Family Historian User Group

I have some photos of old gravestones but the writing is very difficult to make out.

Can anyone advise, please, if it is possible to enhance the images with software and how to go about it?

Gerry

ID:4096

A lot depends on what software you have. If you have a program which allows levels adjustment this will often improve matters.

I did an example for another site the other day in Photoshop elements, but it's similar in most programs.

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stU0 ... p_elements

Thanks Jane,

I don't have Photoshop but I have downloaded The Gimp which seems to have similar facilities. The video was very helpful.

Gerry

I think it is worth mentioning that the main problem photographing gravestones is that you are effectively taking a photograph of Stone coloured text on a Stone coloured background and you are relying on the shadows to reveal the text.

If you have inherited the photograph then you can only enhance what you have. Jane’s suggestion is great and there are many options to adjust levels including Lighting, Colour, Brightness and Contrast it’s worth trying them all.

If you simply can’t read text and adjusting the levels hasn’t drastically improved the situation try inverting the picture (Changing blacks to whites and Whites to black) this can reveal detail previously not seen and works on documents just as well.

I took a photo of a stone carving on marble and was unable to read the text easily. My solution was to duplicate the photo placing two copies in a single frame; I found a font that was similar and overtype the text sizing it appropriately on the copy.

If you are taking a photo of a gravestone there are three things you could/should do.

1.      Take several photographs from multiple angles.
2.      Take several photos from the same angle using a tripod selecting a different exposure then merge the photos.
3.      Take several photos from the same angle using a tripod changing the flash angle then merge the photos.

I recently read that the latest software can merge near identical photos into a super photo containing the attributes you want. An example given was High Dynamic Range images (HDR).

Gerry,

All of the above is worth a try and good advice.

However, if you don't want to download a free program such as Gimp or Goggle's Picasa, why not have a look at a free online photo editor such as Pixlr at http://www.pixlr.com/editor/

Working on large files can be slow-ish at times, but I've had excellent results when working on 5MP files, with levels/colour balance and cropping etc adjustments being executed pretty speedily: the results being no worse than a quick fix with my Photoshop, and perfectly adequate for FH's needs.

Brian

You will also find that Photoshop may give you more control over levels, contrast etc. if you take photos in 'raw' format, rather than the camera default, which is invariably jpeg.  You can save a raw file as a jpeg or other format  once you have the processed image you require.

The downside is that comparatively few compacts support saving images as 'raw', and Photoshop does not necessarily support all the various 'raw' formats out there; each manufacturer has their own proprietary raw file format - e.g. .neff for Nikon - which can vary between camera models even.  For example, the Nikon D90 .neff is not the same as the .neff file for the D80 it succeeded.

['raw' is essentially the unmodified camera sensor data.  Most cameras, particularly compacts but also DSLRs, process the 'raw' image in-camera to create the jpeg, including compressing the image, which loses some of the detail in the process.  With 'raw' you don't get this compression, and you can control how much is subsequently applied in Photoshop.  However, 'raw' is no use as a display format, and so has to be converted into jpeg, tiff etc.]

BTW: this http://www.gravestonephotos.com/index.php looks like it might develop into a useful resource, given support.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will try and follow them up, although I'm fairly sure my camera won't save 'raw' data and just saves the image as a jpeg.

I may be able to get back to the cemetery and take some better photos under more favourable conditions, which might help.

Gerry

I've had good results using IrfanView (also free).

http://www.irfanview.com/