HOW TO DESCRIBE HAPPY FAMILY PICTURES

A New Take on Family Pictures and How to Describe Them

Here in Los Angeles, CA, we’re starting to get back to some sense of normalcy.  Imagine this Memorial Day weekend is your first holiday back home with your friends and family after a long time without seeing each other; especially since the COVID quarantine. As dinner wraps up, somebody might take out one of the old family photo albums to reminisce.

​The following hour or so will involve storytelling about the family memories the pictures captured. This stroll down memory lane will bring up a feeling of happiness, excitement, and warm nostalgia that may leave a person or two with wet eyes.

A Los Angeles photographer takes a candid family picture as they prepare a meal.

It’s cliché but very apt to say that these family pictures are more than just a thousand words. They describe a lot more than what you see. So how does one capture the emotion, mood, and energy that was present when the picture was being taken? And that too, within 140 characters?

The character limit may seem a little tight considering the meaning a family picture might behold. However, posting the images on social media might require you to contain the level of detail within 140 characters.

Let’s take a look at how you can navigate your way around it.

But first…

How Much Is 140 Characters?

Well, there is no exact word count. The character limit (with spaces) can be used by a few very long words or many shorter words. For example, “The night was warm, starry, and quiet. And then I heard a woman passing by, humming to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

This phrase is less than 140 characters, but comprises 21 words. Let’s change it up a bit. “The night was warm, starry, and quiet. I then heard a woman passing by, humming along to a jazzy tune you would have heard during the 1920s.”

Now this sentence is exactly 140 characters, but there are 28 words in this sentence. So, there is no hard limit.

If you ask why 140 characters in particular… well, it’s because they are easy to comprehend. Depending on the words you use, they are not too wordy and not too short either. The perfect space you need to describe a family photo.

Describing a Family Picture Within 140 Characters

Whether you’re posting your family picture on Twitter, Facebook, or even simply writing the caption in your album, 140 characters per pic will keep it succinct and to the point.

So what does one cover in the caption?

One of the most obvious captions that go along with sentimental photos are…quotes. Good reads and other websites contain thousands of quotes from books, movies, speeches, and other sources that you can relate to your image and have it be under 140 characters.

Let’s take a look at an example of a very old family photo:

“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking a people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.” – Gail Lumet Buckley #strongroots

The caption above is exactly 140 characters and uses a quote to describe what you are looking at. A fun way to integrate quotes is by using what the people in the picture might have said at the time.

For example, “The nature of these images is pointless. Who will remember these?” Well, great grandfather, I am looking upon them, proud of my roots.

The other way to describe is by saying what the photo is. In the photo above, it could say something like: I wanted to preserve the beauty of the photos and memorabilia of the two most important people in our family, Great Grandma and Grandpa.

What you want to keep in mind is that whatever you write should capture the essence of your family's picture, complementing the 1000 words the picture speaks.

Conclusion

A family picture is more than just a picture and it can be difficult to describe the meaning of your pictures.  However, in this blog post I have illustrated how to describe your family picture in 140 characters or less caption.  This can be done by saying what the photo is or by describing who's in the photo. 

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Are you in need of a family photographer to capture the memories of your family?  Contact me today, I have lots of family photo ideas to help bring your vision to life.  Call me at (213) 212-2251 or send me a message.