Include Signs for Useful Information

When I was prepping the photo of the main conservatory at Longwood Gardens (outside of Philadelphia) for yesterday's post, I came across this waterlily shot also taken at Longwood. It reminded me of a good tip: always shoot a few spare shots that include signs to help you identify objects and places. I'm usually too busy and too impatient to write down things like plant names or street names, so I pop off a few quick frames to help me identify things later.

While metadata is good at telling you how, when and (with GPS) roughly where you shot a photo, it won't tell you what kind of lily you were shooting or the name of the restaurant where you shot a photo of the salad bar. Signs are just as useful in identifying photos after a shoot as they are in guiding you through life and they are a lot more convenient than a notepad!