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Author Topic: PHOTOGRAPHING GRAVESTONES - Advice from our experts!!  (Read 880 times)
PrueM
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PHOTOGRAPHING GRAVESTONES - Advice from our experts!!
« on: Saturday 26 July 08 09:41 BST (UK) »
Our very own group of dedicated gravestone photographers and decipherers has drafted some guidelines for all of us who take photos of headstones, plaques, inscriptions and other kinds of signage, but find it hard to get decent results.  Here's the first installment of what will hopefully be a comprehensive and useful resource.  Any comments or suggestions, please contact me by PM.
Cheers
PrueM

Taking your own photos

Weather and sunshine

As graveyards are orientated East-West the position of the sun must be taken into consideration.

If it is a sunny day it is best to take the photo before mid-day, as once the sun passes overhead it could be full on the face of any stone in the open. Any lettering would then be flat and not show up.

Camera position
Take a photo from all angles, not just full face like a portrait. Also be sure to get one at about forty five degrees from the plain of the stone. The facets of the lettering must be covered from all angles.

Lettering made of flat lead inlays are a bit more difficult, but be sure to over expose, as detail can be lifted from an over exposed photo.

I set my camera to ‘flash overide’ to ensure that the flash fires regardless of the lighting conditions, this adds shadow in the facets of the letters.  If you have off camera flash this can be positioned at an oblique angle to show up any facets.

We regret we cannot offer help with operating your own camera, please refer to the manual.

Safety note

Many old stones are not secure, please take extreme care when moving about.

Please keep a look out for graves that may be overgrown or unmarked, we must show due respect.
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Paper and Photograph Conservator
I live in NSW, and am researching:
BALFOUR (Derry) – BIGG (Kent) – BONSALL (DBY, NTT, CHS) – BRISBANE (Fife) – DANKS (STS) – DOBSON (BRK) – FRANCIS (ESS) – GOODE (HAM) – HAYNES (Cork) – INGRAM (MDX, SOM) – LANGWORTHY (Jersey, DEV) – MCKAY (Fife, Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, Inverness) – MORRISH (LND) – NANCARROW (CON) – OGILVIE (Moray, LND) – STRATHDEE (Banff) – SWAN (Fife) – WOOD (LND)
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