photo light help...

[ant]

im looking for some new lighting for coin photography. i am useing 2 lamps right now (pics coming soon) that seem to be far too bright. and while i can get a good picture the colors and toning and luster just dont pop. id like to think that this is affecting my sales

 

what lights (links please) do i need to get and how many. what watz?... i see so many nice coins going for faaarrr tooo little. not that i dont mind making folks happy but i have been taking a bashing

 

any help would be appreciated.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

If you can picture a single light bulb screwed into an overhead socket, you have just imagined my entire lighting setup.

[Coindude]

Ant, it could be the market right now as well. It seems that the lower to middle coin market has been affected more. The keys still seem to be bringing decent to good money. Just an observation here. I've seen your pics, and although they aren't the best I've seen, they are far from a lot of the junk pictures I'm used to seeing on the bay.

[bsshog40]

I have a tendency to experiment with different lighting to see what works.

[MorganMan]

OTT. Best lighting I have found. But placement is also critical.

 

MM

[Swampboy]

I have a tendency to experiment with different lighting to see what works.

 

 

 

No halogens?

[bsshog40]

I have a couple but they are 500W and they get a litle warm.

[MikeInFL]

I am not a fan of the diffused light that is given off by fluroscent lights.

 

For most lustrous coins I use two incandescent bulbs (Reveal) with cheap reflectors positioned at 10 and 2 o'clock. For most circulated coins, I use a single light placed at 12 o'clock.

[ant]

i started to poke around with the cam. and took some pictures with different settings on exposure:

 

+1/3

 

-1/3

 

-1

 

-1

[ant]

[ant]

one more @ -1

[ldhair]

I am not a fan of the diffused light that is given off by fluroscent lights.

 

For most lustrous coins I use two incandescent bulbs (Reveal) with cheap reflectors positioned at 10 and 2 o'clock. For most circulated coins, I use a single light placed at 12 o'clock.

This is how I go about it as well and it brings the best results for me. I try to keep the lights as high as possible and as close to the lens as possible and underexpose to get the real look. Actually I go for a glamor shot as well as an image that looks most like the coin. I feel it takes more than one image to really show what a coin is all about.

With that said, I'm not as good as many but I seem to learn with each new challenge.

[ant]

so lights high and away from coin. but also have the lights close to the cam?

[MikeInFL]

You got it. The higher the better, and the closer to the camera the better*.

 

* = for some circulated coins, particularly circulated copper, slightly lower light is better -- typically around 45 degrees or so. Unlike other metals, copper frequently changes color depending on the light's angle to the coin. The above rule also doesn't apply well to brilliant/untoned proof coins either. However, for most silver and nickel and clad coins, higher and closer to the camera is generally the place to start.

[MikeInFL]

p.s. Ant, your new photos -- with the exception of the gold dollar -- are (a) overexposed, and (b) have uneven lighting. Both of these problems are related to light position, so please take the above advice given to heart, play around a little, and post your results.

 

p.p.s. The photo of the gold dollar is very good, IMO, but it could be even better if you (a) moved the light from 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock, and (b) add a second light at 2.

 

Hope this helps...Mike

[ant]

mike you must be the photo man cause i turned to look at light possitions and you were spot on

 

also what exposure is a good mark to go with.

[ant]

ok here is a 10 & 2 ish. @ -1/3 exposure. and a kinda bright pic of lights possition.

 

 

[MikeInFL]

BINGO!

[MikeInFL]

p.s. as for exposure -- it's a difficult question for me to answer succinctly. For all but very dark coins, you basically have to be sure you don't blow the highlights* (completely white areas of the coin, for instance, in the last Franklin shot, the white areas along the back of his hair are completely blown, i.e. has an RGB value of 255,255,255) and go from there. Do a bit of reading here for some good background:

 

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=22787

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

 

When you do it correctly, the photo just looks "right" -- like that last shot of the $10 which is exposed perfectly, IMO.

 

Hope this helps...Mike

 

* on some lustrous coins, not blowing some highlights is practically impossible.

[ant]

super reading! very helpfull. lighting in my art is where i have the hardest time so this will help with that also

 

here are a few shots i like the first better but it doesnt show the tiny details the other does

 

[ant]

doesnt it look like he is crying in the top pic

[pendragon1998]

If you're doing enough coin sales, you owe it to yourself to develop your photography skills. I suggest starting with varying your lighting placement and exposure. Change one variable at a time, a little bit at a time, and see what changes in the photo. Then change that variable a little more and see what changes. With patience, you'll start to understand how to photograph better.

 

I also suggest that you buy Mark Goodman's recent book at:

http://www.browncopper.com/

 

It's a worthwhile investment.

[ant]

i am waiting for the books from somewhere else but i did get 2 of those ive also noticed that you cant have same setting for slabbed coins cause light is affected by reflections lots of learning to do still.

 

thanks all.

[ldhair]

For me, every coin is different. Sometimes I catch it in one or two images and with others it takes ten and I'm still not happy. There are some I may never catch the real look. It's fun to play with.

[ant]

2 new lights. and -1/3 exp.

 

[dean1345]

I use OTT lights. Here is a SAE I sold on Ebay recently. I use a digital Olympus SP500UZ with one light on these shots.

 

[bsshog40]

Good shots Ant. (thumbs u Now you can see that PVC on that merc real good.

[rrantique]

Good shots Ant. (thumbs u Now you can see that PVC on that merc real good.

[ant]

yep! there are more now since the first time i showed it is this a job for acitone and a rose thorn?