The white strip beneath the image is the whole reason this format looks like it does, and it is the part most people leave blank.
That is a legitimate choice. But a caption is what turns a print from a photograph into a record of something, and it costs nothing.
What fits
A few words. The strip is narrow and the print is three inches across, so anything past about six or seven words either shrinks to unreadable or wraps awkwardly.
Think label rather than sentence.
| Works | Does not |
|---|---|
| Goa, 2019 | A description of what happened in Goa |
| “still angry about this” | An explanation of why |
| Names of the people | Names plus context plus a date |
| A date alone | A paragraph |
| Three words of a joke | The joke |
The four kinds worth using
1. Where and when. The most useful and the least interesting. In ten years this is the information nobody has, and “Manali, Feb 2021” is the whole value.
2. Names. Especially for anything a family will keep. Faces stop being recognisable faster than anyone expects.
3. Something said. Four words somebody actually said, in quotes. These are the ones people stop at.
4. Nothing at all. Genuinely the right answer for a wall you look at every day, where you already know. Blank strips also make a mixed wall look calmer.
When to caption everything, and when not to
| Caption all of them | Leave them blank |
|---|---|
| A gift for someone else | Your own wall |
| Anything going to a family | Anything you already know by heart |
| A set covering many years | A set from one event |
| Prints handed out at an event | A set meant as pure decoration |
⚠️ A mixed set — some captioned, some not — looks unfinished. Pick one and hold to it.
Handwriting versus printed
Captions are printed with the image, in a set typeface, when you send us the words.
If you want handwriting, leave the strip blank and write on it yourself. Ordinary ballpoint works on the matte card; a fine marker works better. This is the better choice for a gift and the worse one for anything you need to be legible in thirty years.
⚠️ Lamination closes this option. A laminated print cannot be written on, so if you plan to write, do not laminate. Lamination on polaroid prints →
Captioning a set that is being given away
Different job from captioning your own, and the difference is who has the context.
You know who everyone is. They may not. A print handed to a colleague, a cousin or a guest at a party is going somewhere the surrounding knowledge does not travel with it.
So for a set that is being distributed: names, and a year. Not the joke, which needs the room it was made in.
For a set going on your own wall: the opposite. Names are redundant and a joke is the whole point.
It is the same pack of thirty prints and almost the opposite caption strategy, which is why it is worth deciding who the set is for before writing any of them.
Frequently asked
What do you write under a polaroid print? A place and a year, a name, or a few words somebody said. Six or seven words is the practical limit.
How many characters fit on a polaroid caption? About six or seven words on a three-inch print. Beyond that it shrinks or wraps.
Should every print be captioned? Caption all or none. A set where some have captions and some do not looks unfinished.
Can I write on them by hand? Yes, if you leave the strip blank and do not laminate. Lamination makes the surface unwritable.
Are blank captions a mistake? Not for your own wall. For a gift, or for anything a family keeps, the caption is the part that survives.
Part of our guide to polaroid prints. See also: when to leave a caption blank, lamination on polaroid prints and choosing photos for polaroid prints.
With or without captions: Polaroid Pack from ₹270 · Custom polaroid prints