Photographic measuring scales

Mark Bartley is a senior photographer at Addenbrooke's. Following an interesting discussion on the Institute of Medical Illustrators discussion forum he decided to write a short viewpoint article on the subject of the use of scales in clinical photography. It was fascinating to read all the arguments both for and against the digital rule. Clinical Photographers have been using digital rulers at Addenbrooke's since 2008 after comparing this type of measuring scale with our old adhesive rulers in consultation with our Dermatology department. The digital rulers are dragged onto our image from a layer in a ready-made psd file, of which a number of sizes are available in the magnification ratios that we commonly use for close-ups photography of lesions. The author prefers this digital method as it provides a neater more efficient way of placing a ruler within the image.