Photography

Photographing the touchstone object and the informant is an important part of documenting your Q.S.O.S. interview, and therefore deserves careful thought. Good photographs result from good planning, so that the final results serve your project's purposes.

Start planning by first considering the kind of photographs you want to make as documentation for your project. What specific information do you want those photographs to contain? Will you photograph the informant with her/his touchstone object? Will you make one photograph of the informant and another of her/his object? Will other people or objects figure into your photographic documentation? Establishing a basic "must photograph" list will help you remember to take all the pictures you will want to have.

Once you know the specific kinds of information you want to document with photographs, you will need to decide what photographic format you will use to create your images. To make these decisions, it is helpful to first think of how you will want to use the photographs you are going to create. Will they be for archival and study purposes? Will you want them to be useful for publication, whether in print media or electronically? Will you want color prints, color slides, or black-and white prints? What about digital photography - will the resolution meet your information goals?

Next, consider the kind of photography equipment you have available or will want to acquire. The limitations of your equipment may dictate things like lighting conditions, the distance the photographer must stand away from the subject, or the ability to do extreme close-up shots of object details. Spend some time with the camera you have, its manual, and a roll or two of film to learn the limitations of your equipment, and what kind of pictures this camera is best at producing. You may decide that you need to acquire new equipment, or enlist the help of someone who already has the photographic equipment you need for the photographic documentation you want to make.

While you are evaluating your photographic equipment needs, you will need to think about the actual physical setup for taking pictures for your project. Will you be conducting your interview in a space that will permit the display of large objects? Will there be sufficient light in the room, or will you have to bring supplementary lighting devices, like photoflood lamps? Or will your camera's flash produce the light you need? If the space is too small, can you move the photography session out-of-doors to take advantage of natural light? If you photograph out of doors, how will you ensure that the touchstone object remains clean? Whether photographing indoors or outdoors, how will you support the touchstone object so that it is visible in its entirety in the photograph? If you can't hoist the object, will you be satisfied with a photograph of only part of the quilt - say, a quarter; if it is folded over a chair back or in the informant's arms?

Recommendations for Lighting for Indoor Photography

• Two tripod-based photoflood lamps with electrical extension cords
• Daylight light bulbs with Ektachrome film (daylight) - 500 or 250 watts each (Estimate about six hours of color-balanced use for each bulb.)

In documentation situations where you are photographing multiple quilts, it would be helpful to have a computer ready for downloading the images (be sure you have sufficient memory available if you are planning to download digital images to a computer hard drive). A computer with a "zip drive" and a supply of blank zip disks will allow you to make backup copies on-site.

Film

If you are not using a digital camera, you will need to acquire a supply of photographic film. Once you know both the location's lighting conditions (natural light outdoors, incandescent light or fluorescent light indoors, or flash) and the photographic formats you want to produce (color prints, color slides), it is time to select the film types for your project.

• Recommendation for Film (for 35 mm cameras): Indoors with Daylight Flood lamps
  Color slides: Ektachrome 200 ASA color slide film
• Recommendation for Film (for 35 mm cameras): Outdoor with natural light
  Color slides: Ektachrome 200 ASA color slide film

• Be sure to include the informant's identification number in each photograph. See the section entitled "Using Identification Numbers during Photography."
• Back up in order to get the entire quilt as well as the informant in the picture frame.
• The informant should NOT stand in front of quilt but to the side.
• Take outdoor photographs in direct sunlight. Shade will make the colors "cold."
• Always take at least two shots to ensure that you have at least one usable view of each photograph.
• Play it safe. "Bracket" your photographs, taking a "security shot" on either side of the setting recommended by your camera. Take the one in the middle, too!
• Use your viewfinder to compose your photograph. Take care that the object and your subject are both visible and centered within the frame.
• Be careful not to "cut off" hands and feet-use your viewfinder to be sure they are inside the photographic frame.
• A least one detail picture of the informant's choice should be taken in addition to the overall picture.

Digital Photography

Digital photography offers numerous advantages for making a visual record of the Q.S.O.S. interview. Better models of digital cameras make it possible to take high resolution images that are easily stored and readily adaptable for both electronic and print media. The new generation of digital printers also makes it possible to make archival prints from digital images. Because there are many different models of digital cameras, the following points are intended to be generally applicable. For more detailed information, consult your user's manual.

• Quality. You should use a digital camera only if it can produce a "fine" image. A fine image is usually about a 1M JPEG (or roughly an image of 28 by 21 inches at 72 dpi). Smaller images tend to look digital when printed.
   
• Settings. Your digital camera should have both automatic and manual options. These include default settings for the flash, etc. If you are comfortable with your camera and its functions, you should use the manual settings to achieve the best images. If not, trust the default settings-they are designed to answer most ordinary needs.
   
• Flash. The default for most cameras generally selects the flash for poor light conditions. The flash, however, will also tend to wash out colors and create reflected highlights. Always take images with and without the flash. Even in poor artificial light conditions, the colors in digital cameras can be corrected just as they can in a graphics program.
   
• Review. The real advantage of many digital cameras is the playback feature. Take the photographs and play them back. Some cameras even have zoom reviews that make it possible to check details for focus and clarity. Use these features to insure that the digital photographs are sharp and detailed. As with film cameras, take multiple images for the sake of insurance.
   
• Saving the Image. As soon as possible, download the digital photographs to a computer hard drive and make a back up. Once the images are saved, then make copies for future use. The current preferred medium is a CD-ROM, but Zip disks are also a good option. In either case, once you save the copied images, open the copies in your computer and make sure that they are all there and usable.

Handling with Care

Even though you do have to think through and resolve all of these technical questions, do not forget to consider the needs of your informant in your plans. Remember as you photograph that you are handling someone's prized possession. Be careful, and respect the wishes of the owner. Consider wearing clean white gloves when handling the touchstone object.

 

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