My first attempts at coin photography

[Neko]

Since joining these boards I've been wanting to learn how you guys take such great pics. Til now I never had the time or equipment. Still don't have much time but I did come by a camera. Still much to learn (especially about lighting) but here's some early examples. All comments welcome, good or bad.

 

[bsshog40]

That actually look very nice on this side of the monitor!!

[dimefreak]

Congrats....... I gave up a long time ago and found the best coin photographer on the planet!

[lehigh96]

If those are your first attempts then you are way ahead of the curve. Photographing copper and gold is very difficult and you are making it seem pretty easy. I will assume that you did some research before making your first attempt? Maybe you even read Mark Goodman's book, NUMISMATIC PHOTOGRAPHY? If you haven't, you should get yourself a copy because with the expert tutelage provided in that book, your are certain to become a very proficient numismatic photographer.

 

Great job on your first time out!

[cpm9ball]

Excellent photos!

 

Chris

[ldhair]

(thumbs u The coins and the images are really nice.

[Neko]

Thanks guys. The first thing I did after buying a camera (Canon Digital Rebel XTi/400D) was buy Mark Goodman's excellent book. I still have a few chapters to go but couldn't wait to try it out. It also helped to have a computer savvy friend to help me set up the postprocessing part of it.

The hardest things I'm finding right now is capturing luster on a coin and getting the lighting right.

[jesbroken]

Nothing like having these angels to practice your photography skills on. Such beautiful examples. Congrats on both your taste in coins and your photo skills.

Jim

[rrantique]

Nothing like having these angels to practice your photography skills on. Such beautiful examples. Congrats on both your taste in coins and your photo skills.

Jim

 

I agree with Jim, very nice coins and photos. (thumbs u

[HCumberdale]

Thanks guys. The first thing I did after buying a camera (Canon Digital Rebel XTi/400D) was buy Mark Goodman's excellent book. I still have a few chapters to go but couldn't wait to try it out. It also helped to have a computer savvy friend to help me set up the postprocessing part of it.

The hardest things I'm finding right now is capturing luster on a coin and getting the lighting right.

 

Neko - these pictures are simply wonderful. Your photos alone sold me on Goodman's book! I've ordered a copy and if my photos come out half as good as these I'll be ecstatic.

 

Thanks for this post!

[Ed J]

Great Job the photos on my computer looks great even when I increase IE to 200% you can see the detail of the coins.

[brg5658]

Neko your images are fantastic! I absolutely love that chocolatey smooth 1836 Cent. They are all gorgeous coins! (thumbs u

 

The only small thing I would suggest would be to explore using GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which is a free open-source image editing software that allows you to select the coin using a circular crop and allows you to rotate the coin. In addition, you can create composite images of the obverse and reverse. It's a very powerful program, and it's free as compared to Adobe Photoshop which is a few hundred dollars.

 

If you are on a Windows operating system, you can download it here: GIMP Software

 

As an example of what about 1 minutes worth of work can do, I created the image below of your 1836 Large Cent. Keep up the awesome work!

 

 

 

[Buffalo Head]

Those are very good images!! You catch on fast.....

[robec1347]

Great start, great photos and great coins. My first camera was the XTi. Very good camera.

 

You're in store for a lot of fun, time flying by and hair tugging.

[brg5658]

Thanks guys. The first thing I did after buying a camera (Canon Digital Rebel XTi/400D) was buy Mark Goodman's excellent book. I still have a few chapters to go but couldn't wait to try it out. It also helped to have a computer savvy friend to help me set up the postprocessing part of it.

The hardest things I'm finding right now is capturing luster on a coin and getting the lighting right.

 

Just curious Neko, are you shooting with the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens? Or did you opt for the 100mm Macro lens? Or some other lens?

[Flatwoods]

Good stuff! Congrats on the new toy.

[Neko]

brg5658, I bought the Canon 100mm Macro lens. I like it. I also bought the Beseler CS-14 Copy Stand which works really great. I snap my pics by remote control through my computer.

Whlie my friend was getting me set up with a good cropping and resizing program I did notice he was checking out GIMP as you suggested. As far as I know he set me up with a program in Paint.net.

I shoot in RAW format as Mark suggests in his book. It allows you to do so much more editing to your pic. This cuts way down on the number of times you may need to shoot the same coin to get it right.

Here's another copper I just took.

 

Edited to add: I like the obv/rev composite thing. For some reason unknown to me my pics don't post side by side in this thread. But they did when I previewed them before posting.

[brg5658]

Neko, you have some amazing copper pieces! Your images are stellar! (thumbs u

[Keigwin]

Good job, Neko!

 

Besides being fun, and helpful in cataloging and sharing your collection, photography is really good for the eye. I'm sure you're finding that.

 

Keep up the good work and you're likely to get invited to the next contest!

Lance.

[jom]

Nice job on the coppers!

 

jom

[mkman123]

Neko, great photos!!

[Neko]

A few more coppers and then it's on to something else. Lighting still needs work.

 

[robec1347]

Heck with the lighting, how about those coins....WOW!!!!

[messydesk]

Nice start, and you have some mighty fine models agreeing to sit for you, too, might I add.

 

You'll find different coins need different lighting. Brown copper has best color when the light is low, but best contrast when it is high. You'll end up finding a compromise that works best for you from coin to coin. Get a bottle of PlastX from a parts store and polish the scratches out of the slabs. Don't use auto white balance for coins, ever. Keep practicing and posting. Mark's book won't steer you wrong, and we'll try not to, either.