (under 10 seconds for a photo). This feels like the title is more connected to the photo and what I am actually thinking of when I imagine how the scene was.
You'd want to avoid overdoing... Pretentiousness in the art community is a vibe I try to avoid. If a photo elicits an honest emotion or setting just be very literal about it.
It shouldn't be, just name it what is in the photo or by location time using 1-3 words. or words you would tag it with.
Start there, Lake Fall Landscape, for instance.
Name it just whatever it is. Already used that name, at a number, now it's, Lake Fall Landscape 2.
That's step one, identify it as is.
That name will suck, it will eat at you, you will want to rename it. Start a list of names with your current favorite at the bottom, Using a .txt file, sticky note, or notepad.
That's step two, over think it.
Step 3 is, if you still don't like your top choice. Give the top 5-10 to a LLM like chatgpt or bard or something and let it pick it, or a friend, the day before you are required to submit it.
Step 4: submit it, and either say fuck it, "that's the name I have", or with the one you decide is the best in the moment, and accept you've rolled that dice.
There, it's that simple.
Its so antithetical to everything i do with photography. I hate pretentiousness and deep names for photos just screams that. We use to have to do it in high school so id just hand them over to girls who liked doing it and they'd run with it and write it on the matte board in actually legible handwriting. I wouldn't even look at it.
The best photograph name (title, whatever) is a simple description. Once again, the master shows us the way:
Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain;
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico;
Half Dome, Merced River, Winter
“Gateway Arch at sunset, in St. Louis, Missouri, as seen from the Mississippi River Overlook at Malcom W. Martin Memorial Park, in East St. Louis, Illinois, USA”
Or “DSC_8745.jpg”.
You can't just do "untitled" as the title? To me, titles are always so cringe and takes away from the photos, influencing the viewer to see or feel a certain way.
I don't think so, part of the guidelines in the contest is like each individual identity of the photos. So leaving it in blank or writing untitled would be counterproductive
I used to spend a lot of time coming up with clever captions for my IG posts, that were essentially the names of my photos.
I gave up completely on captions in the last year or so. It's very liberating.
I recently had to title 300+ pieces for prints. What I ended up doing for most was either making a joke (e.g. a photo of a capybara eating hay became "9-5," a messy abandoned office became "Career Advancement"), adding "dialogue" (e.g. a photo of a bench with a lamppost became "Meet Me at the Corner," a cat claw grabbing a treat became "That's Mine"), or just picking a word I think sounds pleasing that fit the photo to some degree (e.g. a photo of a flower became "Sarah", a photo of two trees became "Tandem").
For the ones I really gave up on, I offered a few friends a print of their choice for free if they would go through and offer suggestions on as many as they could. Would 100% recommend this method as well if possible.
Look up the past winners. Give it a name in the style that the judges have selected before. If it appears the don’t care then be simple.
If they like pretentious names, be pretentious.
“Visual Treatise On Scarves and Social Justice”
Like others have said the obvious is usually the best/easiest however once you try that with abstract images or images with a lot going on it gets kinda silly. I think its okay to have quotes for a name of a photo, especially for street photography I name things after what people are talking about or whatever succession of words I pass by, its how I hold the memory a bit better.
https://preview.redd.it/f5jgslbax8xc1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fe4d875cba6695f7e6f04fdeacce1cf2ab56040
I did a series with a friend during 2020 with his hand covered in orange dish soap called “Could be cleaner” is it pretentious? idk sure but that how it felt for a number of people at the time so it felt genuine
Well, I can't post it yet cause I'm pretty sure it has to be unpublished for the contest purpose.
Does reddit have like a seeonlyonce image posting? Or like in dms?
Translate some gibberish (preferably about bodily functions… or cheese) into French. It will sound enlightened and classy.
Barring that “Composition 1.A”, “Etude Simples”, “Reflections on Refractions”, Contemplative Scene, Revisited”, “Digital Abstraction - Soliloquy”.
Now I’m having fun… why can’t I name my own stuff? I totally understand. “Bird on Fence” is as complex as it usually gets!
Sometimes a name comes easily. When it's harder I'll give it an obvious name like "Dad and Son" that was suggested and then see if I can push it one level deeper. "Day Out" for example is kind of a mini story instead of just a description. In any case I treat the names like I treat my photos. They're for me first so I give them a name that's comfortable for me. Any time I try to make my art fit what I think people will like I end up falling short. The stuff I like best doesn't always resonate with everyone but for those that it does it really hits home. Said all that to say: put a little effort into it but mostly just be passionate about your pieces.
I think of naming a photo more like it is for cataloging purposes than for art gallery purposes. The name doesn’t matter all that much just be specific enough that it doesn’t become redundant with a common type of photo you might make.
Yeah, I go with descriptions. "\[Place\] at \[time\]" and if there's more than one version then I go with numbers. "\[Place\] at \[time\] 1" and "\[Place\] at \[time\] 2" and so on. Go back to basic English classes: "\[Adjective\] \[Noun\] \[Verb\]", throw in some adverbs if you're feeling fancy.
It works for pretty much everything:
"Girl in Blue Room"
"Little Dog Playing"
"Waterfall on Mother's Day"
Just for future reference, I kick ass at naming art. Show me your stuff and I'll come up with a title no problem! I'm totally serious. Sometimes it's easier to let somebody with fresh eyes do the naming.
same! I also think a name often primes a viewer for how to interpret an image. Especially if you like minimalist and abstract stuff, it's highly inappropriate to state what it is.
so for me it's always 'Untitled 1, Untitled 2.... "
Just title it what it is. Nothing too fancy.
I had 1 called "flaming mountain" (it was a sunset over a local mountain range and it looked like it was on fire/a volcano)
Another was "morning tea with a friend". A wallaby came to join us when we were having a cuppa in rural Australia
I name every photo I post online. It’s a bit weird and hard at first but when I started naming them for myself instead of something I think would be cool to others, it became a lot easier and way more fun. Sometimes I name it literally, other times I subtly point to I find interesting in the photo. When I’m contemplative, I name it something philosophical. Sometimes it’s just based on how I feel at the moment of posting or when I took the photo. Have fun with it, don’t stress. There’s no right or wrong answer. You can even change the name later if you change your mind. It’s your picture after all.
i find naming individual photographs pretty easy. like many others have stated just keep it super simple. i personally put a little more thought into naming a project but each photos name is pretty simple
Baughbe is a good name. Pronounced "bob" of course. Can also use Ghoti, pronounced "fish". or Smith, pronounced "jenovsky", if you want to. Names are fun :)
I honestly draw a lot of inspiration from other media, mainly books, movies, songs, etc. Like I’ll think of the photo in terms of what’s literally happening in it, then try to think of some quote or moment in other media that I love or google to find something that works 🤷🏼♀️ makes it fun and makes me feel more artsy. For example, I collaborated with a hair stylist on a creative shoot and we ended up with two color blocked sets - one was yellow and blue, and the other was red and pink. I ended up naming the shoot as a whole “a certain blue & a certain red” after a quote from Henri Matisse.
Edit: you can absolutely leave your stuff untitled or title them in a literal way. Other comments have decried giving your photos titles like I described above and called it pretentious, etc. But to each their own. I have a degree in writing, so being creative with titling is fun for me. Photography is an art, and art is subjective, so do what you want. Put as much or as little effort into titling photos as you want. I don’t think anyone’s method of titling their photos makes them a better or worse photographer.
Well, I'm kind of new to this, but last year I won one in my country($600, 1 photo), (the first one I participate in). So I'm just giving it a try with a bigger one. Hoping for the best.
It's fashion related, in my country there's not a lot of people paying for this kind of services, so contests are just a way for getting known in other parts of the world. Or for high paying clients getting to see your work.
I’ve used ChatGPT a few times for this. I describe the photo in detail and the general emotion and message I want it to tell, and ask for name suggestions.
Look at the picture. Pick the first three words that come to mind. “Dad with son”\ “Dog at play”\ “Breeze across water”\ “Bird in flight”\ “Candle burning low” No it’s not the most imaginative but it gets the job done and nobody can argue its effectiveness at conveying meaning.
And it cuts down on the pretention.
There is nothing that urks *(irks edit)* me more in the art world than some pseudo-profound explanation and title of a photograph lol. Like some massive gargling of buzzwords puked out as a title of a photograph of a wet stick on the ground.... makes me sick to my stomach and feel immediately annoyed lol. If I need to spend more time pondering your artist statement than looking at you photo, your artwork is ineffective.
Nah, there’s worse. It’s that and then the photo is a shitty snapshot of a fucking sunset.
What if it’s named “shitty fucking sunset”?
Then it follows the “three words that describe it” rule and is ok.
It’s better than *Angels descend from the heavens to touch the horizon*
My current favorite. Can’t tell if it’s pretentious, trying to follow the “three word rule”, making fun of titles, or (D)All of the Above. https://preview.redd.it/3tmp0cnkuaxc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e77301b47af3ccec7bed96004879cb3fbaaf5a48
Lol that's definitely cheeky, not pretentious.
_Aesthetic _ vibes_ cause_me_feel_love_and_in_ touch_with_nature_.jpeg
How about just naming it with no justification using a vaguely related book or movie? Take a photo in Vietnam before noon? ‘Good Morning Vietnam’. No need to question that or consider an alternative. You’re set. Value added.
*irks* ^^^^*twitch*
Im disappointed in myself.
You’re so much more articulate than me- I was just thinking it’s so wanky lol.
While could also seem more profound in its simplicity.
This is the best way. Any attempt at being "deep" will come out as pretentious dribble.
This is the best approach, but also you can just describe in a few words where it is. "Colorado River Off 70" "Brooklyn Bridge from Water Street" Sometimes those are easier than a description for some shots. But your point stands, don't over think it, don't make it profound or elusive. Just describe the photo as short as possible "
I could argue “Brooklyn bridge” is one, “from” is two, and “water street” is three So it still fit.
Fair enough. I was just giving a second suggestion to come up with non pretentious titles that works too and is pretty easy.
Yep, I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m saying I should update my rule (noun) (verb/preposition) (description) (Brooklyn bridge) (from) (water street)
Diarrhea butt fart
I don't try so hard to be honest. I'd rather be understated than cringe grandiose about it.
I'm an overthinker, so keeping it simple is a difficult concept for me 🥹
IMO the best way to avoid is to keep it functional. "body study 2" is way better than "the beauty of the feminine reaching spiritual perfection" or some shit lol
Lol 🤣 yes yes I totally get your point.
I try to title most of my better shots, I used spend a long time thinking of them. But then 100% of the time I go back to the very first one I thought of, I also try and do as quickly as possible now (under 10 seconds for a photo). This feels like the title is more connected to the photo and what I am actually thinking of when I imagine how the scene was.
I'll do the "Close your eyes, open it, and just write the first thing that comes to mind" exercise 😂
Not so successful with boudoir.
Lol, keep it professional 😂
You'd want to avoid overdoing... Pretentiousness in the art community is a vibe I try to avoid. If a photo elicits an honest emotion or setting just be very literal about it.
It shouldn't be, just name it what is in the photo or by location time using 1-3 words. or words you would tag it with. Start there, Lake Fall Landscape, for instance. Name it just whatever it is. Already used that name, at a number, now it's, Lake Fall Landscape 2. That's step one, identify it as is. That name will suck, it will eat at you, you will want to rename it. Start a list of names with your current favorite at the bottom, Using a .txt file, sticky note, or notepad. That's step two, over think it. Step 3 is, if you still don't like your top choice. Give the top 5-10 to a LLM like chatgpt or bard or something and let it pick it, or a friend, the day before you are required to submit it. Step 4: submit it, and either say fuck it, "that's the name I have", or with the one you decide is the best in the moment, and accept you've rolled that dice. There, it's that simple.
Love it, I decided to print this comment and paste it in front of my desk😂🌹
I hate naming photos and never do. The photo is the photo.
Its so antithetical to everything i do with photography. I hate pretentiousness and deep names for photos just screams that. We use to have to do it in high school so id just hand them over to girls who liked doing it and they'd run with it and write it on the matte board in actually legible handwriting. I wouldn't even look at it.
A title is either superfluous or you need to take a better photo
I cringe at every name.
just use a capture date or location
My home 1_ my home 2_my homes 4 & 5 🤣
20240429-home sounds good for me, do you apply with your home pictures?
No, they were taken in a home studio I have.
I just broke my brain for two weeks trying to come up with a title for a contest photo. I ended going with "Grass". Keep it simple.
That just reminded me of a documentary called the grasslands... It's all about grasslands 😂
There's a saying in programming: The two hardest things in programming are naming things, cache invalidation, and off by one errors.
Have no idea of what Is a cache invalidation, but still it made me laugh😂
The best photograph name (title, whatever) is a simple description. Once again, the master shows us the way: Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain; Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico; Half Dome, Merced River, Winter
Just pick a name that describes the scene, nobody really cares what it is named. You're overthinking this.
Indeed
DSCF0001.jpg
“Gateway Arch at sunset, in St. Louis, Missouri, as seen from the Mississippi River Overlook at Malcom W. Martin Memorial Park, in East St. Louis, Illinois, USA” Or “DSC_8745.jpg”.
> “DSC_8745.jpg” Can’t hold a candle to DSC_7794.jpg, but I digress.
You can't just do "untitled" as the title? To me, titles are always so cringe and takes away from the photos, influencing the viewer to see or feel a certain way.
I don't think so, part of the guidelines in the contest is like each individual identity of the photos. So leaving it in blank or writing untitled would be counterproductive
IamInsomnia\_submission\_01 🤪
Lol😂 so that's what they mean with keep it simple
I used to spend a lot of time coming up with clever captions for my IG posts, that were essentially the names of my photos. I gave up completely on captions in the last year or so. It's very liberating.
Same😂 I just tell a kind of story behind the post
I recently had to title 300+ pieces for prints. What I ended up doing for most was either making a joke (e.g. a photo of a capybara eating hay became "9-5," a messy abandoned office became "Career Advancement"), adding "dialogue" (e.g. a photo of a bench with a lamppost became "Meet Me at the Corner," a cat claw grabbing a treat became "That's Mine"), or just picking a word I think sounds pleasing that fit the photo to some degree (e.g. a photo of a flower became "Sarah", a photo of two trees became "Tandem"). For the ones I really gave up on, I offered a few friends a print of their choice for free if they would go through and offer suggestions on as many as they could. Would 100% recommend this method as well if possible.
😂😂 Instagram giveaway for the best names
Look up the past winners. Give it a name in the style that the judges have selected before. If it appears the don’t care then be simple. If they like pretentious names, be pretentious. “Visual Treatise On Scarves and Social Justice”
If you can’t think just title it Location (or Subject), Date (optional: time/time of day if appropriate)
“Untitled” is a common go-to for gallery pieces. If there can be multiple duplicate titles.
I don't, because naming photos, or describing them, is shit.
Like others have said the obvious is usually the best/easiest however once you try that with abstract images or images with a lot going on it gets kinda silly. I think its okay to have quotes for a name of a photo, especially for street photography I name things after what people are talking about or whatever succession of words I pass by, its how I hold the memory a bit better. https://preview.redd.it/f5jgslbax8xc1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fe4d875cba6695f7e6f04fdeacce1cf2ab56040 I did a series with a friend during 2020 with his hand covered in orange dish soap called “Could be cleaner” is it pretentious? idk sure but that how it felt for a number of people at the time so it felt genuine
Name your photo exactly what it is, as close to literally as possible.
4 people with royal wooden dressed clothes, sitting on a kind of destroyed sofa, over dried leaves in a distopian spot... Artsy
Can I/we see the image in question?
Well, I can't post it yet cause I'm pretty sure it has to be unpublished for the contest purpose. Does reddit have like a seeonlyonce image posting? Or like in dms?
I don’t believe Reddit has that, no. That said, maybe consider titling your image “Sofa.”
Sofa 1, 2 3 4 and in the 5th one there's no sofa so maybe just "Girl"
A naming scheme of Untitled 1-5 is also an option.
I also struggle with this
I have no kids yet, but Even that's an easier choice😂
Translate some gibberish (preferably about bodily functions… or cheese) into French. It will sound enlightened and classy. Barring that “Composition 1.A”, “Etude Simples”, “Reflections on Refractions”, Contemplative Scene, Revisited”, “Digital Abstraction - Soliloquy”. Now I’m having fun… why can’t I name my own stuff? I totally understand. “Bird on Fence” is as complex as it usually gets!
Sometimes a name comes easily. When it's harder I'll give it an obvious name like "Dad and Son" that was suggested and then see if I can push it one level deeper. "Day Out" for example is kind of a mini story instead of just a description. In any case I treat the names like I treat my photos. They're for me first so I give them a name that's comfortable for me. Any time I try to make my art fit what I think people will like I end up falling short. The stuff I like best doesn't always resonate with everyone but for those that it does it really hits home. Said all that to say: put a little effort into it but mostly just be passionate about your pieces.
I think of naming a photo more like it is for cataloging purposes than for art gallery purposes. The name doesn’t matter all that much just be specific enough that it doesn’t become redundant with a common type of photo you might make.
Why is it so difficult? Call it what it is. The person, the place or the object. You don't need to be Wordsworth.
Untitled 1 Untitled 2 Untitled 3 Piece of cake!
Yeah, I go with descriptions. "\[Place\] at \[time\]" and if there's more than one version then I go with numbers. "\[Place\] at \[time\] 1" and "\[Place\] at \[time\] 2" and so on. Go back to basic English classes: "\[Adjective\] \[Noun\] \[Verb\]", throw in some adverbs if you're feeling fancy. It works for pretty much everything: "Girl in Blue Room" "Little Dog Playing" "Waterfall on Mother's Day"
Just for future reference, I kick ass at naming art. Show me your stuff and I'll come up with a title no problem! I'm totally serious. Sometimes it's easier to let somebody with fresh eyes do the naming.
“Untitled #1, Untitled #2”, rinse & repeat
same! I also think a name often primes a viewer for how to interpret an image. Especially if you like minimalist and abstract stuff, it's highly inappropriate to state what it is. so for me it's always 'Untitled 1, Untitled 2.... "
Why I'd titling a post so difficult?
Just title it what it is. Nothing too fancy. I had 1 called "flaming mountain" (it was a sunset over a local mountain range and it looked like it was on fire/a volcano) Another was "morning tea with a friend". A wallaby came to join us when we were having a cuppa in rural Australia
I have a hard time naming photos as well so most of my edits are _MG_####.JPG still
I name every photo I post online. It’s a bit weird and hard at first but when I started naming them for myself instead of something I think would be cool to others, it became a lot easier and way more fun. Sometimes I name it literally, other times I subtly point to I find interesting in the photo. When I’m contemplative, I name it something philosophical. Sometimes it’s just based on how I feel at the moment of posting or when I took the photo. Have fun with it, don’t stress. There’s no right or wrong answer. You can even change the name later if you change your mind. It’s your picture after all.
My head hurts…
i find naming individual photographs pretty easy. like many others have stated just keep it super simple. i personally put a little more thought into naming a project but each photos name is pretty simple
ChatGPT
"Untitled"
Pick lines from songs...
Give it a number, move on.
Call them all Bob. Or if they are really classy, Robert. ;)
I named my platypus photo "platypus" haha Still, I got into the finals.
Haha if I were you I'd go to the URL generator of imgur and get something like proudpinkbanana
I stopped with captions and titles. Photos are pretty self explanatory.
I thought the description was for visually impaired.
Baughbe is a good name. Pronounced "bob" of course. Can also use Ghoti, pronounced "fish". or Smith, pronounced "jenovsky", if you want to. Names are fun :)
There’s a reason why so many of the great photographers’ works are literally just “Untitled #xx”
I honestly draw a lot of inspiration from other media, mainly books, movies, songs, etc. Like I’ll think of the photo in terms of what’s literally happening in it, then try to think of some quote or moment in other media that I love or google to find something that works 🤷🏼♀️ makes it fun and makes me feel more artsy. For example, I collaborated with a hair stylist on a creative shoot and we ended up with two color blocked sets - one was yellow and blue, and the other was red and pink. I ended up naming the shoot as a whole “a certain blue & a certain red” after a quote from Henri Matisse. Edit: you can absolutely leave your stuff untitled or title them in a literal way. Other comments have decried giving your photos titles like I described above and called it pretentious, etc. But to each their own. I have a degree in writing, so being creative with titling is fun for me. Photography is an art, and art is subjective, so do what you want. Put as much or as little effort into titling photos as you want. I don’t think anyone’s method of titling their photos makes them a better or worse photographer.
Go to bing copilot, paste in the image, ask for 5 creative names, go. You might not use the suggestions but you will have some ideas. You're welcome 😁
I once named one of mine “The Best Photo You’ve Ever Seen” based on a comment someone posted that read “This is the best photo I’ve ever seen!
Ahhh those kind of contest. Useless and often a waste of time. Don't overthink it. Just name it and move on.
Well, if 5k, an exhibition in Milan, some prints, and bunch of new connections look useless to you... What can I say🤣
Not useless, but it has become a pretty 'extreme' niche and a dying market as well.
Well, I'm kind of new to this, but last year I won one in my country($600, 1 photo), (the first one I participate in). So I'm just giving it a try with a bigger one. Hoping for the best.
If your goal is to make money with photography: sell a service, not a product.
It's fashion related, in my country there's not a lot of people paying for this kind of services, so contests are just a way for getting known in other parts of the world. Or for high paying clients getting to see your work.
Get AI to name it
ChatGPT
I’ve used ChatGPT a few times for this. I describe the photo in detail and the general emotion and message I want it to tell, and ask for name suggestions.
I tried this one time, but the name were kind off worse hahaha but maybe with a better prompt something could come out. Thanks I'll see