Shooting Your Photos

Set-up
Much time and hassle will be saved in post-processing and - editing if you spend extra effort during your photographic setup. 

• White balance using the designated card before you start shooting, and whenever you turn the camera back on - like when you have to change out the battery, or memory card.
• Use the light meter to measure and adjust the light level at the center and all four corners of the object being photographed. Ideally, you want the light level to be the same in these areas.
• When using the copy stand, use the level to make sure that the lens is paralell to the object being photographed. If the camera is tilted, you'll end up with "keystoned" photos and your rectangular object will look more like a trapezoid.

These things will help to keep your images looking consistent and accurate. You can also take notes about the position of your lights, the light levels recorded by the light meter, what camera you used or anything else that will help you recreate the same set-up when you need to take after or during treatment photos.

Image Quality/Resolution with the Nikon Coolpix 4500: Use theFINE setting for conservation treatment photos.   You can use the HI (uncompressed TIFF) setting  if you want to eventually make high-quality prints of your photos.  For 99% of your photos, the FINE setting will be just fine!

New Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) Cameras: Use the *** JPEG setting.

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