|
With light above
and across the image - much better, but one must experiment for the
optimal angle. Keep in mind that these images were usually
lightly carved, and with the light source above - the sun!
They are best seen with the illumination placed accordingly.
Following is an
excerpt from an e-mail sent to a person submitting material for
publication on this website:
|
First, using a flash
almost never works - this washes out the details.
Since the images were
carved with the light source above (sun), they are best
photo- graphed under light from above the top of
the image, shining across its surface at a grazing
angle. A lamp usually works fine, daylight is
better in some cases. With smaller stones, I
usually lay these on a table with the image surface
facing upward, and situate a small flexible-neck table
lamp bent down and turned to shine toward me across the
image at the optimal horizontal angle. One
must experiment with the light's placement to show
an image to its best advantage. This takes some
patience. Those folks were not creating obvious
"art" as such - just routinely incorporating
simple images as they thought was required. (But
sometimes the detail and workmanship are quite
amazing.)
|
|
