The Cologne Center for eHumanities and the Institut für Altertumskunde are presenting two 3-day training courses on Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), an advanced imaging technique for the documentation and research of cultural heritage.
The two courses will be held on the following dates:
1. 18-20 February 2015
2. 6-8 May 2015
RTI is a low-cost and user-friendly computational photographic method that captures a subject’s surface shape and colour and enables interactive re-lighting from any direction. RTI also permits the mathematical enhancement of surface features and color attributes. These enhancement functions reveal surface information that is not disclosed under direct empirical examination. RTI is of interest to anyone working with cultural heritage objects, such as archaeologists, historians, librarians, museums curators, conservators and photographic staff. The 3-day training workshop will consist of a combination of lectures, demonstrations and extensive hands-on work.
Space is available on each course for 5 participants. If you are interested please contact Dr. Kathryn Piquette (kathryn.piquette@uni-koeln.de), and include a brief paragraph (c. 300 words) explaining how RTI is integral to your current research plans. Places are limited and priority will be given to those who can demonstrate an urgent need for this imaging technique in their work. Training will be free of charge for Cologne staff and students.
DEADLINE: Applications for training slots will be accepted until Friday, 09 January 2015. Participants will be confirmed the week of 12 January.
The 3-day training workshop covers:
• How Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is used to create digital representations
• Examples of RTI from various areas of cultural heritage, including museum objects, archaeological sites and artifacts, papyri collections, conservation use
• Demonstration on how to perform an RTI capture using the Highlight method (H-RTI)
• Comprehensive coverage of RTI digital imaging work flow, from planning to photographic capture through to processing, viewing and disseminating results
• Hands-on practice with different types of material and setup scenarios
• Step-by-step processing of the images
• Instruction on how to use different viewing modes to examine details of the resulting RTI images
• Practical information about equipment, image capture setups, and software
Participants will:
• Learn how to apply Highlight RTI (H-RTI)
• Grasp the latest research in RTI, including the use of infrared illumination
• Apply what is learned in small teams of 2-3 people for hands-on work
• Upon completion of the training, have the skills to set up, capture, process, view RTI images, and disseminate them
Instructor:
Dr. Kathryn E. Piquette
Dr. Piquette has been practicing dome-based RTI and Highlight RTI (H-RTI) for over four years on a wide array of artefacts and other material surface types in museum collections around the world, as well as in a variety of field contexts. Her currently work revolves around the Magica Levantina project (http://papyri.uni-koeln.de/magica-levantina/index.html) and the development of Infrared RTI for the Herculaneum papyri. She received training in RTI techniques from Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) and bases her course on their 4-day training. For more information on the trainings, services and resources offered by CHI, visit: http://culturalheritageimaging.org/Technologies/RTI/
Again, if you are interested in the 3-day Cologne training, please contact Dr. Kathryn Piquette (kathryn.piquette@uni-koeln.de) with the information requested above.
Please circulate widely!
Second training (06.05.2015)
