Nope, Not a Scanned Doc, a Photographed Doc, Part 2

Russ, who has 2 blogs, one of which is My Tombstone Collection , asked some very good questions on my post earlier today, Nope, Not a Scanned Doc, a Photographed Doc.  I started to answer via comments, then realized I wanted to show a few graphics, and decided to write Part 2.

Yes I do use a digital camera, a new to me, Sony DSC-HX1. Karen, I wrote about it here.  It has a 20 X zoom, which is great, but, I had issues with focus, say when subject is closer than 5 feet. I have discovered tho, that the macro will do under 5 feet quite well.  So, anything closer than 5 foot I put on macro.  Problem solved.

Remember, now, EACH CAMERA is different. And, I am still learning this one, it has lots of things to play with, lots of settings. And, I am NOT a professional.

I was trying to remember all the settings, I cannot tell you exact settings tho, especially if you are asking about aperture or F stop settings.  I let the camera determine that kind of stuff. Did have the macro on.

I can tell you that there is another setting for focus, you can "spot" focus, I am loving that for the flowers, or, you can focus across the entire subject, and I know I did the entire subject for the documents, as I don't want them out of focus on the edges.

I looked at the current settings for the camera, some are:  5 mega pixels, which is more than sufficient for my use of the camera.  It is set on programmed; noise reduction is normal; DRO (have no idea - where is the book??) is set for Standard; color mode is set to Vivid; color filter is off; color saturation is high; contrast is high; sharpness is high; and steady shot is on.  Like I said, I am still learning this new camera.

As far as setting against a wall, don't think so. Paper, will bend and twist. It will NOT be flat for long, and if it is not flat it will not look my example, almost like it was scanned.  At least that is how it works for me.

To make this work and look really good you need to have the photo come out square. If you are at a bit of an angle, the document might look like a trapezoid. That cannot be corrected with a photo digital enhancement program.  I did a test shot while writing this post, and it did not look so much like a trapezoid, but you could not read one side of the document as well, it just does not look right.  I have done photos of cemetery stones upside down (as in standing with the inscription upside down) and they had that trapezoid thingy going on big time, they look kinda weird when ya flip em with software.  But, hey, a photo is a photo, in that case, I'll take a trapezoid.  For documents, trapezoid is not desirable.

This probably could be done with a tripod set up, but I wanted to see if I could do it sans tripod, I usually forget to carry one!

I did this with a book typed on onionskin, old fashioned typewriter, lots of bleed through. Had the camera, needed 20 some pages in a library that does not encourage copies (like NO copies), I happened to have the camera with me, so, took photos, came home, fussed with the photos a bit.  I found they were of sufficient quality to actually print to use to work on the project.  I was not going for square on this, I was going for ANY image I could read and later use for the cemetery project.

Above:  Photo of page, right out of the camera.

Taken with low light, in library,

not sure even all the overhead lights were on.

Photo, tweaked by digital editing program,

page was then printed for use in cemetery project. 

I needed to be able to read names and information, after 

which the printed copy served no further use and could be trashed.

OHHHH, no flash. Not even in the library. Those photos were a bit dark, but, still quite workable, as you can see.

And, Russ, please be careful with savings files to PDF. Did you know that they can "die"?  I wrote about that here:

Data Backup Day, of a Different Sort, or Sometimes Backups Just Are NOT Enough

Again, the disclaimers, I am NOT a professional photographer.  I do shoot a LOT of photos, and many of them are of the same subject, I can delete all the bad ones, and I delete a LOT!  LOL! I am still learning the new Sony.  I am finding what settings work for me on my camera, and will use them over and over again. My best advice, experiment, try it with your equipment, and for goodness sakes, if you are a thousand miles away from home and just found THE document you have been searching for for over 15 years, said document breaking down a HUGE wall, be sure to get a photocopy TOO!!  Don't leave the research facility without at least one copy you know is the best you can get!  Better yet, take home 2 copies, OR MORE!!

Have fun trying this out, especially if the documents are already in your possession at home, where you have the luxury of playing/testing/trying that ONE more time!

*Maybe I should have titled this post, "More Than You Wanted to Know!"  LOL

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

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