Opinions on photographing this lady?

[pendragon1998]

I know this is darkside, but it seems like the photographers hang out here. These are two photos of the 1999 Britannia obverse. The queen's portrait is giving me heck to photo. It's that cheekbone and cheek of hers that are so high that they catch the light making a proper distribution of light across the entire surface near impossible. The coin's sort of a reverse proof-like coin, so I'm having trouble lighting the field enough while not completely blowing the portait out of town. I don't like the look of the coin when I light the mirrored surface black, so I'm trying to capture the brilliant surface of the portait instead.

 

...any suggestions? I'm fed up.

 

[zrlevin]

If you don't want it black, I think that the second one is just fine.

[pendragon1998]

I like the second one except I feel the portrait lacks detail and the shadowing on her cheeks and around her nose and mouth looks wierd. Of course, I'm my worst critic.

[Matthew B-migration]

To a degree, I think I prefer the first shot. The light intensity is unbalanced (which may help bring out edge detail) to the lower right - below her eye level. What would happen if you kept the same arrangement and rotated the coin clockwise about 45 degrees to eliminate some shadow above her cheekbone?

 

Thanks for posting your setup. I have been using one light source and a reflector and am not happy with the results yet.

 

Matt

[MunkyMan95]

I like the portrait on the first one, but the fields on the second one. Could you photoshop out the portrait and superimpose it over the second one?

[MikeKing]

outside of the shadows under her eyes and above the eyebrow, I prefer the first one. I realized how hard it was to photograph these kinds of coins when I tried to photograph some Canadian Maple Leafs that I put up for auction. It seemed nearly impossible. I'm sure you will figure out how to get it just the way you want.

[pendragon1998]

Y'all think that this is an improvement?

 

[MunkyMan95]

A -

[zrlevin]

Well Chad, at least you are helpful.

 

Michael, I think that the photo is excellent except for at the top where it appears that the light did not fall on all of the coin, giving the fields a strange appearance.

[pendragon1998]

I agree Chad, it's not 100%, but I'd say it's about 95%, which is going to have to be good enough. I'm a little OCD with my coin photography though.

 

My final results:

 

[MunkyMan95]

The overall photo is very good, the portrait looks nice and clean. A - because of the shadow at the top.

 

Still a very nice photo Michael, nice and clean-looking overall and you can see all of the details just fine.

[robec1347]

I think it's a great shot. It is very clean without any trace of a mark anywhere. My kind of photography.

[ldhair]

Please share with us what you did to finally capture it.

It looks much better.

[MikeKing]

much improved. what lights are you using, and how many?

[pendragon1998]

This is my setup.

 

Essentially, the only difference between the photos was my lighting angle and the coin's orientation. The variables are down angle on the light, height of the light, and rotation of the coin. Getting these shots was only a matter of making small adjustments to the coin until the light to fell where I needed it to. I'm developing an eye for the small differences in reflected light intensity that the camera will magnify into darker and lighter areas on a coin. It's an ongoing learning experience.

[robec1347]

That's a great use for all those rolled pennies of yours.

[pendragon1998]

Yes, it's about the only use for those rolled cents. They're just junk zincolns I culled while going through a jug for my Lincoln Cent Dansco. Saves me a trip to the bank, I suppose.

[EZ_E]

I think that you need to reflect the light off of a white background onto the coin to minimize the glare.

[MikeKing]

I think that you need to reflect the light off of a white background onto the coin to minimize the glare.

 

I think you might have a point there Victor somehow that just didn't sound right

 

That's a very interesting point you made there Victor!

 

how's that instead

 

either that or pass the light through a thin piece of white paper to diffuse it and soften the glare. these are difficult coins to image because they are so highly reflective. in the era of black and white films, lighting was everything, and this coin kind of forces you back to an era or light manipulation to a degree that normally you can get away with less.

 

someone on this board mentioned taking hundreds of photos and finding the one that actually works. i think this may be the answer.

[IrishMike]

I agree Chad, it's not 100%, but I'd say it's about 95%, which is going to have to be good enough. I'm a little OCD with my coin photography though.

 

My final results:

 

 

For a few dollars you can pick up adobe photoshop elements in which you can adjust for shadows. Here is 30 seconds work.