In this issue we work on indoor shots of documents and solve some of the problems you will deal with each time you shoot.  First is lighting, and the type of lights in the repository where you will be shooting.  To adjust for lighting, you may need to set the white balance on your camera White Balance Settings Screen.  If you encounter regular screw in light bulbs, you should use the Incandescent Lighting Setting, and likewise if the lighting is fluorescent, then use the Fluorescent Lighting Setting.  These two settings, along with Preset, and Auto, make up the Four Main White Balance Settings that most genealogists will use.  If you don't know what the lighting in a repository is, then you might want to use the Preset White Balance Setting. Most cameras that have the Preset White Balance setting have a Preset White Balance Button, although locating it may sometimes be difficult.  To see the effects of white balance settings, you might want to look at the following pictures, which show White Balance Settings Comparisons in sunlight, and in incandescent bulb light. The following White Balance settings were used for frames 1-8; 1-Auto, 2-Fine (Sunny), 3-Preset focused on flag, 4-Preset focused on white paper, 5-Incandescent bulb, 6-Fluorescent, 7-Cloudy day, 8-Flash (without using the flash)  It was a bright autumn day, and the grass was brown with spots of green.  Although the Auto setting looks best, the Preset focused on white, or Cloudy are probably truer colors. (This is where you have to make up your own mind.) In the second group, I was shooting directly at the incandescent light, and the Incandescent bulb setting gave me the best colors.  So you can see, that knowing your light can make a difference.

Now that you have lighting mastered J, we need to talk shutter speed.  A large majority of the time you will be shooting at 1/30^th of second or slower.  At this shutter speed it is quite difficult to hand hold your camera and get consistently good results unless you use flash.  The solution is to use a copy stand.  Plans for copy stands that I have designed are available on line for free download.  The simplest is the Library Copy Stand, and uses the weight of books to steady it and the camera.  The most complicated, is the Copy Box, which serves as a multifunction copy stand, and in between is what I call the Atlas Copy Stand.  But even in a pinch, a tripod can be used as a copy stand, and all it takes is a bent coat hanger over the edge of the table to hold it

To use the Atlas stand in a typical document-shooting situation, set up the Atlas Stand as shown, and use an upside down cookie sheet and refrigerator/strip magnets to hold down your document.  I use two strip magnets, or a cut refrigerator magnet to form a corner so that each document is always in the same place. 

To get the shot, preset the white balance, press the auto focus to make sure that the camera will focus at this distance, then set the timer, and trip the shutter.