Challenge

Develop a solution that could quickly capture large quantities of high-resolution digital images of print and direct mail creative and import the captured media into an existing image management system.

Design Constraints

The solution would have to meet the following criteria:

It must:

1. be able to capture high-resolution images up to full-page newspaper size.
2. integrate with existing image management system.
3. be easy to use by part-time staff.

Solution

We developed a system that would use a modified document photography stand to capture digital stills of print creative. In addition to specifying hardware, a software interface was built to control the camera and import captured images into a database built in Filemaker Pro, where further editing operations (cropping, rotating and exporting) could be easily executed by employees.

A six-week development effort was followed up by two rounds of iterative testing and streamlining. Built in 2004, this system is still the client’s primary method of capturing and cataloging creative, having captured over 20,000 images of creative in approximately 1/12 the time it would take with a flatbed scanner.

We used some hardware from existing document photography stands. The gooseneck arms, pipe clamp and wiring shown here were adapted for our stand.

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The custom-built lamp base shown here holds two T10 fluorescent fixtures. The lamp bases were fabricated by a local acrylic shop.

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The assembled light fixture attached to our stand, which is built of aluminum pipe and speedrail fittings.

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The camera is mounted at the top of the stand on a three-axis pipe clamp. In order to capture images without lens distortion, a 50mm macro lens was used to produce the flattest field. This in turn required the camera to stand approximately 5 feet from the imaging surface in order to be able to photograph a full newspaper page.

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The nearly-completed digital document photography stand.