Broadside Photography (Documents): How To?

SemperFideles

I'm friends with a small publisher and he asked me if I was capable of doing something similar to this: http://www.boxcarpress.com/letterpress/fine-press/peterson.html

I guess it is also known as broadside photography but the long and short of it is that he needs some pictures of documents. I have lighting equipment and a tripod. Is there a way to rig a setup to be able to take pics where the lighting is even and provides a clean, non-distorted picture of a document?

SemperFideles

SemperFideles wrote:

I'm friends with a small publisher and he asked me if I was capable of doing something similar to this: http://www.boxcarpress.com/letterpress/fine-press/peterson.html

I guess it is also known as broadside photography but the long and short of it is that he needs some pictures of documents. I have lighting equipment and a tripod. Is there a way to rig a setup to be able to take pics where the lighting is even and provides a clean, non-distorted picture of a document?

I made a mistake above. I guess the document is known as a "Broadside" and not the photographic technique. Question remains above wrt "How To" for document photography.

Cygnus Studios

The easiest method that I have found is shooting directly down onto the paper. Light the document from left and right sides crossing the light beams.

Google copy stand to see how the lights are arranged.

You can easily mimic this with a good tripod.
You will have to try several different types of lights depending on the paper and condition.
If the paper is old or fragile, Do Not use lights that get hot. You can damage the paper.
For older paper or cloth, I have found that LED lights work best.

You also have the option of using long exposures and painting the document with a flashlight.

ziggy53

If the documents are truly flat a flatbed scanner is probably the best method. If the documents have some depth, as in the handmade paper document in the link or a paperback book, a 3D scanner is nice.

Steve is right about using copy stand lighting for photographic acquisition. A "product table" can be a nice addition and allow the use of a sweep beneath for better background control.

BobbyMarshall

the standard copy setup, similar to what has already been mentioned in this thread. Is to have two lights, one on each side of the document at 45 degree angles.

but the 45 degree angle of light is just a general starting point. most importantly you need the camera to be positioned outside the family of angles of the light, or the light outside the family of angles of the camera, depending on which has more freedom of movement. anything within the family of angles will cause direct reflection

if you are unable to place the lighting outside the family of angles, a way to avoid direct reflection would be to place a polarizer on the light and on the lens avoiding direct reflection, but allowing diffused reflection.

here is an excellent book on the subject, that also has a chapter on copy photography.

Light - Science & Magic