Iain
I am very pleased to see the introduction of Kente textiles to the forum and your post elsewhere of a useful reference. I am always pleased to see the information and expertise widen on the forum from out Asian focus. Thank you for your considered and helpful comments on the textiles.
MAC
In haste re your photo questions.
Generally the better quality image you can take directly, before editing, the better it will reproduce.
With large textiles the major problem is getting it all in and avoiding convering verticals. You will see that on many textile photos on the forum. You want to get your lens focused on the centre of the textile and have the lens parallel with the surface of the textile. If you are hanging it up then the best is to have a pair of steps and climb up so you are holding the camera (and lens) dirctly centre and upright as the textile is upright. I used to live in an old mansion flat in London and my father made me some metal hangers to put a rod through which hung over my first (UK, 2nd American) floor balcony. I then dashed downstairs with my steps which I climbed up to take the photo. I was taking quilts in those days so wanted side light to show up the quilting and the best time was first thing in the morning, preferrably Sunday, when there were fewer people around to think who was that mad female up a pair of steps with her camera! It worked pretty well.
Something I have found re cameras and textiles is that I also need one with a good close-up facility for taking details. In general I use compact cameras not big SLRs because I want to be able to take my camera easily around with me. I have a Pentax Optio 555 - a few years old now. This is a digital zoom, 5x, and has a very good close-up for detail. I still use this although I have a later Panasonic DMC-TZ3, 10x zoom. This is better for lots of things but, unfortunately NOT for detail and close-up as it does not allow such a close-up image.
When you are looking for your camera make sure you check what is the closest the camera will take good pics. It really does matter. I usually go for the big zoom distance because of wanting to take people action shots but the close-up is key to static taking textiles shots.
sorry, must dash now. Have a look at some of the comments on
http://www.tribaltextiles.info/communit ... php?t=1099 re slant boards. This conversation re photographing should be on this section of the forum not general. When I have time I am going to have to do some copying and moving around.
best,
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Pamela
http://www.tribaltextiles.infoon-line tribal textiles resource