Academic Initiatives

Digital Photography Course at Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpu

A Digital Photography Course was organised at Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur. The session was organized by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur from 2nd - 6th March 2020. Mr. Prashant Lohar, Museum Archives Executive and Conservation Technician was nominated by the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation to attend this course.

The workshop was led by the award-winning digital photographer, Mr. Neil Greentree. Mr. Greentree is the digital photographer at The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA, and has been associated with them for over twenty years.

The four-day workshop taught the participants work-flow processes in digital photography to produce digital files that match the original artworks. Digital basics of camera types and the resolution, camera settings, choices of lens, lighting using electronic flash, use of a colour checker, greyscales and colour correction, were dealt with.

The coursework dealt with direct capture using software, management and naming of files for consistency, processing and storage of raw files as well as management of processed TIF and JPG files, for various needs.

A special session on lighting was conducted, with emphasis on the styles of lighting and means of perfecting the output achieved from the respective lighting styles.

Specific to Museums, the workshop addressed the topic of colour-correction of image files from various sources that are needed for digital and print publications of the Museum.

The main focus was on capturing the nuances; gold, colour tonalities, etc., of two-dimensional artworks, while maintaining accurate colour balance. The lighting and photography of three-dimensional objects such as reflective metal objects was also introduced.

Mr. Greentree being well-versed in Capture One Software, Photoshop, and other software programs, with an understanding of lighting, and relevant issues, etc. taught practical and fast solutions for correct digital capture in difficult locations and circumstances such as paintings behind glass.

Mr. Prashant Lohar and other participants

Workshop on Digital Photography

Visitors from Chambord

Mr. Yannick Mercoyrol, Heritage Director and Cultural Programming, and Ms. Virginie Berdal, Researcher Associate, National Domain of Chambord, visited The City Palace Museum, Udaipur from 2nd to 6th March 2020. During the visit, they toured around the Palace, with special visits to the exhibit galleries of Photographs, Textiles and Silver, the Salehkhana, Arms and Armour Laboratory, Painting Conservation Laboratory, and the Photograph Storage.

The purpose of the visit was to discuss prospects of a future collaboration between the two institutions. The two, Domaine National de Chambord and the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, The City Palace Museum, Udaipur have been in a partnership agreement since 2015.

Joining Mr. Mercoyrol and Ms. Berdal in discussion were Ms. Vrinda Raje Singh, CEO, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Dr. Hansmukh Seth, Associate Curator, and Ms. Chelsea Santos, Assistant Curator, The City Palace Museum, Udaipur.