hey guys, I know there are numerous thread of taking pictures of coins already, but I think I need some more personal advice. I've recently been playing around with different lamps and bulbs, but the color just isn't quite right. The pictures seem slightly unsaturated or something. The cent looks more orange in person, the half dollar is a lighter color, the large cent is a bit darker, and the gold dollar should be more yellow. I have adjusted the white balance on my camera, and enabled macro mode, but this is the best I was able to do. Does anyone have any tips for me?
What bulbs are you using? What wattage bulbs are you using? What camera are you using? My quick viewing says you need more light or up your brightness.
Thanks for the advice guys, I did move the lamps in a little more to increase the light, and it looks much much better now. however, there is a new problem now with the red reflection of my camera on the coins. I think I just need to make the camera angle about 4% instead of directly straight down and just stretch the pictures a fex pixels to make the coins perfectly circular. The bulbs are just regular 60W A15 soft white
Looking good pballer. You can also try tilting the coin slightly. One thing I did was move the camera farther away and use the zoom. Keeping in mind macro will only only focus up to a certain zoom level. -g
One thing I never see mentioned, and I don't if if other people do this: Depending on the coin design, I move my lights into different positions. This can drastically change the outcome of the image. Shadows on the devices create depth and show of the strike. My light positions are 10 and 2 position for more symmetrical designs, usually the reverse of coins. For certain coins, I will move them to 9 and 1 if the bust is facing left for example. Vice-versa if the bust is facing right. The positions that are best for each design is something I learned through experience. Casting the shadows in different directions will highlight the relief more dramatically. This is especially useful when you really want to define something. Like the horn on a buffalo nickel. Look at the difference on the cheek bone definition between these two. This is done by simply moving the light positions. Same coin in both pics.
My final perspective for today. You should do some post processing color and contrast adjustments when necessary to better show how the coin looks in hand. I don't know what the cent looks like in hand, but you mentioned it was more red. Here is a quick adjustment using the free google picasa software. Just as an example. Before: After:
The 3rd one I took of the cent pretty much hit the nail on the head actually But I'm curious which adjustments you made to make it look like that. I'm assuming saturation? anything else?
Good advice. How the light lays upon a coins surface can greatly affect the outcome and eye-appeal of the image. Otherwise nicely photographed coins can still look blah if the lighting does not compliment the design.
Something else to experiment with. Sometimes when I can't seem to get the light or the WB just right, I will try adjusting the EV a little positive. The first photo is with the EV set at 0, the second at +1. The white background is correct at +1.
