20 Mar 2018, 23:21
I realise that I'm supposed to be documenting this on the wiki but …
There are two things I should note:
Detail
There's a general list of things that are worth covering, of which various items (even the blatantly obvious ones) often get missed: top, bottom, the label on the back, each switch type used (often different for space, enter, caps lock, escape etc), the controller chip (for date information), any writing on the PCB, and any other labels and inscriptions.
There's no need to Full HaaTa and photograph every rivet and every paint chip. So long as you cover the details that researchers like myself are likely to need in the future, such as model, manufacture date and OEM, that's sufficient. (PCB inscriptions often look meaningless but they can be very important data or clues. I often rediscover these details later on, that I overlooked originally.)
Scene
The only real rule I have, is to clear a space. For example, in the picture above, the background is some cardboard that's too narrow, letting random details show through (carpet, those drawer handles that snap and fall off, other keyboards etc) The entire background should be the same material, whether that's carpet, concrete or cardboard.
Photos look a lot nicer when the background is clear and uniform.
I do wish that people would stick to a standard and consistent aspect ratio, and avoid overcropping, as images cropped right to the subject look cramped and hard to follow, and lead to jagged galleries.
