The Battle of the Camera

[Captain Clipon]

There's nothing worse than to have a nice coin and post BAD pictures of it.

 

I have struggled over the years with taking pictures of my coins. There have been times when I nailed it, but always out of perseverance and simple dumb luck. I'm not the type to apply the Scientific Method. I just get in there and poke around with a stick.

 

With a little bit of advice from some friends here I started a more systematic approach. Controlling light and the movement of the camera is a perfect start, but not the complete "picture". I continue working with the manual settings and I am finding that not all coins are created alike. Settings need to be tweaked and lighting needs to be adjusted.

 

Perfection is not my goal. I simply don't have that much time. I will say that the quality of my photography will be stepped up as I go back through my Lincoln Memorial set.

 

The gallery setting on that particular collection will show the good, bad and, well, bad.

 

See more journals by Captain Clipon

[RWB]

What you want to do is reduce the variables in your setup so you can get repeatable results.

 

Suggestions:

 

Keep your camera & lens in a fixed position directly over the coin, and only move it up or down to change scale or focus.

 

Use a firm but nonabrasive background on which to place the coin (or the plastic if it's stuck in one of those things).

 

Start with one simple desk lamp with about a 60 or 100 watt bulb -- no tubular shaped lights. Slowly move the light around and up and down to see the limits of reflection off the plastic, and the light's effects on the coin.

 

From there, you can add lights or reflectors or whatever you want to get the coin to appear the way you want. But, do not tinker with the alignment of the camera and coin. (Some will recommend tilting the coin slightly. That's the same as moving a light --- Move the light, not the coin.)

 

[Captain Clipon]

Thanks for taking the time to give advice to a life-time novice. I have been trying different approaches to building a light box. It works well enough, but it seems to trap too much light. Today I had an epiphany!

Two words; dimmer switch!

 

I'm off to the hardware store!

[RWB]

The brightness is not important in getting a good image - the important things are the lighting angle and size of the light source.

[wdrob]

The lighting is the greatest shortcoming on my photos as well. I am using three Jansjo LED lights, diffused, and I think I need re-think my lighting.

 

What kind of setup are you using?

 

 

[Captain Clipon]

The lighting is the greatest shortcoming on my photos as well. I am using three Jansjo LED lights, diffused, and I think I need re-think my lighting.

 

What kind of setup are you using?

 

 

I use two incandescent fixtures, one on a boom system and the other in a small fixture that I can actually put into my light box. With the dimmer switch I can adjust how much light that actually gets to the coin. I haven't worked with it much yet, but I think I have found a way to ramp up the quality of my pics.

 

Coins in holders tend to be harder to photograph. The plastic is reflective and hard to compensate for.

[physics-fan3.14]

As a general rule, more light is better. I have 3 100W lights that I position at will, and then a 4th 60W light that I can use as an accent. Try changing the position of the lights to create more or less contrast.

[CaptBrian]

Capt, I have found that I too am haggled by the light god. So I go to the top, the grand high exaulted Mr. Grueller of light, the SUN!

I take my object outside on a bright Florida sunshiney day and place it in a shaded area on the edge of the sunline. Using the 'closeup' setting, zoom in a little, and let the auto focus do its thing.

This way, it seems the bright light is diffused just enough to eliminate glare, but illuminate all of the little areas which us coin jerks love to inspect.

If you don't live in Florida, or somewhere above the Arctic Circle, here is the number of a good mover. BR549

Capt. Brian

Good luck, stay in focus. :^)