[Nfb-science] research progress and tips for quality photography

[John Miller]

Cheryl,
Thank you for the post.  This kind of disclosure of detail is just what
challenges the rest of us to pursue excellence.
I remember working with an audio rack and a DAT player to make high
quality recordings and take recordings of noise level in a speech coding
lab.
I labeled all the wire connections in the back of the unit as well as
the proper connections from device to device.  I made a paper cover over
the front display panel with a hole where the LED I wished to find was
located.
The light sensor from NFB could then tell me if the appropriate meter
was on or not.
I have no experience with cameras but am glad your ventures are coming
along well.
Very best,
John


-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of cheryl fogle
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 7:13 PM
To: nfb-science at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfb-science] research progress and tips for quality
photography

Hi John and list,

 

I recently returned from the first of five museums where I will be
collecting data for my Ph.D. dissertation.  I thought that the process
for
taking digital photographs of good quality might be useful to some of
you.

 

My study involves measuring and photographing stone spear points that
have
been found at archaeological sites from about 9,000 years ago.  I'm
using
calipers and a digivoice from Captech that reads the measurements out
loud.
For data entry I'm using Excell and JAWS. I hired a reader to describe
color, read print collections records provided by the museum, and take
photographs.

 

Before I went on the trip, I picked the brains of a colleague who is
knowledgeable about digital cameras because I needed to figure out how
to
instruct my research assistant. We tested various settings on my Nikon
CoolPix  camera to determine which produce the most detailed
photographs.
Since the artifacts were all smaller than my hand, macro mode with high
resolution (6 megapixals for my camera model) was ideal. Macro mode is
indicated on my camera by a flower displayed in the top left  corner of
the
lcd display that the photographer uses to navigate camera menus.
Apparently
camera manufacturers use the flower as the icon for macro mode because
it's
a common object that people want close-up pictures of. 

 

We included a black-and-white centimeter scale in the test photographs
of
artifacts and we found that the camera auto-focus wants to focus in on
the
scale because of the contrasting colors. So the solution we determined
was
to take two pictures each with one focusing on the scale, and the other
focusing on the artifact itself. I had the sound effects turned on so
that I
could hear the shutter clicking and could count the number of pictures
being
taken, and I could hear the beep that occurred if the camera wasn't
focused
properly. This way, I know how my assistant was progressing with the
photos.

 

The other main tips I learned were:

                        

1. In macro mode, hold the camera about 6 inches directly above the
object

 

2. set light objects on a dark background (black paper works); set dark
objects on a light background (white paper); and carry a neutral color
paper, yellow or tann, if more contrast choices are needed. Having been
blind from birth, the suggestions about color contrast was very helpful.

 

3. The digital camera names files with an incomprehensible string of
numbers. The best way to keep track of pictures is to rename the
photographs
to something more intuitive. In my case, I have renamed the photos to
correspond to the catalog number for each artifact.

 

Now the photographs have been reviewed by several sighted people, and
they
say they are clear. The only improvement suggested to me was carrying a
stronger light. The photos were taken in normal lighting such as that in
a
classroom or office setting. I now have a way to double check the visual
information I got from my assistant and so that should provide quality
control with my data since I'll work with several assistants before AI'm
finished with data analysis.

 

I'm curious if anyone else on this list has had experience with
photography.

 

Take care.

 

 

Cheryl Fogle

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico