Every object, measured and validated
PHOTARCH is a method for photographing objects, an open archive built with it, and the apps that produce it. The method is a few principles that, followed, give uniform photographs that can be measured, again and again. A photograph of an object is only evidence if someone else can trust what it shows.
The scale is measured in millimetres, the colour is checked against a ColorChecker, and each image is assessed for what it is fit for: a record shot, a study or a reproduction. The record travels with the file.
Try it today
The PHOTARCH app
The library. A collection is photographed, measured, described and packaged here — each picture assessed for what it is fit for, and exported in the formats a collection system reads. The original is never altered.
Coming soon
PHOTARCH for iPhone
The camera. It photographs on its own, and paired with the app on a Mac it becomes its shutter and live view, with every picture straight into the library. In your pocket, the library goes with you.
Open
The archive
A public archive on the web, made for access: a visually driven database where anyone can browse, compare and cite what organisations have chosen to publish. Every published object is open.
Coming soon
The PHOTARCH guides
Photographing archaeological artefacts: the ten guides as one book — the light, the white ground, colour, the camera and the lens, scale and file formats — for the first picture and the ten-thousandth. Free, under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Sign up for the newsletter, and you will hear when it is out.
In development
What comes next
PHOTARCH on iPad
The app on iPad.
iPhone Duo
Optimized for iPhone Duo.
Board
The PHOTARCH board, to photograph objects on.
The principles are public. The archive is open
To learn the method and to use what is already in the archive are free of charge. The apps are for those who want to document objects that way themselves.