Silver Eagle pics - good/bad?

Daggarjon · 09-19-2008, 09:31 PM

So i took some pics tonight or some ASE's and some commems. This one particular pic just struck me. I can read the text on the camera lens. As i openly admit to sucking BIG time in taking coin pics... you be the judge... is the pic good, bad .... other?! lol

2006 ASE proof

Not sure who might remember the 'light box' i posted about a few months back. But i used that to take the photos. The box has 3 100 watt lightbulbs just inches from the coin to provide a sheer ton of light. For some reason the camera is filtering out most of the light... not sure how to turn it off, or if i can - i am not camera expert lol but i was kind of hoping for more light to reach the coin.

thanks for looking and commenting

spock1k · 09-20-2008, 05:22 AM

pic is good send the coin over nd ill give you judgement on the coin too

**green18** · 09-20-2008, 05:51 AM

Hey Dag, the picture is good in that the image is clear but is (IHO) too dark. Where is the light source coming from? My experiance with photography is in film cameras and not digital. If I were using a film camera I'd slow the speed of the shutter to allow more light to expose the film. I'm not sure if you can do that with a digital camera.

ewomack · 09-20-2008, 09:26 AM

Not a bad picture overall, but I agree that the camera text is distracting. A low tech way to fix that problem would be to cover the front of the camera with a dark material. It might feel a little awkward but if it gives you a better picture then why not?

jaceravone · 09-20-2008, 09:31 AM

I can't give you any advice about picture taking.... everything I learned, I learned from you guys on here. Maybe with the light source so close you could experiement with different wattages of lightbulps. Also, could try clear bulbs vs. white bulbs.

I love how the walking Liberty just pops out at you. I know what you are saying about how dark the field is. Its been a while since I have checked out your website and it is really coming along. I can't wait until you get your comms up.

Daggarjon · 09-20-2008, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green18

Hey Dag, the picture is good in that the image is clear but is (IHO) too dark. Where is the light source coming from? My experiance with photography is in film cameras and not digital. If I were using a film camera I'd slow the speed of the shutter to allow more light to expose the film. I'm not sure if you can do that with a digital camera.

The camera i am using is an older Sony cyber shot dsc-f717.... there are buttons, knobs and doo-hikeys for almsot any and every setting. i can manually adjust the shutter speed and blah blah blah lol i have no idea what i am talking about.

i do know i can do things, but for a complete novice like me, im not sure what those things result in lol

The light source is litteraly 3 or so inches from the coin on three sides forming a trianlge pattern. I do think the shutter speed adjustment will do the trick ..... I know there is a setting wherre as i spin the knob, the image in the camera gets darker, or if i spin it the other direction the image in the camera gets a bit on the purple side....

i will have to play with the camera, and what settings i can find, and post mroe pics with the result

Phoenix21 · 09-20-2008, 10:21 PM

Nice picture, it's a bit dark, but still a good picture IMHO. Silver is hard to take pics of of, not to mention proofs to boot. Nice coin and pic!

Phoenix

**De Orc** · 09-21-2008, 03:52 AM

Me I think it looks great you can realy see the mirror like quality of the coin and the frosting stand out as well

Daggarjon · 09-21-2008, 09:48 PM

Thanks for the comments so far folks

im really a slow learner on this camera stuff

Anyhoot.... i couldnt find my manual for the camera, so i downloaded it - its amazing how EVERYTHING is available for downloading on google lol - i took a look at all the settings i could change
1- aperature
2- shutter speed
3- F value

i get the aperature part, easy enough! I get the shutter speed part - the quicker the shutter speed, great for action of fast moving objects... the longer the shutter speed, it can be used to allow extra light to filter in for a dark shot, or to purposely cause a blur effect as in shooting fireworks ect...

what i dont really get is the EV value. in the manual, it says somethign to the effect that if my auto EV value says +/- 0ev, then my shutter and aperature settings have ben set to the best combination for the object. But i have a F setting that i can manually change. For my current set-up, i have it set to 5.00, If i set it lower, it allows MORE light, if i set it higher, it allows less light. With it set to 5, i get my EV setting to show zero, if i set it higher, the EV shows a higher positive number (i think) and if i set it lower i get a negative Ev number (i think, the EV number could be reversed, im not sure... my head has been visited by a migraine, so at times its tought to think lol... i am totaly amazed i have got this far too)

I took this photo with the following settings Aperature= wide, F value (whatever it is)= 5.00 and my shutter speed= 125. IMHO i think the image is awsome. Its clear, crisp and sharp, and the frosted and mirror fields are very defined. Certainly one of the best coin photo i have ever taken lol. The biggest change i did today that i have never done before is the use of a table set tripod. We stripped the entire house down of furniture to the carpet and undertook a mega-rearange. We have to make room for the next addition of the family due October 22nd. So in the moving, i found the tripod

So... what do you all think of this latest photo?

invictus · 09-21-2008, 10:08 PM

I still see some camera reflection. What if you try making a screen of say, flat-black painted cardboard, where a hole only large enough for the camera lens has been cut out? It should be an easy trick to test out.

You might have to make another hole somewhere for your rangefinder or any other automatic focal length detector..

**green18** · 09-22-2008, 06:00 AM

Really nice shot, I like it.

Good suggetion from Invictus.

Daggarjon · 09-22-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green18

Really nice shot, I like it.

Good suggetion from Invictus.

Yes indeed!

i didnt have any intentions of removing the camera text in this last shoot. I was more interested in trying to get the best shot with the lighting and focus being my main goal. In this last shot, yes i can see the text, but IMHO its not over-powering ... it is not distracting, and it gives the viewer an idea to the mirrored effect on the coins field.

I will shoot a bunch of pics of different coins, and see if, in general, the images all come out good with these settings/techniques

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