Frequently asked questions
Help for you to make the most of the Chiltern Society PhotoGroup
Click on a question below to see the answer
How do I write good captions for photos on the website?
Alison Beck answers:
I guess nowadays the prime source of information is Wikipedia. However, the 'facts' are not always accurate, so confirmation from a secondary source is advisable.
Churches are wonderful: there is often a guide to the church, but frequently this will include, or is supplemented by, a brief history of the town or village.
Local Historical Societies often possess wonderful old photographs and documents, and are usually keen to help.
Websites are excellent too – most towns and villages have one now. Sites like www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk are good for dates and architectural details. Don't forget you can include the urls of relevant websites in captions.
Village shops sometimes sell walking booklets that contain useful local information.
Pubs often have old photographs on the walls, and if you are lucky there maybe someone behind the bar who has some local knowledge, although this is becoming rarer.
Even googling for missing information can help if you can word the question accurately enough, or try in several different ways.
Personalise it a bit – 'On the day I visited there were dustbins everywhere as it was Bin Day'. And don't be afraid to add a personal opinion: 'This awful extension looks totally out of place.' The editor will delete it if it's thought to be inappropriate.
But, most of all, include as much detail as you can.
More detailed advice about writing captions by Barry Hunt is here.
How can I find all the photos on the website taken by one person?
John Harrison answers:
Use the Quick search box located on the menu at left hand side of the page, see the highlighted pointer.
Enter the person's name as follows, first name initial followed by surname, all enclosed by quotation marks. Then press the Enter key on your computer.
Here is an example to search for photos by photograher Alison Beck. Type in Quick search box "A Beck". Press computer Enter key.
You can also search as "a beck" and obtain the same result.
But the system is not bulletproof. We have photos from member A Priest but a search for "A Priest" will also locate a photo taken by our website editor including the following text in the photo caption. "A badly damaged effigy of a priest is in a wall tomb..."
How can I search for for all the photos of one location?
John Harrison answers:
The town/village location of every photo in the gallery is recorded.
Click Keywords on the menu at left hand side of the page, see the highlighted pointer. This will show a chart of all the locations photographed, displayed in alphabetical order along with the number of photos taken at every location. See an example on the right hand side.
Click on a location in the chart and and an album containing all the photos taken at that location will be displayed.
How can I quickly find an album?
John Harrison answers:
At the time of writing the PhotoGroup gallery contains 7300 photos in 260 albums.
The albums are in a tree structure starting on the gallery Home page where it spreads out to ten albums, Buildings, Countryside, Historical, Industries, Ongoing projects, Personal albums, Railways, Walks, LOCATIONS and the current EXHIBITION.
Click on an album thumbnail on the Home page, see example above, to see its sub albums. Then click on a sub album to view the photos.
You can see your position in the album structure in the thin strip above the albums and photos, sometimes called a breadcrumb trail. The term comes from the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale in which the two title children drop breadcrumbs to form a trail back to their home.
The example on left shows someone viewing photo number wt373 in “River Chess” album that is a sub album of “Chalk rivers and streams” album that is a sub album of “Countryside” album on the “Home” page.
Click a sub album name or Home to retrace your steps.
You can also navigate through the structure via the list of albums seen below the Albums heading on the left hand side of the page, see an example on the left.
It starts with the first ten albums on the Home page.
The number of photos in the album structure is displayed at right side of the album names.
Click on an album name to display its sub albums.
Click on a sub album to view its photos.
Some sub albums have further sub albums identified by the small white box containing a plus sign.
Again, click the small white box to open them.
To close sub albums that are open in the structure click on the small white box containing a minus sign.
From any page on the website, click the word “Home” displayed at top left hand to return to the Home page
How can I watch a slideshow?
John Harrison answers:
The slideshow can be used in any album, Quick search results and selected location keyword results.
On an album or photo page, click on slideshow at top right hand corner of the page.
The first photo will be displayed with a thumbnail strip below it showing other photos in the album.
After a few seconds the slideshow will automatically step on to the next photo and it will continue on to the last one.
If you move your mouse cursor on the page it will pause the slideshow.
A blue border around a thumbnail will indicate slideshow progress.
If you want to control progress manually you can use the Left and Right keys on your computer keyboard.
You can also hover your mouse cursor over the photo on display which will show Left and Right pointers at edge of screen that can be clicked by mouse.
If you want to view slideshow full screen, click on the diagonal arrow head symbol in top right hand corner. Click the same symbol again to return to the normal view.
This will not make the photo larger but it will reduce screen clutter.
If you want to see a slideshow photo’s caption and author name, click the i in a circle, information symbol at bottom right hand corner.
This will pause the slideshow for you read the details. To restart the slideshow, click slideshow at top right hand corner.
To stop the slide show click [stop the slideshow] at top left hand corner.
If you have any other questions about using this website, please email them to support@chilternphoto.org.uk