Guides
The method describes what a PHOTARCH photograph is and why. These guides describe how to make one: what to set up, in which order, and what to check before a picture leaves the studio. Each answers one question, and each links back to the reasons.
The whole procedure, step by step: light, ground, colour card, exposure, angles, scale, grade and export.
Why a ruler beside the object measures the ruler, how far a few millimetres of height throw a measurement, and how to carry a measured scale inside the file.
What 8, 12, 14 and 16 bits mean, what cameras actually record, why files come in 8 or 16 bits, and how to make the most of what the camera gives.
Pixels per millimetre at the object rather than megapixels, when sensor size matters, raw and the bits it records, and a phone or a dedicated camera.
Macro or normal lens, focal length and working distance, perspective, distortion, and where aperture stops adding depth and starts costing sharpness.
One key light from the upper left, the shadow kept as information, a fill that softens without removing, and metal, glass and glaze.
Why white rather than grey, how to expose the ground without clipping the object, why the shadow stays, and why a photograph on white is not a cut-out.
The card in every sitting, white balance, ΔE2000 in plain words, colour spaces and profiles, and what a reference chart can and cannot do.
Raw, DNG, TIFF and JPEG: the camera original, the preservation master and the access copy, and what to keep and what to publish.
Millimetres per pixel, where the scale comes from, how accurate a measurement is, the one-plane limit, and why the scale belongs in the file.