Nearly every graphic recorder takes photos of his/her work. So do participants who love the output. However, many a times, the photographs aren’t always of the most ideal quality for circulation. But fret not, here are three quick tips that will help you make your next graphic recording photo better.
Here are the three tips from a recent camera (not photography) workshop that I implemented recently when taking photos of my graphic recordings.
1. Use the camera’s filters to enhance photographs.
Here’s are some crops from photographs of the same graphic recording. The first was taken with the camera’s point and shoot settings, the second in Art Filter mode (Pop Art).
I really like how the Pop Art filter enhances and evens out pastels, making them pop with a vivid, neon-ish glow!
2. Photograph in RAW
Another tip I learned was to shoot in RAW + Large/Super Fine or Fine (JPEG) quality mode to get images good enough for 1:1 reproduction.
RAW files are scarily huge (in the range of ~15MB per file) but the editing possibilities make it worth the work of memory card clean up.
The workshop trainer said RAW files were like negatives of the good old “camera film” days and can be edited in various ways while maintaining a an original that captured maximum detail.
3. Memory cards don’t last forever
Memory cards have a lifespan (GASP!)
What most people (myself included) don’t realise is, memory cards do wear out over time. They should be replaced every two years or less or there may be the risk of losing (or not capturing in the first place) images we thought we’ve taken with our camera.
[In case you’re curious, the camera I used was the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with kit lens.]