Pictures are a wonderful way to document graveyards, from scenic views of the cemetery, to inscriptions of individual tombstones. It isn't always as easy as it seems, however, to achieve sharp, clear photographs of stones that may be centuries old. That old stone may be easy enough to read when you're standing just a few feet away, but capturing its three dimensional carving and inscriptions on a flat picture sometimes takes a bit of work. What to Photograph It's not every day that you get to visit an ancestor's cemetery, so take the time, if you can, to create a photographic record of the entire cemetery, rather than just a single tombstone: . Take at least two shots of each headstone, one close up so that you can read the inscription, and one from a distance which identifies the marker's location in the cemetery. If the gravestone is one of several in a family grouping, then you may also want to take a wide angle shot of the entire family plot (a tombstone's position in relation to other family members may provide a clue to relationships). . Take several pictures (from different angles) showing the entire cemetery, or at least as large a portion of it as you can fit in a single picture. . Unless it is a small family plot hidden in the middle of a cornfield, the front gates or entrance of the cemetery makes another good view to record on film. For the remainder of the article: http://genealogy.about.com/od/cemetery_records/a/pictures.htm?nl=1