A method is described for the analysis of standard retinal colour photographs with the facility to compare accurately photographs taken serially, thus yielding information on the change in the retinal disease over a period of several years. The reproducibility of placement of a microaneurysm on the same photograph by the same observer is equivalent to +/- 6.6 microns at the retina and inter-observer variation is equivalent to +/- 7.2 micron at the retina. Overall accuracy of placement of a point is 10 micron at the retina.