Instructions for Taking Tombstone Photos: Thank you for offering to take photos of Tombstones. Your work will help people all over the world with their genealogical research and help preserve the information on these stones. We hope you enjoy the process. 1. Be sure the tombstone fills the frame, that is, it takes up the vast majority of the photo. We do not want background tombstones, flowers or other things on the grave, or long shots. A double tombstone will have more background in the picture, and that is fine. 2. Tombstone photos are considered valid genealogical evidence, even if the dates are wrong. They are still evidence. If the researcher cannot read the tombstone then the photo is of no use. Be sure when you look at the photo on your computer that you can read the names and dates. The photo should be in focus and not blurry in any way. Sometimes this happens when you get too close to the tombstone, especially with fixed focus cameras (ones that you don't do any focusing, the camera is set and you can't adjust the focus). Do the best you can with a fixed focus camera getting close without loosing focus. 3. You need to be able to read both the name and dates. You may know the dates and be tempted to add them to the photo but that does not make the photo valid evidence, only that you could read the stone when you were there. The tombstone photo needs to be readable on its own, so the researcher can read it. Just remember these photos are being used as genealogical evidence and the researcher may make a print. 4. To make tombstone engraving show up better in photos, you can take water with you and wet the stone. This does not always work, though. Another method is to have an assistant use mirrors to reflect the sun on the stone in such a way that shadows are created by the engraving. NEVER USE CAUSTIC MATERIALS SUCH AS CHALK, FLOUR OR SHAVING CREAM AS THEY WILL CAUSE HARM TO THE STONE. This was the old way of doing things but presevationists now know that these substances, even if washed off immediately, will still harm the stone. For more on taking the photographs you can go to: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nhoga/misc_articles/photographing_gravestones.htm or http://www.bitsofblueandgray.com/july2004.htm or http://www.genealogy.com/64_gravestones_print.html 5. Double tombstones are fine as one photo as long as you can read them. If it is difficult to read the information on a double tombstone in one photo, take two photos – one for each occupant with their dates. Make a note when sending in each photo that it is one part of a double stone. For example: John and Mary Smith share a stone. You take two photos, one for John and one for Mary. a. Using the auto-uploading system (where available): When you send in the photo for John, you would give his name, the dates on his stone and then in additional comments you would say something like "Same stone with Mary Smith." When you send in Mary's stone photo, you would give her name and the dates on her stone with "Same stone with John Smith" under additional comments. b. Sending photos directly to the site manager: Open an email to the site manager's address and attach the two photos to it. State in the subject line that you are sending photos for the particular cemetery in the city or town, county and state applicable. An example would be "Tombstone photos for Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama." Include in the body of the email (the message portion) the names on the tombstone and that they are both on the same stone to give the manager a "heads-up" of what to expect. The manager will be able to note that John and Mary are on the same stone. 6. The dimensions of the photo should not exceed 800 pixels wide (length) by 600 pixels tall (height). 7. The quality of the photo should be low and not be more than 150 Kbytes if possible. The auto-system will not accept photos 1.5 megabytes (1500 Kbytes) or larger. Some cameras give you a choice of taking the photo using Best, Better, Good referring to the quality of the photo. Choose Good or low quality when you take the photo so you won't have to change it later in your computer. 8. If you have scanned photos from prints into your computer, you need to make sure they fit within the above guidelines. Larger photos sent directly to managers will be resized when time and/or computer software permits, but there is no guarantee when your photos will be online as resizing your photos is tremendously time consuming and mangers handle many photos each day. By having them sized correctly, the work goes much faster and easier. 9. Be sure that your photos or scanned photos are in .jpg format. Other formats will be deleted. 10. Photos on CD: Some managers will accept photos on CD. If the state you are interested in contributing to has the auto-uploading system, adding your photos a few at a time will actually be much faster than sending a CD to the manager. Uploading CD photos can take managers weeks even months because the have so many other photos coming in all the time. Check with the manager to see if they accept CDs. Again, thank you for your contribution. Many people who are unable to personally go to cemeteries appreciate your time and hard work. You are also helping to preserve a piece of history that could be destroyed in a matter of hours from hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes or other natural disasters.