[Nhcoll-l] Imaging taxidermy/mounted exhibition specimens for databasing

Wed Sep 20 18:14:52 EDT 2017

Hi Huong Lien,

In regards to specimen imaging I would suggest using a solid background color. For mounted specimens this can easily be achieved using a large poster board. I did a quick trial run in our lab that took 15-20 min from setup to final post processed image. I attached the images here which include setup, unprocessed resulting image, and post processed image. All images were taken with a point and shoot (Sony RX-100), and lighting used was the default lab lights. Edits used for post processing in Photoshop only included changes in levels (mostly contrast), a little dodge and burn, and a crop. This was all achieved very quickly with a minimal setup. If you have DSLR, I would recommend using that on a tripod for better resolution. Flash units would also give you more flexibility for controlling light. There are a lot of options for setup and it comes down to what you want your final image to look like. In regards to file resolution, use the highest (pixel dimensions) at your disposal. Make copies of your original image to preferred reduced file size (i.e. small files to upload on a website).     

If you have any questions feel free to contact me off the list serve. zrandall at flmnh.ufl.edu  

Cheers,
Zach
--
Zachary S. Randall
Research and Collection Technician 
Florida Museum of Natural History, Division of Fishes 
1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL 32611-7800
352-273-1958 | Dickinson, Rm 277

-----Original Message-----
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Rowe, Timothy B
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 10:27 AM
To: Huong Lien Tran; NHColl
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Imaging taxidermy/mounted exhibition specimens for databasing

Taxidermy mounts often contain skulls, bones of the hands and feet, and other bones.  In the case of rare and extinct taxa, taxidermy mounts may be the only source of "new" osteological material.  For example, we CT scanned a mount of an Ivory billed woodpecker (last seen alive in 1986), and the scans show that a good deal of its skeleton was incorporated into the mount.  If you would like to see for yourself, there is an image on DigiMorph, at the following URL:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__digimorph.org_specimens_Campephilus-5Fprincipalis_CU51246_&d=DwIFAw&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=BKhSKCOxyM5eEwY92XYq8phkZq7cLp-I_PjQkMvS4kM&s=tp-f6jtXFDKCbXz4BbO1saCAxkK9BXtwXYpegVqV3DI&e=    
Click "About this Specimen" to see a digital radiogram of the mounted specimen and what it contains.

CT may be overt the top if you are simply interested in screening taxidermy mounts for internal contents, but conventional radiography is inexpensive and may suffice in many cases.

Tim

Timothy Rowe
J. Nalle Gregory Regents Professor of Geology Curator, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory Director, High Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility

Mail to:
Jackson School of GeoSciences C1100
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712

phone: 512-471-1725 (Department)
fax: 512-471-9425 (Department)

Digital Morphology: www.DigiMorph.org
High Resolution X-ray CT Facility: www.ctlab.geo.utexas.edu/ Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory: www.utexas.edu/tmm/vpl/ Jackson School of Geosciences: www.geo.utexas.edu/

________________________________________
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Huong Lien Tran <huong.tran at uq.net.au>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 4:25 AM
To: NHColl
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Imaging taxidermy/mounted exhibition specimens for  databasing

Hi all,

Our museum recently got hold of old taxidermy/mounted exhibition specimens of mostly birds and mammals. While they're not display of highest aesthetic quality, and probably won't be brought out for the public in a long time,  they still hold many values, and will be added to our future online collections. Therefore, I am curious to hear from other museums on:

(1) Specimens tag/information included:  What sorts of information do you normally put in with taxidermy, mounted exhibition specimens not on display. I know there are standard information on research specimens, but our exhibition ones were normally prepared from confiscated remains and dead zoo animals then transferred to the museum, thus not much data were recovered.

(2) Specimens imaging: How to take good photo of them, and make them look good for putting on web? Since none of us are really skilled with image capturing and manipulation. Which angle do you normally take? What's resolution are standard?

We would also appreciate some examples from your museums, as more reference are always appreciated!

I attached some photo of the specimens mentioned above currently in our repository.

----

Huong-Lien Tran
Curator assistant, Department of Specimen Collection Management Vietnam National Museum of Nature, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
18 Hoang Quoc Viet Street, Nghia Do, Hanoi, Vietnam https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.vnmn.ac.vn&d=DwIFAw&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=BKhSKCOxyM5eEwY92XYq8phkZq7cLp-I_PjQkMvS4kM&s=ffYx2_cvZXyB7iw5FpGrRoXyTz7RtLAFVsmnmm049-o&e=
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