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To capture good photogrammetry photos, lock your exposure and focus, light the object flatly and evenly, and orbit it in overlapping rings so every surface appears sharply in several frames. The reconstruction software can only recover what the camera recorded consistently, so disciplined, repeatable capture beats any post-processing trick. This guide gives you a concrete, reusable shooting routine and the numbers that make it work.
What camera settings should I lock first?
Consistency is the whole game. Before you take a single keeper, set everything to manual and leave it:
- Aperture: f/8–f/11 for a deep, uniform plane of focus.
- ISO: lowest your light allows (100–400) to minimise noise.
- Shutter: whatever the tripod can hold steady at that aperture.
- Focus: manual, set once on the object, then taped or locked.
- White balance: a fixed Kelvin value (e.g. 5200K), not auto.
Auto anything — focus, exposure, white balance — introduces frame-to-frame drift that confuses feature matching.
How much overlap and coverage do I need?
Think in terms of every point being seen from many directions. The working rule is 70–80% overlap between neighbours, with shots roughly every 10–15° as you orbit. Capture in distinct bands:
text
Band 1: low angle, looking slightly up
Band 2: equator, level with the object
Band 3: high angle, looking slightly down
+ a second session for the underside, captured separatelyFor recessed or undercut areas, add close detail frames that still overlap the wider shots so the software can stitch them in.
Should I shoot RAW, and how do I develop it?
Shoot RAW when the camera supports it. The key discipline is to develop the entire set identically — one white balance, one exposure baseline, no local edits, no auto-tone. Batch-apply a single develop preset, then export to 16-bit TIFF or high-quality JPEG.
bash
# Example: uniform develop of a folder with darktable-cli
for f in raw/*.CR3; do
darktable-cli "$f" preset.xmp "out/$(basename "$f" .CR3).tif"
donePer-image creative grading is the enemy here; it changes the appearance of the same physical point across frames.
How do I handle shiny, dark, or featureless surfaces?
These are the three classic capture failures, and each has a targeted fix.
| Surface problem | Why it fails | Practical fix |
|---|---|---|
| Glossy / specular | Highlights move with the camera | Cross-polarise: polariser on lights and on lens, crossed ~90° |
| Very dark | Too few features detected | Raise exposure (slower shutter), not ISO; flat light |
| Plain / featureless | No texture to match | Add removable fine texture or project a speckle pattern |
| Translucent | Light passes through | Dust with cyclododecane or use coded targets nearby |
Cross-polarisation alone solves a large share of heritage capture problems with metal, glaze, and varnish.
Do I move the camera or the object?
Move the camera. The matcher assumes a rigid scene, so a static object on a static background is ideal. When space forces a turntable, keep the background plain and mask the object so only the moving subject is reconstructed and the spinning surroundings are ignored.
How do I quality-check the set before processing?
Spend ten minutes culling, and you will save hours of failed reconstructions:
- Zoom to 100% and delete any soft or motion-blurred frame.
- Confirm exposure and white balance look identical across the batch.
- Check that you have no coverage gaps by flipping through quickly — gaps become holes.
- Place at least two scale bars or a ruler in frame if you need real-world dimensions.
A good set is boring to look at: even, sharp, consistent, and complete.
Key Takeaways
- Lock aperture (f/8–f/11), ISO (low), focus, and white balance for the whole set.
- Target 70–80% overlap across low, equator, and high bands, ~10–15° apart.
- Shoot RAW and develop the entire set identically — never grade per image.
- Move the camera, not the object; mask the subject if a turntable is unavoidable.
- Cross-polarise to tame shiny surfaces; add removable texture to featureless ones.
- Include scale bars when real-world measurement matters.
- Cull soft frames at 100% before processing to avoid wasted reconstructions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What aperture and ISO should I use for photogrammetry?
Use a small-to-mid aperture around f/8 to f/11 for deep, even sharpness, and the lowest ISO your light allows, typically 100 to 400. Keep these fixed for the entire set so every frame matches.
How much overlap between photos is enough?
Aim for 70 to 80 percent overlap between adjacent frames so each surface point appears in at least three to five images. Tight, featureless, or recessed areas benefit from even more overlap.
Should I shoot RAW or JPEG?
Shoot RAW when you can: it gives you headroom to balance exposure and white point consistently across the set before export. Convert to high-quality TIFF or JPEG only after a uniform develop, and never apply per-image creative edits.
Do I move the camera or the object?
Move the camera and keep the object and background static whenever possible, because moving the object breaks the matcher's assumption that the scene is rigid. If you must use a turntable, mask the moving object so the background is ignored.
How do I capture shiny or dark objects?
Use diffuse, even light and consider cross-polarisation with a polariser on both the light and the lens to kill specular highlights. For very dark objects, increase exposure rather than ISO and add fine, removable texture if the surface is featureless.
Why are some of my photos rejected by the software?
Frames are dropped when they are blurry, too dim, lack overlap with neighbours, or have inconsistent focus. Reviewing sharpness at 100 percent before processing prevents most rejections.