@evan I'm sighted, but my guess is it depends on the picture and your purpose in sharing it. For a given picture in a given context, what is your communicative intent, how does the picture contribute to that intent, and which
#altText would best convey that to a reader in lieu of seeing the picture?
For an image I'm sharing, I believe the question of what I'd prefer to write is the wrong question. The right question is what someone who needs the alt text would find most helpful to read or hear. Even for the same photo, I think this could differ depending on context.
For example, I once built an air cleaner into a desk for a client. I expect I'd write a different alt text for a photo of it if I were posting about unusual things I've done for tech support clients (probably more context and less detail), or about practical creativity (more detail and less context).
The "things for clients" one might get into why it's designed to fit between lap and laptop cooler, and why the laptop and its cooler sit on a small wall-mounted desk made from a shelf board near a wall-mounted screen and a tower fan. The "practical creativity" one might instead get into the use of wooden baseboard, drawer glides, weather stripping, PC fans, a cookie rack, turn buttons, and an automotive cabin air filter.
