|
The StonePics Method 
The page provides a detailed description of the methods used to photograph the cemeteries and headstones in Newfoundland for the StonePics project. It is offered here for the benefit of anyone planning a cemetery photo project. The methods described here will assume you have the following equipment and skills:
Prior to beginning a project that will include many cemeteries, it is important to give some thought to a naming convention for the towns and cemeteries that will be included. The specific technique used by StonePics has proven to be a good one. If you elect to use a similar one, it is helpful to generate a set of town codes prior to beginning the photography.
Before starting the StonePics project, a great deal of thought went into making a good choice for the picture format. Through experimentation and evaluation of size and quality considerations, it was determined that *.JPG file format was the best, with image size set to 1024 x 768 pixels, and "quality" set to "fine/best". With your camera set with these parameters, it should generate picture files that average just a little larger that 300 KB in size... allowing 1800 photos to fit comfortable on a single CD. If you use the larger "mega-pixel" formats available on most digital cameras now, you will get a giant photo containing much more detail than necessary, too large to display on most monitors, and so large that they will be a burden to your camera, digital film, and computer... ultimately slowing down the whole operation while offering little or no benefit.
Upon arriving at a new subject cemetery, you and your partner should look over the cemetery to come up with a plan of attack. This is especially important if the cemetery is large, irregular in shape, and/or rows are not well organized. For large convoluted cemeteries, it may be desirable to spend up to an hour walking around and surveying the area. Look for natural divisions in the cemetery that will break it up into a series of smaller pieces... the rule of divide and conquer! The divisions may be defined by roads, sidewalks, foot trails, fences, bushes, elevation changes, changes in geometry, etc. Whether working alone or with one or more partners, doing this will later become fundamental in keeping up with what has and has not been photographed.
Before taking any pictures, make a "spec sheet" for the cemetery that will include its name, driving directions, latitude/longitude (from GPS instrument), date and time. The old-style computer fanfold 8.5 x 11 inch white paper works well for this, especially if your project will include a lot of different cemeteries. Use a dark magic marker to write the information. When recording the lat/long information from the GPS, make sure the GPS has been turn on sufficiently long enough so that valid coordinates have been computed. Five minutes is generally long enough. (If you are not sure if what you are looking at is valid, try walking in one direction for about 100 feet. You should see the least significant digit of at least one of the coordinates change by a small amount, then return to its original value when you walk back to your initial position.) Record all of the same information into a log book that will become an invaluable quick-reference for future use. Now the important part: the very first picture you take at the cemetery must be of the sheet of paper, taken close enough that the writing will be readable in the photograph. The photograph should be framed in such a way as to show the cemetery in the background. If there is a gate or sign at the cemetery, it's an excellent background for this photo. Each camera/person in your photo team must take turns photographing this piece of paper, doing so with approximately the same background showing in the photo. Your digital camera will assign sequential photo numbers to all additional pictures taken at the cemetery and at the same time will save the date and time that each picture is taken as a "property" of the filename. (Make sure the camera's clock is set correctly.) If at some point in the future there is a question as to which headstone photo came from which cemetery, the file date/time stamp on the picture can be compared against the date and time recorded on the cemetery spec sheet. 
Now you are ready to photograph the individual headstones, and when that is complete, you will follow up with some general pictures showing a series of different views of the cemetery. Make sure the photo sequence number on each camera is not in danger of rolling from 9999 back to 0000 or that any two cameras will not use the same sequence numbers in a give cemetery in a given day. This has the potential of saving a lot of work later. If the cemetery is very small, for example 30 headstones or less, and you are working with a partner, it is worth considering using only one person/camera for the entire cemetery. The other photographer(s) can take a break or assist by moving flower pots, weeds, and other obstacles from in front of the stones and restoring flowers to their original position once the photography is complete. Limiting the number of cameras used for small cemeteries makes sorting pictures a little easier at the end of the day. If you and one other partner are both taking pictures, you should move/progress in such a way that you will meet in the middle. For example, one person might start on the last row and move forward, and the other person would start at the front and move towards the rear. It's a good idea not to end in the middle of a row because of the risk of each photographer taking part of the pictures in a series of graves of related family members. Try to stop on the end of a row, and if not, be aware of the names/relationships of stones at your point of intersection. Many cemeteries are arranged in such a way that there is a front entry gate with a road or path continuing from the gate to the rear of the cemetery that roughly divides it in half. In this case, one photographer might begin at the front left and the other at the front right, following the rows. Each photographer works in his assigned half of the cemetery using the center path as his boundary. The photographer who finishes his half first can help the other finish by picking up at the rear of the other half of the cemetery, thus allowing them to intersect at some point in the middle. Zigzag up and down each row, changing direction at the boundaries identified earlier. As each headstone is photographed, the camera will automatically assign a filename sequence number to each picture. This number can be use later to determine which graves are located next to each other.
Certain circumstances can create great difficulty in following rows: One of these is when a row splits and becomes two due to the odd shape of the lay of the land at a particular spot. Another occurs when the cemetery is very old and the headstones are sparsely populated removing any sense of there being rows at all. In these cases, it is best to follow an organized pattern as best as possible. To prevent confusion about which stones have been photographed and which have not, a small pebble picked up from the ground can be used as a marker when laid on top of the stone. A pebble placed on the top center indicates a skipped (not yet photographed) stone. A pebble placed on top at one end of the stone indicates the stone was photographed, as well as the direction the photographer was moving when that stone was photographed. In the absence of a readily available pebble, a leaf or few blades of grass smeared into the top of the stone can serve the same purpose. Be aware that plant material smeared on the stone will turn brown and fade out quickly, so if you expect to find your marker the following day, it might be difficult to recognize. This technique for marking the stones will provide information very helpful in resolving confusion in poorly organized cemeteries and after breaks or interruptions in the photography.
Following the fieldwork (photography) the headstone photographs will have their filenames changed to reflect the name of the individual(s) and year of death. There won't be additional text somewhere that tells how one photo is connected with the previous or next one taken. When the end users of the photographs look at them, it is essential that the pictures alone tell the story about the stone. There should be no confusion about whether or not two sequential photos are from separate faces of one stone, or from two separate stones altogether. Throughout your project, if you consistently follow the procedures described in the following text, your photos will tell a uniform, consistent, and unambiguous story.
The "initial photo" of every stone should always be a full-sized image showing it from top to bottom. Most stones have information written on a single face. Frequently you will find stones with subsequent faces containing addition information or individuals. When a stone has only one face with information, the "initial photo" should be take from straight on. However, if the stone has addition information on the back or side, the "initial photo" must be taken differently so that this information is "told by the picture". If the additional information is on one or more sides, then the "initial photo" should be taken at 45 degrees so that two faces containing information are visible. This is a tip-off for the transcriber as well as people using the pictures at a later date that they are about to see a series of three or more pictures taken of the same stone. When a stone has only a single face and the text is clear enough to be readable in the initial photo, then the initial photo is also the final photo! When a stone has multiple faces, the subsequent photos following the initial photo should be of each additional face individually. As each is photographed, it should be examined to determine if all of the text will be readable in the "facial photo", and if not, it will be necessary to take one or more additional close-up "detail photos" of the problem areas on the offending face prior to moving to the next face on the same stone. 
If the information appears only on the front and back of the stone, obviously it is impossible for the "initial photo" to show two sides with information. In this case, a large pebble, leaf, small branch, lens cap, or some other noticeable object should be temporarily placed on one side of the top of the stone. Rather than taking the initial photo at a 45 degree offset, each of the two opposite faces will be photographed individually from straight-on. The object placed on the top will appear in both photos, but in one photo it will appear on the left side; in the other photo it will appear on the right side.
There is an excellent technique for making this judgment call in the field: When you look through the camera lens to frame the initial photo, observe whether or not you can read all of the text through the camera lens. If you cannot, or it's a close call, lean towards the conservative and take a detail photo. Sometimes detail photos are necessary when the stone has become too deeply buried so that soil or grass is obstructing part of the information. In this case, one hand might be used to hold back the grass or soil while the other is use to photograph a detail that is being temporarily exposed. When working with a partner, we generally attempt to avoid photographing each other except in the distance, however our hands often appear in photos when necessary to assist in the work... a typical situation might be if an assistant is holding a broken piece of stone in place. 
In order to speed up the fieldwork, the photographer should be examining the next stone as he is moving towards it. During this typically very short span of time, he might make several important observations that might affect how the stone will be dealt with:
The most common obstacles obstructing clear views of stones are flower arrangements and tall grass and weeds. Stooping and bending required to take pictures of headstones is in itself enough to exhaust one's back by the end of a day. Therefore, any additional bending and stooping required to move these obstacles is added work and strain. With that in mind, one might first attempt to eliminate tall weeds and grass by first trying to press them under foot. However, flower pots generally require bending over twice: once to move them, and once to replace them. When bending over in front of a headstone with a camera hanging freely around your neck, be careful of it swinging forward and crashing into the stone. In badly overgrown cemeteries, there might be relatively tall and sturdy bushes or roses growing in front of a stone. On occasion I have used a saw or clippers to remove them, but generally it is best to hold them out of the way with one foot, or by wrapping a leg around and sort of sitting back on them while taking the pictures. Obviously when the offending plant is a rose bush, one should be very careful. On many occasions I have discovered bees and wasps nesting in the ground or very close to a headstone. I generally try to sneak the camera in as close as possible without risking a sting. Move slowly... it's best not to upset them.
Perhaps the most frustrating obstacles you will encounter in trying to get good photos are the shadows cast onto the face of the stones by strong direct sunlight filtering through overhanging trees and branches. Strong shadows give rise to a situation of high contrast that cameras and film typically do not respond very well to. Your best judgment in each particular situation will be required, but here are some possible approaches to the problem: If working with a partner, perhaps the partner can either hold the offending limb or bush out of the way completely to provide full unobstructed sun on the area of the faces of the stone where the inscription is written, or on the other hand, move the offending limb or bush to fully block all direct sunlight to cast an even shadow over the entire face of the stone. "Body blocking" also works... use either your own body or that of your partner to help create an even shadow over the face of the stone. The idea is to have either all shadow or all sun on the stone. Sometimes I have used my hat to create shadows for detail photos of a small area of the stone. An umbrella would be an excellent tool to make a big shadow, but it's one extra item to carry, and might require two people working together. I haven't tried it except in the case of rain, and that definitely requires two people working together. When photographing in the rain, the camera lens should be inspected after each photograph because one small drop of water on the lens can ruin all subsequent photos. With that in mind, it's a good idea to inspect your lens many times during a day of photography checking for specks of plant material, hair, or insects. If a cemetery is heavily planted with large trees, the limbs will be out of reach and too big to move. Rather than dealing with so many problems with shadows, it might be better to skip that cemetery temporarily. Wait for an overcast or cloudy day when shadows won't appear.
There is one situation in which very strong sunlight and shadows can be of great benefit: when the inscription on an old stone is almost completely worn away. Most, but not all of the headstones we photographed in Newfoundland faced east. The morning sun gave excellent lighting to the face. Between 11 AM and noon, the sun has swung around towards the southern part of the sky on its way towards the west later in the afternoon. It was between 11 AM and noon that the sun struck the face of the stones at a very steep angle casting a slight shadow into the fine depressions that many years ago were readable letters and numbers carved into the stone. Very often I have arranged my photo plans around that magical time between 11 and noon. Typically this is when a given cemetery contains a large number of stones that required steep sunlight on the faces. If the cemetery is big, you might have to work quickly, because at approximately noon, the sun will be completely to the side of the stone, and for the rest of the day, the face of the stone will be in a shadow.  
Experience in Newfoundland showed that using the camera's flash while photographing stones was generally not beneficial. The primary problem with using flash is that many stones sort of amplify and reflect the flash is a rather bizarre manner, often causing a wash-out effect. If you think that conditions warrant taking a flash photo, then it is imperative that you also take the same photo without flash. Be careful that your flash is not automatically firing without your realizing it when taking pictures in heavy shade and other low light conditions. It could potentially ruin a whole series of photos. All digital cameras provide control for locking off the flash. One of the occasions that I often attempt a flash photo is when bright sunlight is casting heavy shadows on the face of the stone. The flash softens the shadows, but may ruin the photo of the stone at the same time due to the reflective properties of the stone. Another problem is that a flash photo taken straight-on will fill in the shadowing of the inscription, the reading of which is typically aided the contrasting light. Always take at least one photo without the flash.
In order to use as much of the frame/image area a possible, always orient the camera to fit the geometry of the stone. For example, tall vertically oriented stones should be photographed with the camera turned on end. When taking vertically oriented photographs, you have a choice of either rotating the camera 90 degrees clockwise or 90 degree counter-clockwise from the horizontal. You should choose one direction and stick with it throughout the project, the reason being that when you later rotate the photos coming out of the camera to the computer, it makes the task much easier if the vertically oriented photos can all be rotated in the same direction. My personal experience is that it is easier on my right shoulder if I rotate the camera clockwise for vertical shots, but it takes a few extra mouse clicks to rotate the finished pictures using the software that came with my camera. As a general rule of thumb, the best way to photograph a flat surface is with the camera straight in front of the center of the face of the surface. In photographic techno-jargon, "The plane of the camera should be parallel to the plane of the subject." When these two planes are not parallel, the subject becomes distorted. For example a rectangular headstone photographed in plane will appear rectangular in the finished picture. If it is photographed out-of-plane, it will appear as a trapezoid (four-sided polygon with sides not parallel) in the finished picture. Consequently, the lettering on the stone is distorted as well. If a badly worn stone is photographed badly out-of-plane, it is often more difficult to read some of the letter and numbers.  To take a photograph of a headstone in-plane, one would have to located the approximate center of the face of the headstone, extend a perpendicular imaginary line out from there along which the camera would be placed in such a way that the camera is looking straight onto the face of the stone. This is how you would aim the camera in a perfect world. Unfortunately in-plane photography of headstones is not too practical in the real world for a variety of reasons. Imagine a typical headstone that is two feet (24") tall. In order to position the camera in-plane, the camera would have to be held in a position only one foot (12") from the ground. This isn't such a problem if you are only interested in taking one or two pictures of some family headstones, but you'd wear yourself out pretty quickly trying to photograph an entire cemetery with in-plane photos. Many times obstacles around the stone, bright sunlight/sky behind the stone, or other conditions will made it desirable to photograph the stone out-of-plane. You will quick discover that taking a perfect in-plane photo versus taking a less-than-perfect one is a trade-off between your tired back, how tall you are, the height of the stone, the quality and readability of the lettering on the stone, and the quality of the lighting. Every stone requires a judgment call. Certainly you don't want your pictures to show better views of the tops than the faces!
In the afternoon, the sun is typically back-lighting the stone, leaving its face in a shadow. Cameras typically sample the light from all over the image area to determine the average it will use to compute the lens speed. Back-lighting raises the amount of light entering the camera to a level that is not consistent with the amount that is being reflected from the face of the darker headstone. The finished photo will probably be too dark. In the afternoon on clear sunny days, it is very important to minimize the amount of sky in your photos so that the average light seen and measured by the camera is primarily from the stone. Minimize the back-lighting by moving in close to your subject and filling the image area with the stone. Most modern digital camera can be set to choose different methods for measuring the amount of light upon which to base its lens speed calculation. You might consider programming it us to measure the light primarily near the center of the photo if you have this option.
Stone having highly polished and reflective faces can be a real challenge to photograph. The black stones are the worse because they become like mirrors in certain lighting conditions. The problems is that you are trying to take a picture of the "mirror" and not what you see in the reflection in the mirror. Frequently we had to photograph these stones at very odd or steep angles to make the inscriptions visible. Remember the golden rule of cemetery photography: "If you cannot read it through the camera lens, then you won't be able to read it in the finished picture!" Sometimes it is very challenging finding any angle at all to photograph these stone, in which case you might have to photograph the inscription is two separate sections in attempting to find an appropriate angle. 
It seems to be human nature for inexperienced photographers to be too far away from their subject when taking pictures. Strive to get close to your subject. How close is close enough? When you look through the viewfinder to frame the stone, you should see the stone almost touching two of the edges, either top and bottom, or left an right. What you will discover is that most digital cameras actually capture a little more around the edges than you see through the viewfinder. So if you are already leaving a little bit of space around the stone when you frame it, and the camera adds a little more, you may end up with a photo whose surface area is 50% stone and 50% grass! Certainly it's much better to use that valuable bandwidth for capturing details in the stone.
A person sees an object because the (sun)light that strikes it is reflected into their eyes. It's a simple matter of physics that the farther away you move away from an object, the more the reflected light has becomes scattered, and the less there is reflected from the object to enter your pupils. This is why distant objects are not as bright as close-up objects. This is a very important principal in photography: When you half the distance between you and the subject, you increase the amount of light reflected into your pupils from the subject by a factor of four (a power of two relationship). If you double your distance from a stone, you cut the available light reflected from the stone into the camera lens by a factor of four! The camera may still be receiving the same total amount of light from other the surrounding area, but the subject is giving less of its available light to your picture. Unless circumstances dictate differently, leave your camera's lens set to wide angle. It will force you to move in close to the subject, and more importantly, will reduce the affects of camera motion to a minimum. Camera motion makes the finished picture blurry. The affects of camera motion are maximized the more you use telephoto. This phenomenon is also a power of two problem! That's why you generally need a tripod to hold the camera still enough to take telephoto photos. Only deviate from the wide-angle lens setting when conditions demand it. For example if a subject headstone is enclosed by a fence that cannot easily be crossed. If possible, prop the camera on the fence to steady it when using telephoto to "reach the stone".
When a marksman pulls the trigger on a gun, he does it by gradually increasing the pressure on the trigger until the gun fires. The problem caused by pulling the trigger too fast is that the tiny mass (weight) of the finger is enough to jar the relative large mass of the gun to the extent that the target is missed. The same is true for cameras, except the mass of the trigger finger compared to the mass of the camera is much greater than compared to a heavy rifle. Pressing the button on a camera jars the camera. If you jar it badly, and lighting conditions are such that the shutter speed is slow, you will get a blurry image. It's a shame to go to all of the work of doing headstone photos only to return home and find that many of them are blurry. Unfortunately, we learned this lesson over and over the hard way, and had to retake a lot of pictures because we were too slow to learn this lesson. So what exactly is the lesson learned? Every time you prepare to press the button, you must pause a moment and think about employing this simple technique for the next two seconds of your life that ultimately make all the difference: Concentrate on holding the camera as still as possible, literally hold your breath, slowly squeeze down on the trigger until it snaps, and continue to hold the camera motionless and not breath for another instance (half second) while the camera completes its work. Don't be tempted to get in a hurry and throw your body into motion towards the next stone before you have waited that extra half-second. Different digital cameras have different characteristics. Many have a built-in delay so that there is a short pause between the time when the trigger is depressed and the when the shutter actually opens and closes again. An interesting note: we have found in practice that we do a pretty good job following the technique while photographing the headstones, only to discard it when we are finished with the headstone and begin wrapping up the work in the cemetery by taking the "view" photos showing the layout of the cemetery. You must force yourself to always practice good shutter release technique! It doesn't pay to get in a hurry, you only lose the time later when you make the painful return to retake bad photos.
Perhaps nothing is more dangerous in an old cemetery than a stone falling on you. Never underestimate the immense weight of these things, typically 150 pounds or more per cubic foot of material. There are two kinds of stones that can fall on you:
A few other hazards to be aware of when working in cemeteries:
Many headstones have a brass or ceramic attachment containing a portrait of the deceased. In the past we have made an effort to include the portrait in our photo of the headstone, the idea being that the cemetery photos being taken will probably outlive the headstone and pictures owned by the family.
Once you have completed photographing the headstones in the cemetery, take the "view photos" of the cemetery itself. The goal of taking these pictures is to give the viewer an overall image of what the cemetery looks like, its immediate surroundings, how it is laid out, etc. When we first began the Newfoundland project, we were only taking one or two view photos of the cemeteries. As time progressed we realized the importance of taking more, with the total number of view photos being dependent of the conditions in individual cemeteries. Obviously view photos are of little use when the cemetery is overgrown so badly that the stones aren't visible from a short distance away. As a general rule of thumb, we try to take enough view photos so that about 90% of the stones can be spotted in at least one photo. If one studies the view photos later, it's amazing how well individual stone features (shapes, colors, flower arrangements, etc.) provide a means for locating a single headstone among a large number of them. For deteriorating cemeteries, the view photos can provide a future means of finding lost graves.
If there are interesting natural or man-made features in the vicinity of a cemetery, it's a good idea to include those in your photos as well. These pictures are important in that they can give researchers living far away from the area a look at the region where their ancestors lived. In the future, these pictures will also offer a peep into the way things looked in the past.
A lot has been said about not rubbing stones, and the popular opinion seems to be that it's a bad thing. But when the purpose of the rubbing is to prepare for a picture that will be archived and will digitally preserve that stone forever, it is my feeling that it should in most cases be done when the circumstances are appropriate. Before rubbing a stone, it is important to photograph it first in it's natural state following the standard procedure. After is it rubbed, either the entire series of photos can be repeated beginning with a new "initial photo" or perhaps only a face or detail photo will be necessary. The choice is a matter of professional judgment. In two extreme cases I took 20 photos of a single stone! We never used chalk for rubbing during the Newfoundland project because of concern that the chalk would stay on the stone too long and upset people. Rather we developed a technique that I have never seen documented anywhere. I have to give credit for discovery of this technique to Slavek Sustr who helped me during the first summer of photography in Newfoundland. We were working up on a mountainside a long hike from the car where we kept a small broom and rags for wiping stones. He discovered the technique sort of out of necessity when a fallen stone was overturned and found to be too dirty to photograph. As the summer's work wore on we continued to develop and refine the technique, experimenting with a variety of different plant species. What we learned through trial and error was that certain species of vegetation worked better on different stones depending on the stone type, the coarseness of its surface, and how wet or dry it was. We also discovered that the properties of a given type of vegetation changed from the earlier wet season to the drier late summer season. For example one species of maple leaf worked well on course stones in their mature late summer state, but if used in a young and tender state earlier in the summer, would tear apart and fill the voids in the stone rather than highlight them. A separate species of maple never seemed suitable.  We did a huge number of rubbings using the technique in the old Anglican cemetery in St. John's. When photography was completed, it was a little embarrassing to look at the cemetery and see all of the stones we had discolored. We found that generally one day in the sun was enough to turn a bright green rubbing brown. As more days passed, the stones just looked a little dirty like some of the ones that have a lot of lichen growth. We returned to that cemetery the following summer for inspection and were relieved to find absolutely no trace of the previous summer's rubbings. I might add that there is a species of snails in Newfoundland thta seem to be prolific in cemeteries. They serve a very important function in eating the lichens from the stone and keeping them somewhat clean. I have little doubt that the plant material we rubbed on the stones proved an easy and irresistible meal for the hungry slugs!  How much plant material should you rub on? It really depends on the individual unique circumstances of the stone and the material with which you are rubbing. Occasionally rubbing will actually make things worse! This is one important reason for always photographing the stone prior to rubbing it. When doubtful about the benefits of rubbing a particular stone, rub it very lightly at first until the letters first become somewhat readable, photograph it, then try rubbing it a little more, taking additional pictures if it appears beneficial. On the subject of rubbing, I would like to describe another technique that was taught to me by the superintendent of the General Protestant Cemetery in St. John's. Whem he first began illustrating the technique I was horrified and had the urge to grab his arm and say, "No, don't do that!". But silence was golden, and I learned something interesting from the experience. He used a whetstone, the same kind used to sharpen a knife, to rub the surface of the stone in a circular pattern. On first look you might think this a very destructive technique, but actually he was not grinding the stone, but rather the lichens growing on the surface. Most old stones and rocks that have been exposed to the open air for a long period of time have a least a very thin layer of lichens covering their surface. The uniformity of the color in the lichens often makes reading an old stone very difficult. When the lichens are in a dry state during the summer, rubbing them with a flat whetstone will grind them in to a fine light colored powder that sort of paints the stone and highlights the lettering. The idea is to apply just enough pressure to grind the lichens, not the headstone. This is a spectacular technique when the conditions are just right. It works particularly well if the stone is dry and has lichens growing on it. Through trial and error you will learn to recognize stone types and conditions where it will work best. I didn't employ this technique very often, but a small piece of whetstone can conveniently be carried in your pocket during photography. Another special technique was used on certain granite stones that had a finely polished surface and lettering that wasn't colored in any way. These are the awful ones that are almost impossible to read even when they are new! When these stones are standing up vertically, we discovered that pulling up a clump of vegetation by the roots along with some damp soil provided a convenient means for discoloring the lettering on the stone. Rather than rubbing with plant material, we rubbed dirt/mud into the lettering. Very little is required to make them readable and the next rain will wash it away. When the weather is dry and the stone is lying down, a slightly different technique is to spread some dry soil on the surface of the stone, then wipe it off, leaving the carved lettering filled with the darker soil. Another technique that might work well, but which I have never actually tested on those hard-to-read granite stone is this: Most rock climbing stores sell little bags of powdered chalk made from material that resembles a woman's stocking. I suspect that the bag could either be rubbed or patted on the stone in such a way that the rougher carved lettering would pick up enough powder to become clearly visible.
After the fieldwork is done, you need to go through all of your pictures and evaluate what you did right and wrong. Consider the following:
These are items you might want to have in your car or pocket:
RETURN
|