How to take photos of handwritten notes that are easy to study from
A lot of what you learn in a lecture ends up in a notebook. Taking photos of those pages is the quickest way to get them onto your phone, so you can revise anywhere and turn them into a study set. A clear photo makes everything after it easier.
Here is how to get good photos of handwritten notes without any special equipment.
Light it evenly
Light is the biggest difference between a readable photo and a bad one. Daylight from a window works best. Stand so the light falls across the page and not from behind you, otherwise your shadow lands on the notes.
Avoid using the phone’s flash. It tends to leave a bright spot in the middle of the page and dark corners at the edges.
Lay the page flat
Curved pages bend the lines of writing and make words at the spine hard to read. Press the notebook open on a flat table, and hold the edge down with your free hand if it keeps closing.
Hold the phone straight above the page
Take the photo from directly above, with the phone parallel to the page. If you shoot at an angle, the far end of the page shrinks and the writing gets harder to read.
Fill most of the frame with the page, but leave a little space around the edges so nothing is cut off.
One page per photo
Trying to fit a double page spread into one shot makes the writing smaller. Take a separate photo of each page. It also makes it easier to keep the pages in order.
Check before you move on
Zoom in on the photo before you turn the page. If you cannot read a word on your screen, retake it now. It is much easier than finding out the night before the exam.
Write so it photographs well
A few small habits during the lecture help later.
- Write in dark ink, since pencil and light colours fade in photos.
- Leave some space between topics so each one is easy to find.
- Write the course code and the date at the top of the page.
Turn your photos into a study set
Once your photos are clear, you can upload them in Revyse straight from your gallery, the same way you would upload a PDF or slides. Revvy reads the pages and makes a summary, practice questions and flashcards from them. Pick the course first, so the pages sit with the rest of your material for that subject.
