Tombstone Photo Tips from your Lorain County Coordinator
These are my tips which have helped improve the quality of my photos you see here on the OHGenWeb site.
Try them out and see what works for you. If you have more ideas on photography and want to share them, let me know.
Instructions:
- Take a friend or family member with you for safety reasons when going to take cemetery pictures.
- If your camera has a Landscape setting please use this.
- Set your camera on the highest resolution available for a better quality photoand do not worry about the amount of memory it takes up.
- Do not date stamp the photos.
- DO NOT use a flash even though the camera wants you to. Granite reflects the flash and washes out the stone's polished surface.
- Take digital photos on partly cloudy days to reduce shadows and make any adjustments to them with photo editing software like Paint Shop Pro, or a photo editor that comes with your camera.
- Watch the glossy stones as your image may reflect on their surface and show up on the photo. Better to take the picture from a slight angle to avoid reflections.
- Take a picture of a vertical or tall upright stone by turning the camera to a vertical position. Your camera should be posed the same direction as the stone.
- Do not cut off the corners of the stone....take the entire stone and leave a grassy edge around it when possible. The engravings like flowers and icons are also important.
- If you already have stone photos in your collection how about sharing them. You can become a contributor to Find A Grave and sumbit your pictures there.