Conventionally, site photographs of features have been taken using 35mm cameras with transparency and monochrome film. Photographs of features are taken as and when required – normally before, during and when excavation is complete. Major site overview and publication photographs are usually taken using a Hasselblad 6 x 6cm medium format camera, using transparency and monochrome film. The photographs include colour and grey-scale bars, scale-bars, a north pointer and context numbers marked using small plastic characters; where low-level vertical photography is employed grid-references are marked using flat-head roofing nails with the coordinates also incorporated using plastic characters. For higher level vertical photography, recorded using a crane or Simon-lift, larger targets have been incorporated to assist with georeferencing the images. The photographs are recorded in a conventional database table with digital scans created on an ad hoc basis, as and when required.
In addition to the set piece photographs, Polaroid photographs were used for many years to enhance the context record. Following the purchase of a digital camera, the Polaroid pictures have been replaced by the use of low-resolution (three mega-pixel) digital photographs; these can easily be incorporated within the WEB-CD archive and, although of limited quality, serve the same purpose as the Polaroid prints previously used.
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URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue27/2/5.7.html
Last updated: Wed Nov 11 2009