Digital Archival Photography | an introduction

This Methods Workshop will introduce advanced techniques for digitising and preserving archival material. The first workshop will introduce the following topics:

• Copyrights and sensitive data considerations
• Understanding Photography basics
• Digitisation Imaging Standards
• Principles and Digital Preservation good practice

Completing the workshop will give participants a good understanding of archival photography best practices. You will gain a strong professional vocabulary to discuss imaging and a toolkit to assess image quality.

A second session, bookable separately, will focus on how to adopt those principles to the projects chosen by the participants. This will cover learning a practical approach to taking images fit for purpose in any conditions with available resources. It may also address any more advanced imaging topics such as image stitching, Optical Character Recognition, Multispectral Imaging, or photogrammetry if these are in the interest of the participants. It will also be an opportunity to visit CHIL at Cambridge University Library.

Maciej Pawlikowski is Head of the Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory (CHIL) at Cambridge University Library, which main activities are focused around providing digital content to the Cambridge Digital Library and to academic researchers. He has led number of digitisation projects, which include, Parker on the Web, Darwin manuscripts and the Friedberg Genizah digitisation project. He is a member of ISO TC/42 JW26 workgroup focusing on standards for archival imaging, photography of transparent materials and multispectral imaging. Over the years he has developed and designed equipment and techniques to accommodate specialised imaging and non-invasive analysis of cultural heritage artifacts.

Our CDH Methods workshops have limited places and prioritise students and staff at the University of Cambridge. However, if space is available, we welcome all participants interested in learning about and applying digital methods and tools in their research. This session may be particularly relevant to:

• PhD students in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Early Career Researchers in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Other Cambridge students and staff welcome

If you have specific accessibility needs for this event please get in touch. We will do our best to accommodate any requests. Please note this is an in-person only workshop

Also check out other Workshops in Cambridge, Arts events in Cambridge.