How to Record Landscape Ideas in the Field

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Photography and sketching can capture the image of a design element that you'd like to duplicate, but to get the proportions right, you'll need its measurements.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Things You’ll Need:

Measuring Tapes
Graph Papers
Pencils And Erasers

Step1

Be prepared. A sketch pad or graph paper, drawing pencil with eraser, measuring tape and a scale are essential for measuring and recording the critical dimensions of any design feature.

Step2

Obtain permission. Public places typically welcome note takers, but if a pergola, fence or brick pattern on a private property strikes your fancy, a polite request to spend some time sketching it is in order.

Step3

Make a preliminary diagram that records the overall shape of the element before you start measuring.

Step4

Add to the diagram the parts that make up the element ' the posts, pickets and cross braces of a fence, for example. Show each part in the proper relationship to the other parts without worrying about making an accurate image of the element.

Step5

Make a separate diagram of each of the parts, making an effort to capture as much detail as you can.

Step6

Measure the parts that you have diagrammed and record the measurements on the diagrams of the individual parts.

Step7

Measure the space between the elements that you have diagrammed.

Step8

Use the diagram and measurements that you've made to redraw the element at a more leisurely pace. If this reconstruction doesn't look like the original, return to the element to record any vital measurements that you missed the first time.