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NZcaver wrote:Why difficult to photograph? Have you tried off-camera flashguns (or even bright LED lights) for side lighting the scratchings?
Bob Thrun wrote:Graffiti from the years you mention would be scratched into the rock. I photographed some old signatures. There was no one good lighting angle. Some of the scratched strokes would show shadow patterns while others would be evenly illuminated and therefore invisible in the picture. I set up my camera on a tripod and shot four flashes from the left, right, top, and bottom. Every stroke of the lettering showed shadow patterns from at least one of the flashes. I used my cave light to choose the light angles before I took the picture. I did this with film where I could leave my shutter open for all the flashes. I do not know what I would do with a digital camera. Maybe someone with digital photography experience could make suggestions.
I would not do rubbings. Often the graffiti is scratched thru a soft layer of mud or decomposed rock that would be squashed by the rubbing.
Bob Thrun wrote:I would not do rubbings. Often the graffiti is scratched thru a soft layer of mud or decomposed rock that would be squashed by the rubbing.
trogman wrote:But since Groundquest said he only had "low-cost photo equipment," then he likely doesn't have a DSLR.
There's not enough of us to form a circle...a colon maybe. I'll try some more photos though, I may be able to use them to produce transcripts.trogman wrote:Check around in your local grotto or circle of caving friends-there is bound to be a photog who has one.
UnderGroundEarth wrote:What about contacting a local historian? Not only would they possibly be interested in the signatures and could help you determine more about who they were, they might have a better camera or gear to help you photograph them.
GroundquestMSA wrote:Thanks for the suggestions so far. I've only been to the site once and want to be prepared to get something accomplished when I go back. Here's the example I referenced earlier, this is pretty much the same thing I want to do:Bob Thrun wrote:I would not do rubbings. Often the graffiti is scratched thru a soft layer of mud or decomposed rock that would be squashed by the rubbing.
A good reminder, but I may get away with trying it in this situation. All of the surfaces are hard, clean, dry, dolomite. Some of the names are extremely deeply and neatly engraved. I certainly don't want to damage anything though. I may test this method on a section of wall with no writing and see how well the natural inconsistencies of the rock show up, and if there is any effect on the rock itself.trogman wrote:But since Groundquest said he only had "low-cost photo equipment," then he likely doesn't have a DSLR.
That's for sure. I have a $15 pawnshop digital that I bought for its long exposure capabilities.There's not enough of us to form a circle...a colon maybe. I'll try some more photos though, I may be able to use them to produce transcripts.trogman wrote:Check around in your local grotto or circle of caving friends-there is bound to be a photog who has one.UnderGroundEarth wrote:What about contacting a local historian? Not only would they possibly be interested in the signatures and could help you determine more about who they were, they might have a better camera or gear to help you photograph them.
That's a fantastic idea that I've tried to act on in the past. Sadly THE local historian died just as I began to take an interest in local history. I have some excellent written histories though, that should help me identify at least some of the evil vandals
GroundquestMSA wrote:Trogman - that's not my cave, that's what I want to duplicate. I talked to the man who produced that example, more on that later.
Bert Ashbrook wrote:For Price Cave in the Richlands monograph, while in the cave I transcribed the “graffiti” in my survey notebook and took pictures. Then back at home, I manually traced/re-transcribed them onto nice paper and checked them against the photographs. I didn’t try to persevere the signatures’ relationship to one another, so for example if they were facing all different directions in the cave, that didn’t show up in the monograph. I did try to maintain their relative size.
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