archaeograph http://www.archaeograph.com Archaeograph = an Archaeological Photograph. This is my thinking space about archaeological photography, creating archaeographs, and the use of all things digital in archaeology. Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:25:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Magnifi – photoadapter case http://www.archaeograph.com/magnifi-photoadapter-case/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=magnifi-photoadapter-case http://www.archaeograph.com/magnifi-photoadapter-case/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:25:16 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=318 Seen on Kickstarter.com – an iPhone case that lets you mount the phone to a telescope or a microscope for phototaking. That might be pretty useful.

Support the project on Kickstarter here.

]]> Seen on Kickstarter.com – an iPhone case that lets you mount the phone to a telescope or a microscope for phototaking. That might be pretty useful.

Support the project on Kickstarter here.

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/magnifi-photoadapter-case/feed/ 0 An Octocopter for aerial photography and mapping http://www.archaeograph.com/an-octocopter-for-aerial-photography-and-mapping/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-octocopter-for-aerial-photography-and-mapping http://www.archaeograph.com/an-octocopter-for-aerial-photography-and-mapping/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:29:02 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=314 It’s amazing how fast technology changes. Three years ago I was experimenting – rather unsuccessfully – with using radio-controlled helicopters outfitted with cameras to take aerial and elevated photos. I wasn’t successful because of the time investment it took to learn how to fly a copter (a lot harder than it looks!) and the financial [...]]]> It’s amazing how fast technology changes. Three years ago I was experimenting – rather unsuccessfully – with using radio-controlled helicopters outfitted with cameras to take aerial and elevated photos. I wasn’t successful because of the time investment it took to learn how to fly a copter (a lot harder than it looks!) and the financial investment to spend on equipment – not just a copter, but rigging for the camera, electronics to make the helicopter and camera work in tandem, and of course, spares for the inevitable crashes. Today, you can actually make your own RC helicopter, not just a conventional single-rotor type but a multi-rotor (and hence more stable) platform – see the ArduCopter, named after the Arduino platform from which it is based. No time to delve into hobbyist electronics? You can buy a ready made system for about $1,000 – not cheap, but not prohibitively expensive, either. Perhaps at a later time where I have a little more time to experiment with, I may go back into dabbling with this technology.

I was just thinking about radio-controlled helicopters and mapping because I recently came across this post from the Tanah Datar Archaeological Project running out of Sumatra, Indonesia. They are currently undertaking an archaeological project at the Tanah Datar highlands there, and one of the cool toys the project is playing with is an Octocopter – like the name suggests, eight propellers which suggests super-stability in the air. With a camera mounted and a programmed flight path, the copter can map a specified area using GPS points as waypoints on a route to create aerial surface maps and 3D surface maps.

Read about the Octocopter here.

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/an-octocopter-for-aerial-photography-and-mapping/feed/ 0 PhotoShop CS6 on Public Beta http://www.archaeograph.com/photoshop-cs6-on-public-beta/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=photoshop-cs6-on-public-beta http://www.archaeograph.com/photoshop-cs6-on-public-beta/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:39:11 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=310 Adobe PhotoShop CS6 is now available for public beta testing! You can download a copy through Adobe labs on the link here.

Russell Brown from Adobe has a rundown of six cool features in this new version on this official Adobe video:

I’m most excited about features 1, 2 and 6 – The [...]]]> Adobe PhotoShop CS6 is now available for public beta testing! You can download a copy through Adobe labs on the link here.

Russell Brown from Adobe has a rundown of six cool features in this new version on this official Adobe video:

I’m most excited about features 1, 2 and 6 – The new camera RAW version for processing RAW images, the adaptive wide-angle and the video editing tool. Yes, video editing. PhotoShop is starting to look a lot like Premiere now – but it’s a natural evolution considering how digital cameras also double as functional video cameras these days.

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/photoshop-cs6-on-public-beta/feed/ 0 8 considerations for using Digital Photography in Rock Art Research contexts http://www.archaeograph.com/8-considerations-for-using-digital-photography-in-rock-art-research-contexts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=8-considerations-for-using-digital-photography-in-rock-art-research-contexts http://www.archaeograph.com/8-considerations-for-using-digital-photography-in-rock-art-research-contexts/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:23:51 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=306 This was a presentation I made last year at a workshop on Rock Art Studies in Southeast Asia in Bangkok in 2011. We were meant to present reports about the rock art in our individual countries, but Singapore is really small and so there was a concession for me to present about my research interests. [...]]]> This was a presentation I made last year at a workshop on Rock Art Studies in Southeast Asia in Bangkok in 2011. We were meant to present reports about the rock art in our individual countries, but Singapore is really small and so there was a concession for me to present about my research interests. I had a small section about a piece of engraved rock in Singapore, and then talked about 8 broad considerations about using digital photography in rock art research. Rock art research is still relatively new in this region, and so not a lot has been written about it in terms of individual sites or methodologies. Click on the image to see the slides.


Very briefly, the 8 considerations are:

1. Digital Photography as a Process of Recording and Presenting Data
A key difference between digital photography and film photography is the level of processing required by the user. In film photography, the photographer’s (the creator) involvement typically ends when the film is dropped off at the commercial film developing service (process and output). In digital photography, this photographer is the entirely responsible for the creation, processing and output because the images are reviewed and edited on the computer. Researchers must thus be mindful of three particular areas: data management, image processing and output management.

2. Invest in a good camera, but not too much.
With a digital camera, price generally correlates with quality and flexibility, generally in the ability to deal with difficult lighting conditions and flexibility in shooting modes. Newer models promising better quality and technological advances appear in the market every year; and for camera systems, lenses may be a more critical investment as the replacement period for lenses is much longer.

3. Other essential equipment
Besides a camera, a range of other equipment can be considered ‘essential’ for field use:

  •  A tripod – as with cameras, you get what you pay for. More expensive ones are sturdier and lighter. Tripods are essential when shooting in low light conditions.
  • A flash – one with a rotating head to bounce off light is recommended; also consider a ring flash for direct illumination.
  • Scale – IFRAO Standard Scale or some other measuring scale.
  • Portable storage – For backing up images in the field
  • Notebook
  • Waterproofing

4. Alternatives to expensive equipment
Many camera gadgets can be improvised from everyday items:

  • Aluminium foil – can serve as a reflector
  • In-camera timer – Replaces the remote trigger by delaying shot time to prevent camera shake
  • A large Ziploc bag and a rubber band can serve as quick waterproofing solution
  • Ziploc bag/sock filled with rice/sand/beans – Portable tripod mount
  • Shower cap – waterproofing for small bags

5. Basic camera skills needed for any camera user
Camera makers like to pack more and more features into cameras, and not all of them will be useful when trying to capture the highest quality photograph possible so you should have a good familiarity with the camera you are using before going out to the field. In particular, pay attention to:

  • Focus modes
  • Hyperfocal distance
  • Bracketing
  • ISO threshold
  • White balance

6. D-Stretch
One of the most significant research tools developed in the last decade for rock art research is D-Stretch, an image-manipulation software to help enhance rock art images developed by Jon Harman. D-Stretch is a plugin to another free image manipulation software ImageJ. Using a number of filters and algorithms, D-Stretch can make faded images more visible, sometimes bringing out images undetected by the naked eye. The software can also help in differentiating between layers of rock art.

7. Structure from Motion
An emerging field in computer modelling, the aim of structure from motion is to create a 3D model by using 2D data. Commercial applications are available and typically expensive; but some open-source solutions use a combination of Microsoft’s Photosynth software to generate point clouds, before they are exported to an open-source mesh creator like Meshlab or Blender. The creation of 3D models from 2D images may prove to be a more cheaper, and therefore viable alternative to 3D laser scanning, however, some investment in time must be made to learn the different software and their limitations.

8. Free Software alternatives
Commercial software for viewing and editing digital photos (most notably, Adobe PhotoShop) are robust, but also expensive. However, there are a number of open-source alternatives to commercial software that do the same job, but freely distributed. I’ll write this up as a separate post later.

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/8-considerations-for-using-digital-photography-in-rock-art-research-contexts/feed/ 0 Lost and Found tags in your memory cards – Good tip, and maybe not. http://www.archaeograph.com/lost-and-found-tags-in-your-memory-cards-good-tip-and-maybe-not/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lost-and-found-tags-in-your-memory-cards-good-tip-and-maybe-not http://www.archaeograph.com/lost-and-found-tags-in-your-memory-cards-good-tip-and-maybe-not/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:25:51 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=302 Here’s a tip from PetaPixel about putting your contact information in your memory cards so that if they ever get lost (and all the precious data within!) there might still be a chance of getting it back. Read here.

Except… I regularly format my cards as part of my ritual when I set out [...]]]> Here’s a tip from PetaPixel about putting your contact information in your memory cards so that if they ever get lost (and all the precious data within!) there might still be a chance of getting it back. Read here.

Except… I regularly format my cards as part of my ritual when I set out for a shooting day. Perhaps I should just stick labels onto my cards instead!

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/lost-and-found-tags-in-your-memory-cards-good-tip-and-maybe-not/feed/ 1 Easy Infra-Red Photography – Yashica NV-1 http://www.archaeograph.com/easy-infra-red-photography-yashica-nv-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=easy-infra-red-photography-yashica-nv-1 http://www.archaeograph.com/easy-infra-red-photography-yashica-nv-1/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:38:02 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=285 Infra-red photography is a kind of fringe photography technique using sensor data recording infra-red (or near-infra-red) light instead of visible light to paint a picture. In archaeology, it can be used to draw out faded pigments on parchment and ceramics, or used to highlight landscape features in aerial photography (see here and here). These days, [...]]]> Infra-red photography is a kind of fringe photography technique using sensor data recording infra-red (or near-infra-red) light instead of visible light to paint a picture. In archaeology, it can be used to draw out faded pigments on parchment and ceramics, or used to highlight landscape features in aerial photography (see here and here). These days, it’s not that easy to shoot infra-red photographs because of the hassle – you could buy an IR lens filter which only lets in IR light, but this means that you’re limited to long exposures and a tripod; newer cameras also have very good IR filters built on top of the sensor apparatus so you’d have to modify your camera (voiding your warranty) and end up with a limited functionality camera. Recently, I picked up this Yashica “Night-Vision’ camera at my local camera store a month ago. At about US$80, it was small and costs less than the price of modifying a camera so I decided to give it a try.

How it works
The camera is pretty small and compact and has a toyish feel to it. There are two modes, a normal camera mode and the night-vision IR mode which is activated by switching the slider on top of the lens. As far as I can tell, switching the IR slider retracts the IR filter over the lens and turns on the six lights along the base of the lens. The lights are red in colour, so that implies that they aren’t purely IR lights. The functions of the camera are pretty basic – there are no scene modes and no zoom. The 5MP camera can be interpolated to 12MP (which I would never use anyway), and it does have the ability to record video.

Test shots
This is a shot of my cat, before sunrise, with the normal camera settings, without the flash:

This is a shot of the same cat, with the IR mode on:

The bookshelf, no ambient light, no flash, normal mode:

Same bookshelf, with flash, no ambient light:

IR mode, no ambient light:

Limitations
As you can see, in total (or near-total) darkness, it does give decent black-and-white photos. The tradeoff is that the illumination only covers the middle section of the image, so the field of capture is limited. For landscape scenes, the illumination does not seem to matter; what is required however is a stable platform. Luckily, there’s also a self-timer function that is useful for minimizing camera shake.

The view from my window, with a tripod, no flash.

Same view with IR mode. Compared to the image above, you can see the windows on the buildings more clearly here. Note the lack of the darkened circle. Longer exposure - hence the long streaks across the picture - it was raining!

At 5MP, it shoots decent publishable half-page photos, although probably not enough resolution for a full page. And it only shoots jpg, not raw. Here we have what is essentially a ‘toy’ camera – but I’m not complaining. It’s small enough to bring out to the field and at can be charged directly by a mini-USB port so it doesn’t really take up a lot of space. I wonder how it rock art will be turned up through IR – I have tried it before some years back, but red pigments (which is the majority of what I’m recording) tends not to show up on IR photography. More of that when I return to the field.

Further reading:

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/easy-infra-red-photography-yashica-nv-1/feed/ 0 DIY convert your monopod to a video rig for under $10 http://www.archaeograph.com/diy-convert-your-monopod-to-a-video-rig-for-under-10/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=diy-convert-your-monopod-to-a-video-rig-for-under-10 http://www.archaeograph.com/diy-convert-your-monopod-to-a-video-rig-for-under-10/#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:40:49 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=261 I’ve noticed an increasing trend for using digital cameras as video cameras as well – particularly with DSLRS because besides shooting in HD, they have the advantage of using different lenses and the types of perspective that come with it. I’m hoping to experiment with some videography as another way to record sites this year, [...]]]> I’ve noticed an increasing trend for using digital cameras as video cameras as well – particularly with DSLRS because besides shooting in HD, they have the advantage of using different lenses and the types of perspective that come with it. I’m hoping to experiment with some videography as another way to record sites this year, and not wanting to shell out a couple of hundred dollars for a rig, decided to make one around my monopod using PVC pipes.

While a lot of cameras now have the added functionality to record videos, they’re not designed to be used as video cameras - there’s a lot of stress placed on the wrist by holding a small camera like mine for extended periods of time. A video rig moves the stress away from the wrist – in this case, the arms, resulting in less shaky and more fluid movements. In this case, I created a rig by making attaching a couple of ‘arms’ to my monopod. The parts list for this rig:

The rig is essentially four five-inch pipes, two elbow pipes, and two T-shaped pipes, sawn in the centre. The T-pipes are attached to the monopod using a couple of metal tightening rings. When not in use, the handles of the rig can be dismantled easily, and I’ve opted to keep the T-pipes fixed on permanently to the monopod because it doesn’t take up too much space.

Besides the monopod (which I already had to start with), the parts cost me less than $10 and the only bit of work that I had to do was to saw the T-pipes. Although I intend to use this rig primarily for my small cameras, it could hold the weight of my D7000 + 18-270mm combo:

Although the size of the camera made the rig a little too top heavy, so there were some balancing problems there. Eventually I might paint the pipes black so that it looks nicer. Usage is simple, just attach the arms to the monopod, mount the camera and hit the record button. With the rig it’s easier to walk around with and panning is really fluid. Of course, there’ still going to be some bounce from walking and another project I’m working on is to convert the monopod into a steadicam. Maybe that will be a post for later…

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/diy-convert-your-monopod-to-a-video-rig-for-under-10/feed/ 0 Scale Holder hack http://www.archaeograph.com/scale-holder-hack/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=scale-holder-hack http://www.archaeograph.com/scale-holder-hack/#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:40:06 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=259 Here’s a simple DIY fieldwork hack I came up with for holding up scales during rock art work. Like all archaeological material, we photograph rock art with a scale in view – the standard being the IFRAO (International Federation of Rock Art Organisations) Standard scale. Of course, rock art isn’t always located at eye-level or [...]]]> Here’s a simple DIY fieldwork hack I came up with for holding up scales during rock art work. Like all archaeological material, we photograph rock art with a scale in view – the standard being the IFRAO (International Federation of Rock Art Organisations) Standard scale. Of course, rock art isn’t always located at eye-level or within easy reach, so I made up a telescopic scale holder using a tv antenna.



The components for the scale holder is easy enough. All in all, I only spent $2 for this doodad – for the clip. Everything else was picked up from around the house. I took an antenna from an old tv – you could find one at a junkyard I suppose, if you don’t have one lying around. The second important section is a clear clip for holding memos or paper. I bought this magnetic clip from the local $2 store. After pulling out the magnet, I stuck the antenna and the clip with two rubber bands. I thought about taping the two parts together permanently, but using rubber bands allows me to collapse the setup flat in my bag which is more flexible for transport.

Some shots of the scale holder in action, taken last year:

Read about the IFRAO standard scale here.

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/scale-holder-hack/feed/ 0 Apps for Archaeologists #2 – Research tools http://www.archaeograph.com/apps-for-archaeologists-2-research-tools/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apps-for-archaeologists-2-research-tools http://www.archaeograph.com/apps-for-archaeologists-2-research-tools/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:09:12 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=222 In the last post I talked about apps I use for archaeological fieldwork. In this post I run down the apps in my iPhone/iPad that I use in the course of general research.

Apps for research

Documents to Go (iPhone/iPad) USD$9.99 or $16.99 (Premium) Microsoft Office is one of the most widely used [...]]]> In the last post I talked about apps I use for archaeological fieldwork. In this post I run down the apps in my iPhone/iPad that I use in the course of general research.

Apps for research


Documents to Go (iPhone/iPad)
USD$9.99 or $16.99 (Premium)
Microsoft Office is one of the most widely used software suites out there and Documents to Go allows you to open and edit Office documents from your phone and iPad. The Premium version allows you to sync your documents with cloud services such as Dropbox.

Dropbox (iPhone/iPad)
Free
A cloud storage service that offers you 2gb of space free – installed on your work and home computers means you don’t have to carry around storage devices any more as long as you have access to the internet. If you already have a Dropbox account, then it’s a no-brainer to have the app on your device. Besides, it’s free.

iTunes U (iPhone/iPad)
Free
iTunes U was relaunched earlier this year as a way to get multimedia course content out to students. There are thousands of courses one can follow here, and I had earlier featured a list of lectures of interest to Southeast Asian Archaeology in my other blog. I’m sure you can find content related to your subject of interest as well.

Keynote (iPhone/iPad)
USD$9.99
Apple’s version of PowerPoint is simple to use and works in a pinch. I’ve increasingly used it as my presentation tool of choice for classes and conference papers, especially since I can work on it on the move.

WordLens  (iPhone/iPad)
Free, paid add-ons
WordLens uses augmented reality to transform text caught on the camera. The demo version shows two applications – one reverses all the letters caught on camera, while the other simply erases them. Where it shines is the paid add-ons – dictionaries that let you translate French or Spanish text into English, or vice-versa, in real time. I work with a lot of French articles and reports, so an instant visual translator is great for the job. Unfortunately, the modules are pretty steep – $11 each for each translation module from French to English, or English to French. Spanish is available too, but those are the two languages offered so far.

CLZ Books – Book Database (iPhone/iPad)
USD$9.99
This app is designed to work with the Book Collector software by Collectorz.com. It’s a fairly robust database software for organising your book collection. The contents of my collection can be exported to the mobile app so I know the details of my book collection wherever I go – useful when I’m buying books and stops me from buying a book that I already own.

FrontView (iPhone/iPad)
USD$0.99
Ever taken a photo of a sign, painting or a page from a book that is slightly distorted because you weren’t looking at the subject straight on? FrontView takes care of that. Just mark out the four corners of the subject image and the app re-skews the image so that the sides form a rectangle.

GoodReader (iPad)
USD$4.99
One of the best PDF readers around, I use it to store all my journal articles (over 1000) and e-books (over 300) and other personal documents. PDFs can be managed into separate directories, and can also be annotated and highlighted. In effect, this app is my mobile digital library.

Notes Plus (iPad)
USD$ 7.99
A note-taking app that allows you to organise your notes into separate folios and note sheets, as well as record audio from lectures and presentations. The most useful function of this app is the ability to handwrite notes using a stylus – note taking is a lot faster this way than using the text tool.

Popplet (iPad)
USD$4.99
An easy to use mind-mapping software that is great for brainstorming and organising ideas in a visual fashion. Individual elements are called ‘popplets’ (hence the name) and can be colour coded, linked to other popplets, and be made up of text or images. A useful thinking tool.

Appshopper (iPhone/iPad)
Free
One last app that you may find useful, if only to cut costs. A lot of the apps featured in these last two posts are paid apps. If you want to save some money, Appshopper keeps track of apps for you, telling you about price changes and software updates as they come it. Some apps drop as much as half the price so it’s a good app to have anyhow.

 

What kinds of apps do you use for your research? Got a useful app to share? Contact me with a suggestion, and hopefully I can put together another edition of Apps for Archaeologists.

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/apps-for-archaeologists-2-research-tools/feed/ 0 Apps for Archaeologists #1 – Fieldwork tools http://www.archaeograph.com/apps-for-archaeologists-1-fieldwork-tools/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apps-for-archaeologists-1-fieldwork-tools http://www.archaeograph.com/apps-for-archaeologists-1-fieldwork-tools/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:35:40 +0000 noelbynature http://www.archaeograph.com/?p=194 I have to say that ever since the iPad first came out in 2010, I new that I was eventually going to get one. Not because one of the first case studies of the iPad at work was at an excavation in Pompeii, but because I thought it was a perfect fit for the kind [...]]]> I have to say that ever since the iPad first came out in 2010, I new that I was eventually going to get one. Not because one of the first case studies of the iPad at work was at an excavation in Pompeii, but because I thought it was a perfect fit for the kind of archaeological material I was studying – rock art, and thus essentially pictures. I got my first iPhone and iPad last year, in 2011 (having never used an i-device ever before then), and since then I’ve been trying to find ways to use the thousands of apps available for archaeology. This is not the first list, but it’s my list of the apps that I use in my iPhone and iPad right now:

Apps for Fieldwork

Apps for Fieldwork


Geotag Photos ProGeotag Photos Pro (iPhone/iPad)
US$3.99
I turn it on at the start of any day that I know I will be taking photos, synchronise may camera’s time with the time on the app, and at the end of the day download a .gpx file that I can use for geotagging. Especially useful since Lightroom 4 now has the ability to geotag within the programme. Leaving the GPS on for so long really does drain the batteries, though – which is why I use a casing with an embedded battery to provide enough juice for the whole day. You could buy dedicated GPS units for your camera, but for $4 this is a more cost-effective alternative.

TapformsTapforms (iPhone/iPad)
USD$6.99 and $8.99
Tapforms is a simple, feature-rich database app that allows you to create forms for different uses. This one app replaces most of the physical paper that I would usually use in the field. I use Tapforms for recording rock art, having created three separate forms for different levels of abstraction. I also have forms created as my photolog as well as my field journal. A great thing about this app is that it integrates many of the hardware functions into the forms – so you can capture photographs and audio notes and GPS readings which are embedded in the form. Exporting data is super easy as well – a single zip file, which when unzipped has all the photos, audio and data in separate folders.

CompassCompass (iPhone/iPad)
USD$0.99
Does what it says in the box. A simple compass that shows you the bearing as well as your location. I have the lite, free version but for some reason I can’t find the link to it anymore. In any case, there are dozens of free compasses out there so you don’t actually have to pay for one.

Theodolite ProTheodolite Pro (iPhone/iPad)
USD$3.99
A great tool for surveying, the pro version has much more functionality than the free lite version. It functions as a compass, rangefinder, and GPS with augmented reality functions that can be used in conjunction with the camera. Nifty.

Acoustic Ruler ProAcoustic Ruler Pro (iPhone/iPad)
USD$0.99
File this one under cool, but unusable technology. It’s a sonic ruler, and it measures distance by the time it takes a sound to reach between two i-devices; or in the case that you only have one i-device, the distance between your earpiece and the microphone. It was an interesting premise, but I couldn’t get any replicable results for any set of measurements and the sound emitted by the app was really annoying. Use with caution.

Find My FriendsFind My Friends (iPhone/iPad)
Free
This app came free with the iOS5 update, and it allows you to locate your friends, or more accurately, your friend’s i-device anywhere in the world – with their permission, of course. In the field, it may be useful as a homing device to locate other team-mates (if there’s a network available); more morbidly it’s for notifying my friends where to find my body should anything happen to me…

My Measures and Dimensions ProMy Measures and Dimensions Pro (iPhone/iPad)
USD$5.99
Originally designed for interior designers, architects and home buyers, this app lets you add measurements and dimensions over your existing pictures. I use it for taking overview pictures of sites or archaeological features and then marking dimensions on them so I can get a quick reference photo for later.

RulerPhoneRulerPhone  (iPhone/iPad)
USD$3.99
A app that lets you measure the size of objects in photographs using a credit card (or similarly-sized cards) as a frame of reference. Useful for when you don’t have a scale handy – just put a credit card in the photo and the app will use the card as a reference point for deriving measurements of objects in the photo. Good for artefacts and some architectural features.

Autostitch PanoramaAutostitch Panorama (iPhone)
USD$1.99
Don’t have a wide-angle lens? Panoramas do the job in a jiffy. This app lets you take a sequence of photos and stitches them together as a panorama. Easy to use, and a good field solution when your computer and photoshop aren’t available.

ClinometerClinometer +3 (iPhone)
Free
A free tool that consists of a simple clinometer to measure gradients. Potentially useful for survey work. The paid version bundles a spirit level, battery monitor and a decibel measurer. None of these extra apps are particularly useful for me, so the free version was enough for me.

Field ToolsField Tools (iPhone)
Free
This is a useful app for photographers to help calculate the depth of field for your camera and lens combination. Maximum depth of field is desirable for most archaeological photographs and landscapes because everything within the photograph will be in focus. By entering the dimensions of your lens and the aperture you are shooting at, this app will tell you the optimal distances you need to be standing away from your subject to have maximum depth of field.

PhotosynthPhotosynth (iPhone)
Free
Another panorama-like app, Photosynth by Microsoft labs is really easy to use as it captures images automatically, based on where your camera orientation. Unlike panoramas, which give you a long-sided image, photosynth gives you an immersive experience of the place you are shooting, enabling you to drag your field of view in all four directions. Photosynths can also be synced to your account on the main photosynth website where they can be shared with others.

RangefinderRangefinder (iPhone)
USD$1.99
A simple rangefinder app that lets you determine the distance between yourself and a faraway object. You take a reader from your knee, and a second reading from your shoulder and it calculates the approximate distance from there.

PhotogenePhotogene (iPad)
USD$2.99
Sometimes you need to edit photos in the field – I’ve found that Photogene is the tool for the job. It handles RAW files (which I shoot almost all my photos on), does the major editing functions like crop, rotate, tonal and curves adjustments. You also have full access to the photo’s metadata for inspection and export to a number of formats and web services.

SketchBook ExpressSketchBook Express (iPad)
Free
I’ve found the free version of this app sufficient for what I want to do with it, which is to draw on existing photographs. SketchBook Express allows three layers for every image, so typically I have one layer as the base photo, another layer for drawings and another layer for text. I typically use it when I take a photo of a site and I want to mark out the points of interest on it.

TouchdrawTouchDraw (iPad)
USD$8.99
I bought this app because I saw it on Paperless Archaeology and saw its potential for drawing site maps using the iPad. I haven’t had a chance to field test it yet, though. It exports projects as images or pdfs and svgs, which can then be opened in Illustrator.

 

So that’s a list of apps in my iPhone and iPad that I currently use in the field. Later this week I will have another list of apps that I use for research work and in the office. I’d love to hear from you if you use any of these apps, or if you have other nifty apps that you can recommend for fieldwork as well!

Like I mentioned at the start of this post, this is not the first list of archaeology apps out there, but it’s my list. You can check out some other posts here:

]]> http://www.archaeograph.com/apps-for-archaeologists-1-fieldwork-tools/feed/ 2