Guide to Imaging: Getting Started

Please consider attending a VRC workshop, or schedule a custom workshop to fit your department’s needs, where we will cover in-depth image-editing processes for scanned images, personal photography, and custom digital drawings. Outlined below is some preliminary information on checking your images, digital image vocabulary, and software resources.  

• Wipe down the glass of an overhead or flatbed scanner before placing your object on it/underneath, ideally with a microfiber cloth. This can help decrease the amount of editing needed later to remove dust particles.
• If scanning a bound volume on a flatbed scanner, place the book perpendicular to the light source of the scanner bar. Pushing the book as flat as possible will reduce shadows.
• Back the scanned page with a solid-colored piece of paper to keep text/images on the reverse from bleeding through.
• If the image spans the gutter of a book, scan the pages separately and stitch together in Photoshop. This will help reduce shadows.

Newer iPhones can take photos that are quite comparable to using a camera, and are high enough resolution to be published as long as you won't need to crop too small of a detail, so you don't necessarily need to invest in a DSLR camera. Consider using a more professional camera if you will be photographing in the following conditions:

• Zooming in on faraway objects. The mechanical zoom of a DSLR lens can take higher-quality photos when photographing farther away. The digital zoom of an iPhone loses some of the quality.
• Low light or night photography. iPhones can take decent quality images in low light, and editing can fix some quality, though DSLRs can minimize post-processing time and have better color fidelity.
• Though images taken with iPhones and with DSLRs appear quite similar, DSLR cameras can take images at higher quality. If your project requires high-quality images, or photos might need to be cropped to create details, consider borrowing a camera.
• Color fidelity without using a color checker. The color in iPhones can often shift towards yellows and greens, if you need to photograph accurate colors and are unable to include a color checker for editing afterwards, a DSLR may photograph colors more accurately.

Archives and museums will allow different equipment to be used in their space. Assess the best possible environment you can create for capture based on the equipment you are able to use and what is allowed in the space.

• Archives typically make snakes, beanbag weights, and foam wedges available. Use these to get pages to lie flat and adjust the angle of bound volumes so that you can capture an image straight-on.
• Small tripods and copy stands are not always allowed, but can be a good option to capture better photos if available. Alternatively, you can practice some mind-body awareness to make your body like a tripod. Plant your feet, engage your core, hold your arms stead, and breathe evenly.
• Use a small level that can attach to your camera’s hot shoe mount.
• For objects behind glass, try to take a photograph on a slight angle that doesn’t capture the glare. It’s easier to keystone the image back into a flat plane than it is to Photoshop out a glare that captures a reflection of yourself.

Some obstructions can be edited from photographs, while some cannot. Some conditions to consider:

• Blurs cannot be edited
• If you're photographing outside, photograph with the sun behind you, cloudy days are often best
• Zooming on a phone often reduces quality, it's better to physically move yourself closer to the object being photographed
• Low light can often be edited to brighten the image later, it helps to take photos both with and without flash to give yourself some options. Note that the flash might wash the object out
• If only small parts of the object are being obstructed, many can be edited from the image
• Some light reflections on an object can be edited, such as on a solid field of color, but obstructed details cannot be replaced. Consider taking multiple photos from different angles
• If a reflection is covering the object, it's often easier to take a new photo

Notes on Camera Equipment

If your project could benefit from a more sophisticated camera, the VRC has a list of both entry-level and pro DSLR cameras and lenses we recommend using on the Camera Lending page. The recommended lens will vary depending on what you're looking to photograph. Wide-angle lenses are best for architecture or site photography, while photographing small objects or museum collections can require a standard zoom or macro lens.

Keeping an original copy of your images (without edits, annotations, etc.) is an important part of maintaining your archive. While we cover how to increase the overall quality of images through Photoshop, saving an original to return to will allow it to be reverted in case an image is saved over or corrupted in the editing process. 

Refer to Managing Personal Image Archives for resources on organizing a personal image collecting, file naming conventions, and cataloging guides.

• jpg: jpegs are a smaller size than most formats, but will decrease in quality over time when edited and resaved. If jpegs are necessary, save with the least amount of compression using your editing software.
• tiff: tiffs will take up more space, but will not degrade if edited and saved. The VRC recommends downloading images and saving processed images in tiff format. 
• RAW: when photographing, RAW can act as the “negative” of the image. Export copies of edited images to an editable format, and keep RAW files as originals. 
• png: usually images formatted for the internet, it’s a compressed format similar to jpg. 

Capturing images with an iPhone

Apple products are set to capture in HEIC (High Efficiency Image Format), though settings can be adjusted to capture in the “most compatible” format, which will save images as jpgs. The VRC recommends capturing in HEIC, as the files are compressed and take up about 50% less space than a jpg file while maintaining the same level of quality. Similar to RAW files, HEIC files need to be exported to a different format to be edited, used in slides, and published.

• Check pixel size of images from desktop, Adobe Bridge or Photoshop
• DPI/PPI: (dots per square inch/pixels per square inch), the on-screen resolution of an image, this can change based on the size of the image
  • For example, a 2448 x 3264 pixel image will appear as 34 x 45 inches at 72 ppi, but at a higher ppi resolution (300ppi), it will appear as 8 x 10.5 inches. 
  • The ppi cannot be increased while keeping the pixel dimensions. Increasing both the ppi and the pixel dimensions will decrease the quality of the image.

• LinkedIn Learning: Photoshop, SketchUp, Procreate etc.

Explore the Storage and Backup page for more information on storing original and working copies of image files and them backing up.