To take photos for BillionGraves, all you really need is you phone, right? True, but you won’t regret having a few extra items with you to make your trip to the cemetery as smooth as silk. We’ve compiled a list of suggestions for you to pack in a light backpack or bag. As long as you have your BillionGraves backpack, you’ll never have to leave the cemetery!
What to pack in your BillionGraves backpack (besides your phone, of course):
- Water for drinking
- Water for wetting down old stones for readability
- Snacks
- A hat
- Phone charger for your car (and be sure your phone is fully charged, too!)
- Work gloves for cleaning off headstones
- Small pad and pen, in case you want to note a hard-to-read stone and write down the transcription
- Broom and dustpan set for cleaning off headstones
- A sheet or umbrella to create shade over headstones
Any other suggestions? Leave them in the comments!
cemeteryphotostips
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Good suggestions, thanks. More information is helpful regarding non-destructive ways to increase legibility of difficult headstones.
tip no 5, phone charger for your car is good; however, if you don’t have a car & take public transportation, besides buying a day pass for the city you are taking gravestone pictures in (if it isn’t the city you live in), a needed item would be a bus/light rail/subway schedule.
in case you run out of space on your SD card for your digital camera, an extra SD card would be a good idea.
I bought a set of extra large (jumbo) sunshades (made to go inside the windshield of a big truck), and I take them instead of an umbrella to shade a headstone from the sun.
I also have a garden knee protector (I don’t know what they’re called), a padded rectangle that I can kneel on if I want to get down on the same level as an upright headstone, in order to get it straight on instead of shooting down at it from above.
Also you can used the sunshade to get the sun light over the tombstone, if you are at the wrong time of the day for a perfect picture.
I love your idea, I never thought about it.
Thanks
Scissors or grass trimer to cut grass around headstone if it is blocking information. Takes a little longer, but insures you have a readable photo.
An app like Quickvoice or AudioNote can replace the pen and pad for taking notes etc. Also a “Lobby Broom” (you know the ones with the short handle) with the corn bristles sure saves you from stooping to clean away debris. Also use an app like “iTranslate” to help with the german headstones etc.
You really should write a post about proper photo etiquette, such as PLEASE DON”T USE CHEMICALS OR CHALK on graves. Please check your photos before uploading. I’m trying to transcribe, and so many photos are unreadable due to blurriness, etc.
Nat- I fully agree. I spent yesterday transcribing a cemetery with several blurred photos and others with chalk on the markers. From what I could tell they were all taken by the same person. Another problem I found was not making sure that the image had all the information. Several photos had the first or last letters or numbers cut off. Makes it difficult to transcribe if the information isn’t in the image.
Thanks from all the transcribers who have wished one grass blade or leaf or shadow had been kept out of the photo. I know it takes longer to clean the grave sites, but researchers in the years to come will love you for the extra care you take. And the transcribers will send you an e-hug!
A waterproof sheet or camper’s mat for when you need to lie down to get a low shot? I’m not yet a member, but when photographing masons’ own inscriptions (right near the base of stones) with a dSLR without an articulated screen… well I was thankful it was a dry day.
Today was my first time out and I learned a few valuable lessons. The morning started out overcast and the GPS did not work until the clouds cleared. It is important to have a full charge on your phone the GPS feature drains the battery fast. Tools to have — hand broom, stiff brush to clear moss and lichen, pen and paper to write hard to read stones, flour to coat darker and hard to read stones – it brings out the image. Spray bottle with water, grass shears/scissors to cut away overgrown grass. Something to kneel on or a short stool to sit on. An umbrella or car shade to help with glare.
Lots of great suggestions here, thanks.
A handheld black light can sometimes make the etchings easier to be read.
What ever you do, avoid putting chalk or other chemicals on the stone. They can cause the stones to deteriorate much fast.
My wife and I got to the cemetery too late and it was dark so my wife took the pictures and l lite the up the graves with the torch app on my I phone . The pictures all came out well and we did the whole cemetery.
Also my wife and I have done some whole cemeteries it would be good if you could change the color of the cemeteries name so that people knew the whole cemetery had been done or half or quarter this would give people an idea of how big the cemeteries were.
All the suggestions I have read have been great. I would add a bag of colored stones (I used the kind the are often used in flower vases as they are bright and ex expensive). I often find it difficult, when moving through a cemetery, to keep track of which graves i have already captured. My placing a small colored stone on each headstone after photographing it, I can easily keep track of which ones i still need to capture. When I am finished shooting, I just collect my stones and take them to the next cemetery or section to shoot.
Vstevensscott, this is a really great idea! I would love to try this out! I think this would also be a great thing for families or groups to use who are taking pictures at the same time. Thanks!