A good photo without a caption leaves questions open: who is this, what is shown, where and when. This guide shows how to write captions for press, social media, your website and your archive, and how to collect the facts on show day.
All prices plus VAT · delivered within 24 hours · See all packages & details
A caption turns a picture into information. Editors need it before they can print a photo at all. On LinkedIn it decides whether anyone reads beyond the first line. In your archive it decides whether the photo can still be found and used a year later. Yet captions are usually written last, in a hurry, by someone who was not at the show.
The result is familiar: “Our team at the show”, outdated job titles, customers without names, a product described by its internal code. Most of these problems start on show day, not at the desk. Whoever is on the stand knows who is in the picture; three days later nobody remembers.
There are four types of caption, each with its own rules: the press caption, the social media caption, the website caption and the archive caption stored in the file itself.
Editors expect a caption that answers the basic questions in one or two sentences. A proven pattern:
From left: [Name] ([Job title], [Company]), [Name] ([Job title], [Company]) and [Name] ([Job title], [Company]) on the [Company] stand in Hall [number] at [Fair] in [City] on [date]. Photo: [Credit]
Our guide to press releases with show photos covers which pictures editors actually use.
On LinkedIn, Instagram and similar platforms, only the first line or two are visible before the text is cut off. That line has to say why the photo matters, not merely that you were at a show.
Write in the language of the audience. An English post for international contacts and a separate post in your home language usually read better than one bilingual block of text. More ideas are in our guide to trade fair photos on LinkedIn.
On your website a photo can carry several texts with different jobs. The visible caption under the photo is for readers: short, informative, the same rules as the press caption but less formal. The alt text is read aloud by screen readers and shown when the image does not load. It describes what can be seen, without “image of” and without lists of keywords.
| Text | Reader | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Caption | Visitors to the page | Sales director [Name] explains the X series to visitors at [Fair] 2026. |
| Alt text | Screen readers, search engines | Man in a dark suit shows a machine part to two visitors on a trade fair stand with a blue logo wall. |
| File name | Your team, search engines | fair-2026-x-series-demo.jpg |
More on formats and selection in our guide to trade fair photos for your website.
Every photo file can carry text in its metadata, in the IPTC fields that tools such as Lightroom, Bridge and most digital asset management systems read and write. A caption written there travels with the file, even when it is forwarded or downloaded again.
For a selection of thirty photos this takes well under an hour, and it saves far more when sales, marketing or a distributor asks a year later for “the photo with the customer from Dubai”. See our guide to archiving trade fair photos.
Pixer delivers the first photos on show day and the full selection within 24 hours after the event ends, so the captions should be ready at the same pace. Share the caption sheet with the photographer on the stand; questions about who is who are settled in a minute there, and take days by email afterwards.
Names from left to right, job title, company, fair, hall, city, date and credit.
One concrete sentence before the text is cut off, then context, tags and a next step.
It describes what is visible for screen readers. The caption informs readers.
Captions and keywords in the IPTC fields stay with the file wherever it goes.
Time, name, company, job title and consent, noted while the person is still there.
Correct names and concrete information instead of “innovative” and “exciting”.
One or two sentences. It names the people from left to right and answers what, where and when. Background belongs in the press release, not in the caption.
Anyone named should know the photo will be published. Customers and partners should agree in writing before their name and face appear in your material.
For social media, separate posts per language usually read better. For press, write in the language of the publication. In metadata, English plus your main language is a good choice.
Someone who was on the stand or has the caption sheet. Marketing can polish the wording, but names and facts come from the show.
A few relevant ones: the official show hashtag if there is one, your company or product name and one or two topic tags. Long hashtag lists look like advertising.
Do not guess. Use a neutral caption without names, such as visitors on the stand, or ask the team. A wrong name in a published caption is worse than none.
Need photos that are quick to caption and publish? Tell us the fair and the date, and send your team list and product names with the briefing.
We reply within 24 hours. During a show week, WhatsApp is fastest.
