We are excited about the imaging programming that the Imaging Working Group (IWG) has in the works for the 2026 AIC CAC Annual Meeting which includes a pre-conference workshop on multiband imaging (April 29), an imaging tips lunch session (April 30), and an imaging topics session (May 2). See below for more information.
Pre-Conference Workshop: "Multiband Imaging: Getting started and ramping up"
Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
($165 registration fee; maximum 16 participants)
Multiband imaging is an important tool for recording condition, informing the care and treatment, and increasing our understanding of manufacture and materials of heritage objects. However, it can be challenging to know where to start and how to increase capabilities. Multiband imaging offers a lot of flexibility for equipment and setups from low barrier to more complex, higher-end options. This workshop aims to provide participants with additional information and resources to help get started with multiband imaging and also expand capabilities based on equipment and setup.
Multiband imaging is a set of photographic techniques that use broadband wavelength ranges from longwave UV to near infrared, including visible light, to provide the visualization and spatial distribution of materials under different illumination. This can include but is not limited to reflected UV, UV-induced visible luminescence, reflected infrared, and visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging.
The first part of the workshop will include a panel representing different institutions and media specialties to share their multiband experiences and setups. Panelists will provide short presentations focused on how they got started with multiband imaging, where they are now, and where they want to go with their multiband imaging set-up. They will share current and past equipment uses and the limitations and goals that drove those choices. These short presentations will examine the various goals around imaging and how set-ups can morph and develop over time depending on goals, funding and the resources of the institution. Following the presentations there will be facilitated discussion and participant Q&A.
The second part of the workshop will include a hands-on component with demonstrations and an opportunity for participants to examine and test out cameras, filters, lenses, targets, and radiation sources. This will also allow for a deeper examination into how to choose equipment and build on existing set-ups. This section will aim to answer the following questions when choosing equipment: What are the limitations of some of the less expensive equipment? How can you evaluate the filters and radiation sources you have? What are the different targets and how are they used?
Imaging Tips Lunch Session
Thursday, April 30, 2026, 12:15 - 2:00 p.m.
(This year with each registration for the annual meeting you will get one lunch ticket included.)
Have an imaging tip you want to share? We want to hear your imaging tips, tricks, and tools!
Share your latest imaging tips and workarounds with fellow photography friends! We want to hear your practical, inexpensive, and creative hacks and solutions that helped you tackle recent imaging projects. What new tool improved your imaging setup? What trick reduced the cost of an equipment upgrade? This session is for conservators across specialty groups, imaging specialists, scientists and more who are interested in and use imaging as part of their conservation work.
We are looking for informal, short (~5-min) presentations that share your tip with the imaging community using slides or storytelling.
Interested? Send a brief (2-3 sentence) description of what you would like to share and a brief bio to Keats Webb (webbekeats@si.edu) and Tessa de Alarcon (tessad@upenn.edu) by Friday March 13.
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E. Keats Webb
Imaging Scientist
Museum Conservation Institute
Smithsonian Institution
Suitland, MD
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