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Step 2Getting photos
Clean the board, at very least a quick brush with a paintbrush. Any specks of dirt, hairs etc will have to be removed in your photo editor if you don't catch them now, and it there are many, this can be quite time-consuming.
If you have a tripod, and you can control the lighting, set everything up. You need to light the most boring picture ever. It also probably has to be quite close up, depending on the board. Select a plain background which gently contrasts with the board colour.
Take your time, set up the shot so that there is no perspective, or as little as possible, and the frame is filled as much as possible. Use RAW mode if it is available, otherwise just use the highest quality setting possible. Take pictures of both sides of the board, ensuring that the tracks are in focus. You may find it is better to photograph the board in sections, and work on it a piece at a time.
Take a few pictures, with different settings, so you can choose the best ones.
If you don't have a digital camera, you will have to scan your photo's. Again, use the highest quality possible.
If you have a tripod, and you can control the lighting, set everything up. You need to light the most boring picture ever. It also probably has to be quite close up, depending on the board. Select a plain background which gently contrasts with the board colour.
Take your time, set up the shot so that there is no perspective, or as little as possible, and the frame is filled as much as possible. Use RAW mode if it is available, otherwise just use the highest quality setting possible. Take pictures of both sides of the board, ensuring that the tracks are in focus. You may find it is better to photograph the board in sections, and work on it a piece at a time.
Take a few pictures, with different settings, so you can choose the best ones.
If you don't have a digital camera, you will have to scan your photo's. Again, use the highest quality possible.
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Guys, to take a photo of PCB, any regular printer scanner seems to do the job.
I use polarising filter to contrast the text on IC.
Also good to have microscope, backlight for details of PCB etc.
cheers
If you have a sparse 2-sided board or a single sided board it can make the traces much easier to see.
Also high voltage and low voltage sections of a circuit will usually be separated on the PCB and it is very easy to see this if you light it from the back. I did this and found I could simply break the CFL high voltage part off of the board in the second picture (I replaced it with LEDs)