Photographing for identification

Every identification forum's pinned guide says the same thing: a metric scale bar in the frame (a ruler, not a coin), a plain neutral background, and the specimen photographed from every side that carries information — dorsal, ventral, lateral, and any broken surface that shows internal structure.

Light matters more than the camera. Diffuse daylight or a lamp bounced off white card shows surface detail; a harsh flash flattens it. For low-relief fossils, raking light from one side at a low angle brings out ornament; try two angles. A wet surface (water, not oil) often reveals detail on dark matrix, and a note that the piece was wetted belongs in the post.

Get close and fill the frame, then step back for one photo that shows the whole piece in context. On a phone, tap to focus on the specimen, lock exposure, and steady the phone against something. Crop rather than zoom.

Include the numbers: greatest dimension in millimetres, weight if it is a nodule, and the locality to county level with the formation if you know it. If you do not know the formation, say so; guessing sends helpers down the wrong path.

Stratum's Ask the forum action assembles this post from the record, resizes up to four photos for upload and reminds you about the scale bar.