Photographing a form, a letter or the meter
Take a picture of a document that the person at the other end can actually read.
More and more people are asked to “send us a photo of it” — the meter reading, the insurance form, the passport page. The picture that comes back is very often unusable, and always for one of four reasons.
Key points
- Lay the paper flat where the light crosses it from the side
- Hold the phone directly above and fill the screen with the page
- Leave the flash off, and use the flashlight instead behind glass
- Use Scan Documents when it needs to look like a proper scan
What to remember
- Light from the side, phone directly above, flash off. Those three settle it.
- A steady flashlight beats a flash whenever the thing you are photographing is behind glass — meters, framed pictures, museum cases.
- Scan Documents lives inside Notes on an iPhone, and inside Google Drive on an Android phone.
Try this
Find any letter that came in the mail this week and photograph it beside a window. Then look at the picture and see whether you can read the smallest line. That check takes three seconds and saves a phone call.
Practice: Photographing a form, a letter or the meter. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.