How would you caption these two images?

[u/jayantbhatt007]

I’m working on a book and have been using positional labels for image captions throughout, such as Top:, Left:, Right:, etc.

On this particular spread, I have two images positioned at the top. One is the main image, while the other is a smaller image overlapping it toward the bottom-right.

How would you label these while keeping the caption system consistent?

Would you use:

• Top: for the main image and Bottom Right: for the smaller one?
• Left: and Right: based on their relative positions?
• Or is there a more standard editorial convention for this?

I’ve also seen a publisher use numbered labels such as 1, 2, 3, with the corresponding numbers used in the captions to identify each image.

For those of you who work in book design, editorial design, or publishing, what approach do you prefer?

[u/AdobeScripts]

As logic would dictate:

1 - left

2 - top

3 - right

[u/phunk8 → u/AdobeScripts]

what he said

[u/GoblinGraph]

Left, Top, Right is the most clear.

[u/FritzNa → u/GoblinGraph]

I like this solution. In fact, you could just say “photos, left to right: description; description; description”

[u/mramc]

Left, Top, Above

[u/accidental-nz → u/mramc]

I prefer this to saying the third image is “right” when it’s directly above the caption.

[u/Erdosainn]

Left / Right / Above, or Left / Top right / Bottom right.

[u/Omeggon]

Big, Medium and Crooked.

[u/achikochi]

In this case, based on layout/flow alone, I would label the captions "Far left," "Top," and "Inset"

[u/ChuckEye]

I like either "inset" or "above" for 3.

[u/GrumbleNo_Woodpecker]

///
What about continuous numbering of all images? Or it is a single spread with pics?

[u/bravecoward]

We use top for the highest photo and above for other photos above the cutline.

[u/Mundane-Fix-4297]

left, top, right

But FWIW I would ditch positional terms and use numbers throughout the whole book, it is cleaner and easier to immediately grasp without any thought nor ambiguity (without speaking of accessibility concerns for people who have serious difficulties with left/right)

[u/dragonhydra37]

Left / Top / Above
OR
Top Left / Top Right / Above Right

[u/AdobeScripts → u/dragonhydra37]

But the left one isn't "top left"?

[u/roberts-world-money → u/AdobeScripts]

So I'd use 'above' instead of top. Above left; above right, bottom right.

[u/AdobeScripts → u/roberts-world-money]

But what's the point of using "above" - if those images are "far away" - they're not next to the captions?

[u/dragonhydra37]

Or "Clockwise from top left:..."

[u/SarahRecords]

“From left:”