I'm doing this in a custom module to alter the "Title text" field to read "Image Caption", and provide a description of the purpose.

I thought, though that this would be a good addition to this module, or at least put the solution up on the issue queue for others to use. I could have a crack at rolling a patch to include this, if desired.

Note: "os_custom" is the name of my custom module. Also, the custom module's weight (in the system table) must be set heavier than filefield's weight. I set it to 10. (This can be done in the module's .install file.)

Also note that offering """ replacement leads to this other issue: http://drupal.org/node/1152168

/**
 * Implementation of hook_elements().
 */
function os_custom_elements() {
  $elements = array();

  // Catch problems when this is called too early during installation or update.
  if (!module_exists('imagefield')) {
    return $elements;
  }
  $imagefield_elements = module_invoke('imagefield', 'elements');
  $elements['imagefield_widget'] = $filefield_elements['filefield_widget'];
  $elements['imagefield_widget']['#process'][] ='os_custom_filefield_process';
  return $elements;
}
function os_custom_filefield_process($element, $edit, &$form_state, $form) {
  $element['data']['title']['#description'] = t('Caption text will be placed below the image. HTML tags are not allowed. Quotes must be inserted using the code """.');
  $element['data']['title']['#title'] = t('Caption');
  return $element;
}