Images on the Web - Photography
It is hard to guess what a person in the
future will consider history or what they will wish they had
some form of pictorial reference for. We can only make it
simpler for ourselves as we look through these photos a few
years after they were taken, for our students and children as
they look at material decades later, and for archivists that
will look at the material a century-or more-in the future by
following good storage and archiving practices while we have
the chance.
Start with a good photo
A wayward camera strap ruins some photos while
other photos are overexposed. Sometimes these photos are the
"best" on the role, an event now lost in time
because rewind only works on the VCR. Problem photographs can
be alleviated with good photographic practices in the
beginning.
Kodak has
ten
techniques for improving the quality of photographs that
everyone should follow. They are:
-
Look
your subject in the eye
-
Use
a plain background
-
Use
flash outdoors
-
Move
in close
-
Move
it from the middle
-
Lock
the focus
-
Know
your flash's range
-
Watch
the light
-
Take
some vertical pictures
-
Be
a picture director
Kodak also provides a Guide to better pictures
on their website, which goes into greater depth on topics such
as lenses, filters and film developing.
Storage: Keeping a record
Once you have your new and improved
photographs back from the developer, now is the time to create
a brief record of the photographs for your personal use or to
provide captions to photos on your website. We recommend that
you provide the following minimal information about your
photographs:
-
When: the date the picture was taken
-
Where: where the picture was taken
-
Who: who is in the picture, in some order
(left to right)
-
Why: identify the project
-
Photographer: who took the picture
With the rules about taking pictures of
students and school events, you may also want to include
information about securing permission to use the images with
this information. Store this information with the photographs.
Students may not volunteer to take this task
off your hands, but it is a good exercise that they can
complete together. You will also get feedback about the
quality of the pictures, the ones that they like and ones that
they hope never to see again, all important considerations
when selecting the ones that parents will see or choosing
which ones will go on the website.
[Top] |
Compression
Photographs
Digital
Photography
Resources
American Institute for
Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.
Caring
for your photographs
Protecting
Family Memories from Time.
Kodak's Guide to Better Pictures.
Why
do people have red eyes in photographs?
Imaging
Resource, an online magazine about photography.
Photo Editing Software
Adobe
Photoshop 6
Jasc
Paint Shop Pro 7
Scanners
Selecting
Scanners
Williams,
Don. Selecting a Scanner.
|