We photograph and publish the findings

In this article I would like to discuss the main principles of how we should take pictures and add findings andprepare photos before we publish them in the LP catalog or even need help identifying them.At the same time , we'll talk about some of the most common mistakes we encounter with published finds that we should avoid.

By following these principles, we will certainly avoid negative comments from other usersusers, which can often affect our enthusiasm for adding new finds. More importantly, however, we are contributing to the overall quality of the catalogue.We keep in mind that even after us beginners, there will always be other new, less experienced ones who will try to identify their finds by ours.

What I will not address in this article is photographic equipment, as I am of the opinion that it is not necessary to own a camera, lenses and lighting worth thousands to be able to take quality photographs. Nowadays, most of the commonly available mobile phones already have a camera with good resolution and photo editing applications. Even with lesser quality or cheaper equipment or a mobile phone, with a little effort it is possible to take better quality photos than with expensive equipment that we don't know how to use and don't know the basic principles of photography.

We will mostly use coins as examples, but the same conditions and rules apply to artifacts in general.

The main principles of photographing and publishing finds:

1. We photograph each object separately
2. We add each object to the catalogue as a separate contribution/find
3. Composition
4. Light
5. Sharpness
6. Meritko
7. Additional information
8. How many and what kind of photos

1.We shoot each subject separately

The catalogue is designed in such a way that one entry can be included in one category of finds. This means that each photo in one post should be of one and the same object, no others. If there are multiple objects in any one photo, the finders will not know which object you want to identify, and it will also not be possible to put that post into a separate category.

Incorrect example
http://www.lovecpokladu.cz/artefakty/nalez/philipus-arab-antoninian-70510/

Correct example
http://www.lovecpokladu.cz/artefakty/nalez/antoninian-26574/

2. Add each item to the catalog as a separate entry/find

What applies in point 1 applies. This means that all photos in one post should be of the same subject, no others. If there are multiple subjects in each photo, the determiners will not know which subject you want to determine and also it will not be possible to put that post in a separate category.

Incorrect example - although the subjects are pictured separately, but there are 4 different subjects in the post (normally they should be added as 4 separate posts)
http://www.lovecpokladu.cz/artefakty/nalez/mince-23212/

Correct example
http://www.lovecpokladu.cz/artefakty/nalez/antoninian-26574/

3. Composition

Photo composition is not just a matter for art photographers. Even in ordinary amateur photography you can get better photos by appropriate composition. I know composition is studied in college. So it would seem that the ordinary person has no chance to succeed. But the truth is that composition, or at least the basic principles of it, is a relatively simple matter. A little information + a little practice and you'll be fine. By composition you don't have to mean just some "artistic" arrangement of an image. Compositing can also be quite a practical matter - for example: what percentage of the image area do you use for what you want to take a picture of?

For basic catalog purposes, I would summarize the compositional requirements as follows:

We try to photograph the finds on a homogeneous background, that is, a solid color without patterns, prints or texture. We also avoid bold colors, patterned furniture veneers, textiles, clothing, etc. (see 4.and 5 for more details).

Unsuitable substrate	Suitable substrate

The subject should be composed in the centre of the photograph and should occupy as much of the photograph as possible. If you are photographing the subject from a greater distance for sharpness (see point 5.), it is advisable to crop the photo to the subject before publishing. The photo can also be cropped, for example, in the "Sketchpad" application that comes with every Windows. In addition to the subject and background, the photo should not show other distracting elements, such as other objects or backgrounds. The more unused space in the photo, the less visible the details of the subject will be.

Inappropriate composition Different backgrounds Background with texture Uncut photo	Inappropriate composition Uncropped photo (details on the subject disappear)	Inappropriate composition Subject centered (photo centered after cropping)

4. Light

Light is the most important component of photography, after all without light there would be no such thing as a photograph. Light sculpts shapes and contours and affects the overall composition. Light can be divided by rule of thumb according to source into natural and artificial. Of course there are more divisions, but in the case of photography we are comfortable with this division. The source of natural light is the sun, the source of artificial light is the candle flame, incandescent lamp, fluorescent lamp, flashbulb and other man-made (and therefore artificial) sources of light. In a way, the sun is the best and most natural light source imaginable for a photographer.

From my perspective, one of the challenges of photography is to capture real colors as true to life as possible. And we perceive those best in daylight. That said, we will try:

Photograph the finds in daylight

...not in the dark, in the evening under a kitchen lamp or with a camera flash. When you come back from your hunger strike in the evening, you don't have to immediately photograph the finds and add them to the catalog. It's hard though (I know by myself J), but you better wait until the next day, the catalog isn't going anywhere. And I'm sure other users will appreciate it too.

Inappropriate lighting (incandescent light)	Inappropriate lighting (camera flash)	Appropriate lighting (Natural daylight)

...In daylight, we also avoid harsh sunlight. Harsh sunlight can cause significant overexposure or unwanted flare in a photograph. In either case, we lose the details of the subject. In strong sunlight, it is better to shoot in soft shade. (and don't burn your back...)

Daylight - bright sun	Daylight - shade/semi-shade

...Subjects made of shiny metals (gold, silver, nickel, etc.) are slightly harder to photograph in daylight than subjects made of dull (or patinaed) metals such as copper or bronze, because they reflect light back into the lens more. It helps, for example, not to shoot the subject perpendicular from above, but slightly oblique.
...For coins with shallow or worn minting, tilting the minting texture can create subtle shadows on the surface of the coin that beautifully highlight and render the entire minting. This is also true for extremely shiny coins, whose minting fades by blending when photographed vertically from above in stronger light.
...As mentioned above, items with matte surfaces don't have as much trouble with harsher light because they don't reflect light as intensely as shiny surfaces.However, it is all the more so on copper coins, for example, where the embossing can fade if it is shallow or scuffed. In this case, it helps to moisten the coin with water or olive oil just before taking the picture, for example.

Silver Roman Antoninian Photographed perpendicularly from above in daylight (penumbra)	Silver Roman antoninian Photographed slightly oblique in daylight (penumbra)

Copper collar Photographed after cleaning and drying	Copper rhinestone Photographed after cleaning and moistening with water

Choose a suitable substrate

...Every camera (even on a mobile) has what is called white balance, which is designed to eliminate the temperature of the light source so that the color rendition is realistic.Practically, this means that the camera automatically adjusts the color temperature (we can also call it "brightness") throughout the image so that, for example, bright areas are not overexposed (calledand dark areas do not lose detail at the same time. However, even technology has its limits, and is not always able to cope with this quite well. The biggest problem tends to be strongly contrasting surfaces close together - that is, for example, a dark copper coin on white paper. The camera will try to reduce the brightness so that the white area of the paper is not overexposed, but at the same time the details of the coin, which is already dark enough as it is, will be lost. It is likely that you will not see the coin in the resulting photo, but only the black circle. This phenomenon is best observed when you take a photo of the sun during the day, for example. The same is true in reverse. If you take a photo of a shiny silver coin on a black background in daylight, for example, the camera will tend to increase the brightness to bring out the details of the background. At first, the result will be a photo of a beautiful black background with an unidentifiable white circle in the center.

Copperplate on a pale background	Copper collar on a dark background	Real colour difference of the backgrounds used

Silver denarius on pale background	Silver denarius on dark background

...also the colour of the substrate can affect the overall colour of the photograph. From my point of view, the most suitable substrate is the so called "neutral grey". Neutral grey is also used in pro photography for white balance calibration, monitor calibration for graphics or in printing. It has its precise values, but for our purposes they are not so necessary, because to select a substrate of precise "neutral grey" you would need a colourimeter, which is not a cheap affair at all and for us completely useless. For our purposes, I would probably compare neutral grey to the colour of concrete first.

Photographing with artificial lighting

I personally try to avoid this method, as this is the way to go (unless you're an experiencedphotographer) causes the most problems when shooting and the most unwanted effects in the resulting photos. Artificial lighting significantly interferes with the overall colour of the photo to the point that the subject may appear completely different in the photo than it actually is (and I'm not talking about models now ).

Subject photographed in daylight (natural colour)	Subject photographed by under incandescent light (coloration suppressed to orange)	Subject photographed under fluorescent light (colouring suppressed to green)

In the example below we can see the combination of two negative factors. Too dark a background with a bright coin and the colouring of the photo suppressed to yellow/orange due to the fluorescent lighting. Beautiful gold coin, isn't it? Who wouldn't want to kick gold.... In reality, however, this is a silver Celtic quinarius.

If we have to use artificial lighting in amateur conditions, I would recommend using LED lighting with cool white light. If the LED is too intense and we have unwanted glare in the photos or the photo is too overexposed overall, it canwe can try to dim the light, for example by covering it with a piece of milky plexiglass, or we can also use a matt plastic euro wrap (colourless of course ).

However, in certain situations artificial lighting can also help us. For example, if the embossing on a coin is faint or badly worn, we can lightly illuminate the coin from the side. This achieves exactly the same effect I described when photographing obliquely in daylight, namely creating subtle shadows on the surface of the coin that highlight and render the entire mintage.

The coin lit from above	Coin lit from above and lit from the side

5. Sharpness

For a photograph to be good, it must meet a few basic criteria relating to its content and form. From a purely technical point of view, it should be correctly exposed (i.e. neither too dark nor too light) and it should be sharp (at least the part that is most important). When properly focused, a photograph appears sharp when the shapes of the subjects (represented primarily by edges) are clearly defined, without a gradual "blurred" transition. Generally speaking, a black point on a light background in reality should also appear in the photograph as a clearly delineated point, i.e. its edge should not be diffuse - i.e. the black colour on its border does not gradually transition to white, but in leaps and bounds. Of course, there are situations where blurring of the photo or part of it is desirable, but this is not the case here.

On most instruments, the so-called focus point can be manually adjusted. On cameras, we usually see colored squares on the display or in the viewfinder that show us where the camera will focus. On touchscreen mobile phones, the focus point can be set before taking the picture by simply tapping the screen on the spot you want to focus on. Unfortunately, older mobile phones don't have this option and the camera works with autofocus.

Choosing the right background or overall composition can also make a big difference to the sharpness of the photo for our needs. If we don't want to manually adjust the focus point and rely on automatic focusing, we need to remember that the more unwanted elements, patterns, texturesr or objects in the photograph, the harder it will be for the device to distinguish what to focus on and what we actually want to photograph. The result is photos where we hold the subject in our fingers, our fingers are sharp and the subject is blurry. Alternatively, the background is sharp and the subject is blurred again.

Focus point on the hand (marked with a red dot)	Focus point on the subject

Light is also an important factor affecting the sharpness of a photograph. The principle applies - the better the light, the sharper the photo. In amateur conditions, the most widespread artificial lighting - incandescent - is the biggest risk. With this type of lighting, a slight movement of the camera during shooting is enough and the result is always a blurry photo. Therefore, I have to go back to my "shoot in daylight"! Patience, the sun will definitely come out in the morning.

Taken in the evening under incandescent light	Taken during the day in the same place

Another important factor affecting the sharpness of a photo is the distance of the subject from the camera lens. Each device (like the human eye) is only able to focus on a subject up to a certain minimum distance. Reducing the distance below this limit will always give me a blurry photo. Don't try to take pictures of subjects from the smallest possible distance, it is better to take a picture of the subject from a greater distance (15-30 cm) and then crop the photo to the subject. The result will be a picture with the same size object as if you took it from 5 centimetres away, but much sharper.

A photo from 5 cm away	A photo taken from 15 cm away and cropped to the subject

There are also a number of photo editing programs, most of which offer the ability to sharpen photos. However, I am not a fan of this method, as I think that if you are going to take a photo , you should take it properly. Plus, why add unnecessary work and bother with sharpening photos software when they can be sharpened right out of the camera. Besides, over-sharpening a photo in software can give the impression that the image is animated, or even a negative.

6. Scale

In case we don't know what we have just found and what we are holding in our hand, it is absolutely necessary to write the dimensions of the object in the post. It is important to remember that the people who will look at your photos and try to help you identify the find will not have the opportunity to pick up the find and imagine its real size from photos without a scale or written dimensions. An object in a photo without a scale may actually be something quite different than it might appear at first glance.

Take a look at this bronze sword. Isn't it beautiful?

Realistically, however, we can look at a letter opener in the shape of a bronze sword measuring just under 15.5 cm long

The question remains what we can use as a suitable scale. The object used as a yardstick should be easily recognizable and its dimensions generally known.

Of course, the most suitable is something from which the dimensions can be easily read - i.e. a ruler, a tape measure, paper with a millimetre grid, or you can print out the scale on an A4 printer and photograph the find directly on this paper.

Links to scales on LP

Scales in PDF format can be found here: MaLee scale
The link is here: Tacud Finding Circumstances

Probably not quite the appropriate scale for items like cigarettes, lighters, etc. Lighters, after all, are also made small, larger and large, and the dimensions of your particular one are probably not easy to read from a photograph, so it will be impossible to get an idea of the most accurate dimensions. Not to mention the fact that such pseudo-scales aesthetically spoil photographs and reduce the contribution value of the find to the catalogue.

It is especially important to scale (or write the dimension) for the coins we wish to identify. There are many mints whose individual denominations can be distinguished on the basis of diameter alone, because the coin is identical at first glance to a lower/higher denomination coin of the same mintage. Unearthed coins are often damaged, worn, oxidized, and the descriptions or stamped denomination illegible... Even more difficult if the coin has no denomination stamped at all. Without this information, it can be very complicated, for example, to identify coins whose face value can only be determined by dimensions, weight and material, such as ancient or Celtic coins.

In the picture below we see two coins double-sided. I have deliberately blacked out the denominations for better understanding. Suppose the coins are damaged or worn at this point and the denomination is illegible. At first glance, it would appear that these are the same coin, but this is not true.

However, if you add to the post that the first coin is 18mm in diameter and the second coin is 21mm, any more experienced determiner will know that the top coin is a 10 Kreuzer and the bottom coin is a 20 Kreuzer. And you will know immediately what you want to know.

7. Additional information

Additional information can also help to correctly identify the object. Many times, from our point of view, the supplementary information is just the most relevant for an archaeologist, for example, more important than the find itself.

A minimum of supplementary information should not be forgotten:
- Dimensions of the object (if not photographed with a scale)
- Weight of the object
- Material

Appropriate also the finding circumstances, but I will not go into those, as there is already enough good material on the subject of finding circumstances.

8. How many and what kind of photos

"Every coin has two sides!" - I'm sure everyone knows this saying.
Even a one-sided coin has two sides, even if there is no minting on the other side. Are you sure there isn't? What you can't see, someone else can see. That's why we stick to the principle that we always take pictures of both sides of every coin, regardless of its condition. So a post with a coin must always contain at least two photos.

Other items we will always try to take photos from all sides so that other users can get an idea of the overall shape of the item. Again, the same applies as with coins - what you can't see, someone else can. So even if you think one side is unimportant and there is nothing on it, take a picture of it, you might be surprised.
Do you think the back of a pin badge is unimportant? Wrong! It is the design of the pin on the back that can determine whether it is an original or a modern imitation. A common phenomenon, for example, with German WW2 badges and their Polish modern imitations. Just because you dug it out of the ground is no guarantee of originality.

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In conclusion, I would like to add that what you have read above should be, from my point of view, the minimum to be able to produce something aesthetically beneficial and valuable for this catalogue. It is not something that should limit you. On the contrary, there is no limit to creativity. There are many beautiful photographs, found photos, field photos and collages in the submissions. Browse through the catalogue, get inspired and play around with the photos. You won't go wrong with extra photos, you'll only gain. And you will definitely feel it in the comments below your posts. Personally, I also have a few favorites whose photos I always look forward to seeing.

So have fun and metal cheers!
Black Sheep - Beéé

Finally, one more photo that is still TOP for me in this catalogue and I have it right in front of my eyes when I remember it. But that takes a bit more skill... ;-)

Link to the catalogue of finds on LP: Hunters History