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Here are some tips for digitizing original texts using a smart phone.
Before you go
Download some useful apps for storage. Our UCLA accounts include large amounts of storage in Google Drive and Box. Humnet email users also have access to OneDrive. All of these have apps that are user friendly for iPhone.
Set up folders in the app of your choice. Try to be as specific as possible: name the folder with the date, institution, and bibliographic information for the text you are looking at.
When on site
Turn the flash off. This protects the materials and avoids drawing attention to what you are doing.
If possible, adjust the settings on your phone’s camera to take high quality photographs. File size should not be an issue with Drive and Box. (Here is Apple’s support page on “How to take and edit photos with your iPhone, iPad and Ipod Touch”.)
Take photographs directly through the app of your choice, or try the scan feature.
Photograph the cover and any pages of your source text with bibliographic information.
Include the whole page (with page number) in the frame. You can always zoom in or crop the photo later.
Try not to cast shadows on the source text.
Of course, don’t break the spine of a book, and be gentle when handling materials.
Ugh! What looks good at first, may not be!
At first glance, the issues with the image below are my hand in the middle of the book and the visible carpet and chair leg. Yet the hand is not obstructing the text, and the background stuff can be cropped out. So we might be ok!
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As a result, be sure to check your images clearly before you leave — especially if you are in a remote location!
After you are done
Save those photographs! Google Drive and Box will sync your files from your phone to your desktop or the cloud; make sure this happens, then put a copy somewhere else, too. Pro tip: keep 2 copies of everything, in two different places (in case one place is compromised).
Organize your files. This includes renaming the files you created earlier and putting your photos in order.
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