Page 313 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

292 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
the reduction ratio has been taken into account, the end product will be worse. The reason for this is that the reduction process filters out informa- tion. At half reduction, small blemishes disappear, the dot density becomes more even, and the dots appear more solid. Reduction beyond this point causes lines to become so thin that they begin to disappear. Conversely, if you magnify the drawing, the errors get bigger and the appearance of the drawing deteriorates (Figure 11.1).
A common mistake in drawing is failing to consider the ultimate size or scale at which the drawing is to be published. For example, preparing a 2 ¥ 1 m site plan drawn with a 0.5-mm pen for publication on an A4 format is futile and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the drawing and pub- lishing process. At this reduction, the lines will be 0.05 mm thick. So it is essential to first decide what the ultimate scale or dimensions of the end product will be. This may mean that two drawings are needed: one, at a large scale, for working on as a research tool, and another especially prepared for reduction for publication. Drawings are usually produced for publica- tion at a fixed scale of 1:2, 1:4, 1:10, etc. Knowing the page size of the publication and the dimensions of the object, it is possible to choose an appropriate scale for the printed page. It is best to then make the drawing at twice the published size. It is worth remembering that publications are in portrait format, so if o a plan of a rectangular site is produced, keep the plan in portrait format or else it will need to be rotated 90° resulting in the
0.05 point 0.10 point 0.25 point 0.50 point 0.75 point 1.00 point 2.50 point 5.00 point
Figure 11.1 A series of line thicknesses showing how the very fine lines tend to disappear.