How to photograph a headstone with your phone

A good photo of an existing headstone makes the rest of the job easier: the lettering is easier to read, the outline lines up better, and there is less to fix by hand. Five rules and a short shot list are all you need.

The five rules

1. Stand straight in front of the stone. Get the camera as close to perpendicular to the stone face as you can. Monumize straightens the photo using the four corners you mark, but a steep angle still costs detail in the letters. If you're on uneven ground, move until you're not.

2. Measure the stone, or include a reference object. The most reliable way to set the scale is to measure the polished face's width and height with a tape and enter them. If you can't, a credit card, a US quarter or a dollar bill placed flat against the stone gives a known size to work from. It just needs to be fully in the frame and clearly visible.

3. Fill the frame with the stone. Crop with your feet. The stone should fill most of the photo, with all four corners of the polished face visible. Grass and neighboring stones just steal pixels from the part that matters.

4. Diffuse light. Overcast is ideal. Direct midday sun creates hard shadows in the lettering that make the existing dates harder to read. If you're stuck with bright sun, shade the stone with your body or come back early in the morning.

5. Hold steady. Either brace your elbows against your ribs or rest the phone on the top of the stone. A blurry photo makes the lettering harder to read, and you'll have more to check and adjust by hand.

A short shot list

If you have time and want to be thorough, take four shots:

• The full face, perpendicular, with all four corners in frame.
• A close-up of the existing dates so you can compare the lettering yourself later.
• The empty area where the new inscription will go, framed tightly.
• The whole stone in context (you can see the grave plot edges), which helps when you plan the visit.

You only need the first one to start a job.

What not to do

• Don't filter or color-correct the photo.
• Don't crop in your phone's photo app. Upload the full image.
• Don't shoot through glass (some plinth-style stones have glass fronts). Shoot at an angle if you have to.

After the upload

Once you've marked the corners and entered the size, Monumize straightens the photo, reads the engraved dates and suggests the closest of its open-licensed monument fonts. You type the new date and see it outlined on your photo.

Treat every suggestion as a starting point. Results on real stones depend on the photo and the measurements you enter, so check the outline on your photo and the 1:1 PDF against the stone before you cut.

Read more in How long a second date takes or open the cost calculator to see the price range for what you're considering.