Just want to say thank you. I’m about to start on a project to photograph archive documents - this video told me just what I needed to know, I’m truly grateful for it.
Thank you very much for sharing all this info and the link to the British Library endangered archives project.It's exactly the info I needed right now.
One question about photographing small paperback books that don't easily lie open unless they are held open by hand or have heavy objects placed around the edges to hold them open. Is there any simple device or a simple solution to being able to hold such books open and then easily turning the pages to take pictures quickly without having to stop constantly and re-position the book for each shot?
Great question, thanks. There's no easy way to photograph books with that kind of "springy" spine (especially if you are trying to avoid damage to the book) without some kind of support hardware. It also helps (but slows things down) to have a platen, a sheet of glass or transparent plastic to place over the page. Professional setups have two cameras, one each for the left and right sides, and rest the spine in a stand that only requires the book to be open halfway (90 degrees instead of 180). There are examples of devices that do this here: www.diybookscanner.org/ In a simpler setup you can photograph one side (e.g., all the even pages), flip the book over and photograph the other set of pages (e.g., all the odd ones), and alternate them in software. Here's a DIY version: booki.flossmanuals.net/e-book-enlightenment/making-a-book-scanner
Thanks for the great & instructive video, especially the portion on lighting. Is there a specific tripod you would recommend for this type of photography?
So, I have some papers that are so thin paper that letters can be seen through from the page behind, and I think I want to eliminate that. Putting one page at the time on a black background makes the contrast of the image of the document much worse. One fix would be to have a light background but that was not reccomended. Another is to place something lighter (preferably similar in lightness to the paper?) specifically behind the page only, but it would then possibly be visible as a square behind the page or a lighter border around the documents on the black background. Maybe not ideal one of those seem like the best solution I can think of?
Hi, Thank you for instructional video. Do you have the website link for British Library Endangered Archives Program? I would like to learn more about it.
Thanks for the video! Can you say more about lights? I'm willing to spend a little (but not a lot) on two decent lights for my setup. Do you have any that you recommend? Certain specifications?
It's hard to give a single recommendation, because it depends on the conditions you're working in (for example, whether you are able to plug the lights in). In general, avoid fluorescent lights because they flicker, so the illumination won't be consistent from moment to moment. Cheap LEDs, when plugged in, can flicker too. A desk lamp can work quite well. For general illumination in the field, a battery-powered LED panel works nicely, there are too many to point to a particular model, but I recommend getting one with adjustable intensity and a diffusion filter you can put over it.
Thank you so much for the video! Where do you recommend obtaining a color card and scale? It seems like the cheapest options of these are not necessarily the best option.
Thanks for the question. We have used color cards/rulers from Past Horizons www.pasthorizonstools.com/category_s/1831.htm, but there are many suppliers out there (check other archaeology and surveying equipment cos.). For the best quality, professional photographers use higher end ones like the X-rite ColorChecker Passport www.xrite.com/categories/calibration-profiling/colorchecker-classic-family/colorchecker-passport-photo-2, but for our purposes this would be overkill.
It's an old model that is no longer available for sale, but the most important feature for this purpose is that the main post can be reversed so that the camera can be pointed straight down. Beyond that, there are many tripods available and most with this reversible post feature will work for this purpose.
