Digitisation Resource | Overview of Photographic Process

By Andrew Hales, Lead Photographer, New Zealand Maritime Museum

Produced by New Zealand Maritime Museum 2025

Basic Summary

This document sets out simple and generic guidelines for photographing objects or collections of objects in a Museum, Archive, Gallery, or Library as part of a larger digitisation process. It can also be applied to archives.

• This process can be used in full or in part; adjust, change, and adapt as needed.
• The process works best in organisations with distinct roles associated with collection care/management.

The end goal is to ensure that the collection is safe, the photography is useful, and everyone understands what is happening. The process is built on the commonly used photographic process of getting a brief, understanding your subject, doing the setup, taking the photo, and processing it for delivery.

Pre-Production:

Like all photography, it is important to understand and appreciate what you are photographing before beginning. It is also important that our customers get what they require from the images, both practically and aesthetically.

• Meet with the object or collection knowledge holder/curator/collection manager to get an overview of the collection. Ask what is in it, why it is here, and what it is used for.
• View as much of the collection as possible and get an idea of the range of object types, materials, sizes, and shapes. Look for any potential surprises, e.g., very shiny objects or things much larger or smaller than the rest.
• Seek a brief for images from the knowledge holder/curator/collection manager.
  Determine the required sequence of images as they will be displayed in the CMS and Collections Online, e.g., hero shot – details – ruler shot. The ruler shot is always last.
  If standards exist, determine to what standard the collection will be photographed OR,
  Determine if the collection needs to be photographed quickly and simply as a record or at a slower pace with more attention to details, aesthetics, and visual appeal.
• Seek a spreadsheet from the Collection Manager/Tech with a list of objects, including:
  Accession Number/Other ID/Identifying number on object.
  Description of Object
  Packing Unit, if possible, is useful for some collections packed in defined boxes
  Any collection-specific information that may be useful, e.g., dimensions for large objects.
• Ascertain if there is a time limit or deadline for the photography.
• Ask about any special handling requirements and seek extra training, equipment, or support if required.

Setup:

Different collections and object types will need different photographic setups; lighting, background, and camera locations can change between setups. The final setup determines how the photography will continue and should take in what was learned from pre-production and what will be required in post-production.

• Keep summaries of previous lighting setups and refer to them to see if a similar or the same collection has been photographed before and set up accordingly.
• If it is a new collection or to be photographed in a new way, use a representative sample of the collection or stunt object to develop a lighting setup that suits the brief.
  Pay consideration to:
  Visual and stylistic consistency.
  Ease of use and access to the workspace.
  Using only the gear and equipment that is needed and not overcomplicating the setup.
   
• Lay out the workspace in a way that is safe to use and that is safe for the objects, with room to have objects close to hand.
• Collection managers can often help with extra resources for object handling or display (e.g., mannequins, stands, etc)
• Consider the full workflow and movement of objects into the studio space, onto the shooting table, and back into storage.
• Try to minimise changes during the process, e.g., lens changes, camera position changes, lighting changes, etc.
• Send a set of test images for approval by the knowledge holder/curator/collection manager and team leader, and make any changes if needed before moving on.

Photography

Think about quantity with quality while keeping the objects/archives safe and working to the brief to deliver the angles and details that are needed, in an efficient way. Doing the photography puts everything done in pre-production and setup to use, while keeping in mind post-production to create the final digital surrogate.

• Shoot tethered to a laptop using DSLR Remote Pro or similar software.
  Save images to a clearly named and easy-to-read directory structure.
  E.g., Collection name -> date
• Name files at point-of-capture
  Accession number using – (dash) instead of. (dot).
  Follow numbering sequence starting with _001
• Stick to the setup developed during the setup phase, photographing objects like for like to reduce the number of setup changes as much as possible.
• Shoot in sequence determined by brief; ruler shot is always last.
• Delete mistakes as you go and reshoot in sequence to reduce the need to resequence and rename images later.
• Develop a work pattern so all objects are shot in the same sequence and maintain a consistent look.
• Let the process and lighting you set up at the start take care of the photography so you can pay attention to the objects/archives for:
  Correct file naming
  Safe object handling
  Ensuring you don’t miss any objects in a box/tray.
• Check file naming and camera settings as you work.
• Extra beauty shots should not interfere with overall productivity. However, they are great to take as they help you gather a deeper understanding of the object and have uses in other areas, e.g., marketing.
  They are only useful if exported with the rest of the images in sequence, attached to the object record, and discoverable.
• Work in a way that reduces how much time is needed to work on the images in post-production.
  Don’t shoot selects. Be confident and get it right in camera first.
  Resequencing and renaming later increases the chance for errors.

Post-production/Image Delivery

Images do not exist until they have been processed into files for backup and attached to records in the CMS (e.g., Vernon). For this to happen, and for the images to be usable as Digital Surrogates, they need to be handled correctly and exported with the correct file names. Using batches and pre-sets can reduce errors and save time during post-production, allowing more production time to create images.

• Process files daily at the end of the day.
• Store files in a clearly named and easy-to-read directory structure.
• Import into Lightroom or a similar program.
• Apply develop settings to Imaging Standard or do no post-production except for setting white balance and keywords.
  Apply settings, including white balance and keywords, as a pre-set and as a batch.
• Visually inspect images, checking for obvious errors.
• If any object is not photographed in sequence, find, re-sequence and rename files.
  A renaming pre-set can be created to help.
• Search file names using text search:
  File naming sequence _001, then _002, _003 etc
  - There should be no ruler shots for images _001 and _002 for most collections.
  - Look for ruler shots showing up at a similar place in the image sequence.
  - Look for objects where the file name hasn’t changed from the previous object. For example, If 1234_005 is a ruler image, and 1234_006 exists, then that is likely a miss-named object and should be 4321_001.
• Total images for _001 and _002 is usually the same, and depending on the collection and how consistently it was photographed, they can be the same for all images in the sequence.
• Export images to Archive.
  RAW file first, then derivatives
• Export images for CMS and Online services.
• Exports are best done over a network directly to the Archive and CMS storage.
• It is best to use a file copy verification utility like “TeraCopy”, which can do a checksum to ensure files were not corrupted during the copy process.
  If the network is slow, images can be exported to the system hard drive and copied to the Archive and CMS storage after the export is complete.
  Lightroom will show an error message with file names if it is unable to export all images.
  Lightroom will show an error at the start of an export if there are files in the folder with the same name as those being exported.
• Check the total number of image files for each file type matches the total of RAW files exported.