Are some coins just really hard to photograph?

I have a 1943 silver war nickel that came from a slab that was MS-64.

I have tried photographing this coin six ways from sunday. Lamps at all different angles, the coin at different angles.

The durn thing is just so reflective, that I can't get it right. I've tried axial lighting, and diffused.

 

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The camera will play a huge factor in it too. I have a small collection of toned A.S.E.s that I have trouble getting decent pics of. Natural light helps me with pics too, as the color of the item is truly captured.

Btw.....could We see a pic of the war nickel?

 

Don't blame the coin

 

I've heard what works for some people is using two lamps (white light) and positioning them just off the edge of the coin at two different angles and then shooting straight on.

Of course, I believe the only way to capture toning and color is to shoot at an angle. But, if there's no toning, you should be good to go

 

Lady liberty on Type 1 SLQs is camera shy, due to the exposure of one of her lady parts.

 

Coins with highly reflective surfaces are a pain to image.
One way is to use axial lighting BUT that would require more equipment (I built mine).

Also Mark Goodman's book, Numismatic Photography, is worth buying.
Lot's of info on imaging coins with a camera.

 

Luster, toning, copper, silver.... I always use the same two lights, just moved by inches depending on the coin. Camera is nearly straight on.
Lustrous war nickels with or without toning are no exception.

 

I also have this book. It is a great read with useful information.

 

This is good as I can get. I took the picture at an angle, so the reflection is not as bad. I shined the lights away from the coin.

Any less lighting, and the coin looks washed out.

 

Best picture yet!
Crop it, make some adjustments... and bam!

 

"Are some coins just really hard to photograph?"

Yes. The hardest for me are proof/prooflike coins, deeply dished coins like the Mercury dime or Buffalo nickel, and toned coins in slabs.

You want a really tough coin to image, try to image a toned mercury dime proof in an NGC slab.

That said, and please don't take this the wrong way , but war nickels aren't a particularly hard coin to photograph. Lehigh gave you great tips. Two lights at a high angle is key. Your last photo is quite good, just the exposure needs to be backed off a touch (1/2 to 1/3 stop, to my eye, as in Lehigh's 3rd photo above).

One tip I didn't see mentioned is be sure the room you are photographing in is dark and free of reflective colors. In short, coins with some reflectivity can really suffer in these instances, and I think I see some reflected light in your photos (reflected brown from the desk?).

Hope this helps...Mike

 

Mike, please call me Greg or gbroke.
I am Luke to Lehighs Vader.

edit: I am not actually his son.

 

Hmmm...did you "deepen" the third photo? I can't seem to deepen any of mine without the picture looking TOO bold, if you've ever had that happen.

Also, for "color" (i.e: non white) coins, you can fiddle around with the saturation curve -- move it up for more intense color. For white coins, I sometimes move it down a bit to give it a more gray-white color.

 

The third photo: I adjusted the contrast up and the brightness down.

I also adjust saturation sometimes. That is very useful if your bulbs cast any kind of tint on the coin. I don't have to very often anymore since I changed bulbs. But when I use using the GE reveal floods, they threw a pink hue on the coins and some saturation down was necessary.

 

Gotcha. All three of your photos look stunning, but now I (sort of) see how you get all your photos to have so much "depth" to them. Ever considered creating a photography business for coins?

 

Those 3 photos are of Detecto's coin he posted above it. I just snagged it from here. The first one is his original, the second two are the ones I adjusted to show progression in adjusting some levels.

"Ever considered creating a photography business for coins?"

lol. I am not even close to that level to justify pimping my ninja imaging skills.
I only recently improved and I am still learning. There are at least a dozen frequent posters here that are pro to my amateur level.
edit: Wanted add: My slab image are not very good yet either.

I do however, want to help as many collectors as possible take images at least as good as mine. My website is very image oriented and I feel imaging and sharing are such great ways to help socialize coin collecting.

I fully intend to create a complete video tutorial from start to end on imaging various coins as an amateur and cheapskate. It will be lengthy and very detailed, so it will take some time. Unfortunately, time is what I don't have a lot of right now.

-greg

 

What software are you using?

 

How is this?

 

Looking good, young man.

 

Sorry Greg! I just glanced at the photos, thought they were Paul's (they were so good!), and didn't even look at who posted them. My bad....Mike