How do you photograph your collection?

[RedMaestro2]

Hi All!

As part of my cataloging project I will be re-photographing my entire collection. What is the best way to go about doing this? What type of lighting, etc? I have heard epson scanners work well for medals, but all I have is my Kodak Easyshare camera. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

-Alex

[Kirchgoens]

I've written in detail in other posts how I do this. I will say that there are two camps out there: the scanner crowd and the camera crowd. If you don't have the equipment or experience, the scanner may be the way to go. I'm a camera guy, and shoot in existing light using a tripod. I shoot from directly above, and use either a remote shutter release or a timer so I do not touch the camera while the photo is being taken (since indoors with no flash often leaves you with longer exposure times than you cannot hold steady on your own). With some practice, you can get excellent results with a camera, but it ain't easy at first. If that doesn't work, break out the scanner.

[pacha b]

Camera.

Nick.

[EricFG]

There's been quite a few conversations about photography here, most often with Brian leading the way. In this post: http://www.soviet-awards.com/forum/s...html#post79390 I've linked to a few that were fairly (I thought) informative.

Many folk swear by Epson scanners, indeed my old scanner was an Epson and it blows the doors off the POS HP that I have now. I only use the HP for documents.

And I have a Kodak Easyshare; the Z730 and it takes great pictures (with lotsa practise).

[deValcourt]

This, in my opinion, is a thread worth reviving/expanding on. With all the bad photos often posted with questions about authenticity, it might also be worthwhile for folks to see how and how not to photograph awards.

In any case, this was an experiment on how to cut out background all together without using a program more complicated or powerful/versatile than MS Office Picture Manager and a little forethought and creativity. I was also playing around with compression (the difference in the two "final" photos). Notice that the initial photo was lined up by eye to be able to most easily eliminate the background from one of the sides. This is obviously easier to do on a four-sided object and impractical for most awards.

BIG NOTE: Be advised that though pictures 2 and 3 were cropped using the same image "rotating" method, the original and compressed file sizes were very different. The second photo was compressed from 832 KB to 180 KB and the third from 290 KB to 34.9 KB (though the file size numbers show up very differently from what the site "manage attachments" application and the "properties" on my PC desktop say; however, there is always a similar difference in ratios).

All of this is pointing toward the obvious: the original photo should be as high in resolution as your camera will allow so that when resizing/compressing it to fit the limits of the forum, the image you post will be as detailed as possible - which is the best case scenario for everyone.

Phillip

P.S. It is my personal taste, but scanners should only be used for documents. There are people who will disagree strongly and yes I know that some scanners allow for the highest resolution available, but it is my taste and I can taste like I want.

[CtahhR]

As the most prolific poster of Photographs on the forum (8671 to date), I suppose I should voice my own experiences.

When I originally joined the forum back in July 2008 it was primarily to view the images offered here. It was impossible to refrain from the discussion here after signing up and having the ability to post. Unfortunately at that time I did not have a camera nor had I begun scanning the paper items of the collection. I know that lead some to be dismissive of statements I was making regarding items and collecting them but hopefully that has since been proven otherwise.

Originally I had great difficulty in resizing and posting scanned images of documents which lead to some very poor 50kb images that were pretty redundant (and have since been updated). In fact the most difficult thing for me in my entire time on the forum was finding enough information etc to post my first 140 posts (which leads to a 100kb allowance). That was a struggle although 140 posts over two days isn't difficult now with the right wind behind me.

What I didn't know was that the forum's software automatically resizes all the images uploaded - of which it does a brilliant job. That certainly has saved me vast numbers of man hours. A lot can be done with the forum's compressed 100kb.

After around 500 posts I had progressed from some fairly dodgy 50kb documents to some rather shaky 100kb scanned images of Medals to a subscribed member with a 120kb image allowance and a borrowed camera (yes, the camera I use is a loaner!) with an autofocus.

As can be seen by the vast selection of photographs I have posted over the last 25 months, I like to photograph awards in natural English light (which can drastically limit the times photographs can be taken). I always try to use a white background when possible (a few sheets of paper does the trick) and I take the photographs from a distance of about 6 inches. I always take at least two photographs of both the front and rear of all the awards (It is of utmost importance that both sides of all items are posts to aid as many people as possible) just in case one of the pictures comes out blurry (or the light suddenly changes due to all those clouds). Sometimes I have taken dozens of photographs of an item of particular importance to ensure the very best image to display to the users of the forum. Other times I've just managed a rushed snap to post whilst rushed.

Almost every image of an award or award document I have posted on the forum I have created myself. I am not in the habit of harvesting images from ebay or other sites which allows not only a great selection of unique images but also sometimes items that have not been presented anywhere else on the internet. Adding to the uniqueness of the forum.

I have never watermarked any of the images I have posted due to the fact that I am very confident with the ownership of the items, I know exactly who took the photographs and I find watermarks to distract from not only the item being posted but the actual recipient of it. To me showing an image of something awarded to some outstanding person or the person themselves with a named watermark very much steals glory from the recipient.

I have been guilty of photoshopping some images posted. This is primarily to protect recipients from countries that still has the regime in power (DPRK specifically) or those still in service. I know I have posted images of awards to living recipients and also posted information about them. all of these recipients were "out of service" and are from the post-Communist world.

Now the photographs I take often include a vast amount of non-subject in frame. Being a Luddite I simply use the "Paint" with the current issue of Windows to cut everything down to what needs to be seen. Rarely I will use Lview to fiddle with an image to highlight something but this is usually only black and white photos. Time hasn't been too kind to all of those and I hope everyone can enjoy the slightly enhanced images.

So far only a small selection of the collection has been posted and more will be coming in the new year. I haven't even started on uniforms and field gear but it will all come in good time. There will be bits to satisfy all tastes.

I hope more people will be inspired to post more images - it is easy - specially when you have an auto-focussing camera!