A grad student told me my site photos were useless. She was right.

I was documenting a dig near Tucson last fall. Just taking wide shots of the whole trench. A student from the university team said 'Your pictures show dirt. They don't show context or scale.' She was blunt. I started putting a trowel or a coin in every single close-up shot. I also started taking a photo from the same spot every single morning. It changed the whole record. Now you can see the soil layers change day by day. Does anyone else have a simple trick that totally changed their field documentation?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_rowan6d ago

That north arrow trick is solid. I'd take it a step further and write the date, site code, and your initials on a little whiteboard in the shot too. It bakes all that info right into the photo so you never mix up files later.

jesse_barnes374d ago

Yeah the whiteboard idea is smart. I read a blog post once where an archaeologist said they started putting a small chalkboard in the corner of their dig photos. They'd write the unit number, depth, and a quick note like "south wall, feature 12." Said it saved them hours later when they were trying to remember which layer a weird stone came from. Makes total sense to add the date and your initials right there too.

johnfoster6d ago

Ever read about using a north arrow in every photo? Somebody told me it's a game changer for keeping your orientation straight later on. Makes piecing the site back together way easier.