Digital Photo Tips for
Digitally Assisted Diagnosis

General Digital Photo Tips

You can help us by following these guidelines:

• Please look at the images before sending them to us. If they look out of focus to you, they will not be helpful to us.
• Send no more than five images per sample/question.
• When possible, please include size reference such as a ruler or a coin. If taking a photo of a ruler, let us know units (ie. Size is about 2 mm).
• For plant identifications, please include whole plant image, as well as close-ups of plant parts (leaves, flower, fruit, etc.)
• As with actual samples, please include as much additional information as possible such as: planting date, age of plant, chemicals used, number of plants affected, where found, patterns, when symptoms first noticed, etc.

Tips for Taking Digital Photos for Plant IDs

The following publications were prepared as guides for taking photos of plants for identification:

• WS-26-W, Guidelines for Submitting Digital Plant Images for Identification: Grass Identification (PDF - 501 K) by Dr. Case R. Medlin, Assistant Professor of Weed Science, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University
• WS-27-W, Guidelines for Submitting Digital Plant Images for Identification: Broadleaf Identification (PDF - 1.4 MB) by Dr. Case R. Medlin, Assistant Professor of Weed Science, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University

(PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat to view and print.)

Plant and Pest Digital Library and Digitally Assisted Diagnosis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.