Ronny @rleder,
I have found that in the world of photography, the biggest variable is the customer’s expectations. In most of the cases of fossils, that customer is the collector – but it can also be an institution. Some people are more critical than others of the end product. There are many who accept fuzzy poorly-lit photos, figuring “that’s good enough.” The world of digital photography and computer assisted photography has gotten us to a point where we can take bad images faster than ever. The good news is that the results can be seen instantly, but if the photographer doesn’t know what to do to correct the problems, we get nowhere. Having said all of this, my message to anyone wanting to take quality photographs of fossils or anything else is to start with a course or books on basic photography to learn techniques of lighting, f-stops, the color of light, depth of field, etc. Books specific to macro photography are the next logical step but the basics must be learned first. From the equipment standpoint, people need to understand that megapixels aren’t the only controlling factor in photography.
This is a good idea to put into a tutorial.
Jack Kallmeyer