DIY Network

Using Digital Photography to Document Your Home For insurance purposes, digital photos provide some of the best documentation. From "The Whole Picture" episode DTWP-112

Digital photos can be used to create a detailed inventory of the valuables in your home.

Ever wanted to catalog the items in your home for insurance purposes but just haven't found the time?

Professional photographer Erin Manning demonstrates that, with the advent of digital photography, it's now easier than ever to document the items in your home and then to organize and archive the digital shots for permanent documentation.

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	It's best to take pictures of large items, like furniture, in the context of your home to give an idea of scale and use.
	Small items should be photographed in close-up to show detail.

Erin discusses the basic how's and why's of documenting the contents of your home using digital photography as a tool. She explains what information insurance companies need in the event that you ever have to file a claim for the replacement of valuables--such as from fire, theft or storm damage. Specific topics include how to take wide or panoramic shots (or video) of entire rooms in order to serve as an overview and the importance of taking close-ups of specific valuables--including macro shots of their distinguishing or identifying marks such as signatures, stamps or serial numbers. Lastly, Erin shows how specialized home-inventory software can help simplify the process of documenting and organizing your.

Materials:

digital camera with macro function
camera owner's manual
tripod
light source
home inventory software

	Take photos of each room in your home to document the contents room-by-room.
	Use your camera's macro function to get in close enough so that the serial number is readable.
	Hundreds of pictures can be archived onto a single disc or memory card and stored in a safe location.

Digital Home-Inventory Basics

The old cliché notwithstanding, hindsight may not always be 20-20, especially after a personal loss. Losing valuables to fire, theft or natural disaster can be devastating for anyone, and without documentation of what was actually lost and the ability to account for them, the effect can be one of adding insult to injury.

For a quick settlement in the event of a loss, insurance adjusters frequently require detailed information on items that were lost in order to replace them. Most insurance companies recommend that you create a detailed home inventory that provides a record of your valuables in case the unexpected happens. The goal is to make things as easy as possible for the adjuster so that a quick and accurate settlement can be made.

Photographs are one form of documentation that can be very helpful in this documentation. Though most people have photographs of their home, they probably don't have detailed photos of its contents or individual items. Moreover, in the event of fire or other disaster, the photos themselves may well be lost along with other items.

There are ways of documenting your belongings and storing the documentation in such a way that it is safe even in the event of a disaster. Digital photography is one of the most useful tools in getting that process underway.

A digital camera helps enable you to create a visual inventory to document your valuables quickly and easily. Hundreds of pictures can be archived onto a single disc and stored in a safe location. Even if you don't have a computer, you can still store large numbers of photos on a photo media-card--the medium that digital cameras use for recording images instead of film. The media card can then be stored in a secure location off-site, such as a bank safety-deposit box.

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