TIPS FOR BETTER GRAVE PHOTOS

1. NEVER SHOOT AGAINST THE LIGHT. Take east facing grave photos in the morning, west facing grave photos in the afternoon. This eliminates silhouettes. If the inscription is in shade do not photograph it then unless it is an emergency. If that happens, use your flash. Experiment with it to reduce glare. I do one pass of a cemetery in the morning and another pass in the afternoon.

2. NEVER TAKE ANGLE SHOTS. Get right in front of the grave, not at an angle to it. You may need to get onto your knees or stomach in order to get perpendicular to the plane of the grave. For flat stones, hover exactly above the middle of it with your camera. You may need a small portable stepstool in order to get high enough above the flat stones.

3. FILL THE FRAME WITH THE IMAGE. Closer images are much easier to read but be sure you do not cut off part of the grave.

4. CROP AND STRAIGHTEN. You can do many wonderful things with a free easy to use photo program such as Photoscape. At least crop and straighten the images before you submit them.

5. OTHER. There would be many other things but the main ones are above. Pull weeds, rearrange flowers and other memorabilia, eliminate shadows and reflections the best you can. I suggest wearing dark clothing. Some people prefer cloudy days to eliminate shadows and silhouettes. I generally avoid that since the photos will not be as stunning as ones taken in the sun.

You may use any of my grave photos in any way that you want. You do not need to ask permission.

Bob Neugebauer

TIPS FOR BETTER GRAVE PHOTOS

1. NEVER SHOOT AGAINST THE LIGHT. Take east facing grave photos in the morning, west facing grave photos in the afternoon. This eliminates silhouettes. If the inscription is in shade do not photograph it then unless it is an emergency. If that happens, use your flash. Experiment with it to reduce glare. I do one pass of a cemetery in the morning and another pass in the afternoon.

2. NEVER TAKE ANGLE SHOTS. Get right in front of the grave, not at an angle to it. You may need to get onto your knees or stomach in order to get perpendicular to the plane of the grave. For flat stones, hover exactly above the middle of it with your camera. You may need a small portable stepstool in order to get high enough above the flat stones.

3. FILL THE FRAME WITH THE IMAGE. Closer images are much easier to read but be sure you do not cut off part of the grave.

4. CROP AND STRAIGHTEN. You can do many wonderful things with a free easy to use photo program such as Photoscape. At least crop and straighten the images before you submit them.

5. OTHER. There would be many other things but the main ones are above. Pull weeds, rearrange flowers and other memorabilia, eliminate shadows and reflections the best you can. I suggest wearing dark clothing. Some people prefer cloudy days to eliminate shadows and silhouettes. I generally avoid that since the photos will not be as stunning as ones taken in the sun.

You may use any of my grave photos in any way that you want. You do not need to ask permission.

Bob Neugebauer