Coin Photography Tips?

Hey all, I've been trying to find a good consistent photo set up to photograph my coins, but I haven't had great luck. My fiance is an hobby photographer and has a nice Canon Rebel T6 SLR. She looked up a photo light box to use for lighting and we spent an evening trying a variety of things, all with only a modicum of success. So far my best photos are coming from my phone camera taken outdoors for solid natural lighting lol.

Here's the set up we had tried (we shot in the evening so there was little/no ambient light unlike the below picture). We used a small piece of clay behind the coin to hold it upright.


Any suggestions? Tips?

Thanks in advance!

 

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@dougsmit has several pages devoted to how to photograph coins here. Just click on the links.

 

Well, this is confusing...

https://www.cointalk.com/members/jtlee321.73983/

www.justinleephoto.com

 

Haha! Who knew!

 

Shining the light more from above is better rather than from the sides.

Let's see some pics you've taken!

 

Neat set up Justin. I would be interested to see some of the pictures you've taken with your new set up/camera vs your cell pics of the same coin outside. Might help narrow down what could be causing the difference. I suspect switching to CRI 90+ light bulbs will make a big difference if you're not already using them.

 

If you follow Doug Smiths advice from the link above you will get good results. He has some good ideas that work.

 

So far I have been snapping pictures with a Google pixel phone and have gotten decent results. I use a white background such as a sheet of paper and natural lighting. My first results were poor because I hadn't learned to crop the photos and expand the image of the coin. I'm getting lifelike images now which reflect the actual appearance of the coin. It's a simple set-up but seems to work. The phone is synched with Google photos so once an image is snapped, it is automatically uploaded to the cloud. I then use google photos editing tools to enlarge, crop, and so forth, download to my laptop and then upload to the Forum.

 

Your right! I should've!

 

Heres my set up

 

i go back for pure in the hand photography more pure

i give up

 

I am currently on vacation in a world of spotty and slow wifi so posts may be limited. I don't know if I can post any images or not. I get better service in the middle of the night.

I shoot down on coins with light provided by a daylight led panel and a led ring matching in color. Sometimes I use one light or the other but many coins do well with a combination. Searching CT should turn up discussions of each point. I prefer shots on black but do white when needed by some publisher. Each coin is a different subject.

 

I seem to be limited to one photo. Sorry I can't do more today. Home Wednesday.

 

I agree with the first suggestion above which is to start off with Doug Smith's coin photography tips on his website. Probably the best website on ancient coin photography.

 

i am struggeling a lot to, would i ever get happy

My new picture making

 

As the name implies "photography" is all about lighting ("light writing")
Because ancient coins tend to have high relief, the most important thing to keep in mind is that your lighting must be diffuse. Notice in Doug's pic the use of a coffee can lid (with the ringlight) and the use of a paper collar surrounding the subject? Those elements are acting as diffusers to keep the light from becoming too concentrated on highlights. You want to avoid "hotspots" at all costs, and the use of diffusers to "soften" the light is key.

 

Get a copy of Numismatic Photography, Second Edition by Mark Goodman.

 

My rig changes as my whims require. Some are improvements; some not so much. My 2015 rig got labeled so might be more useful than the 2017 one which is not as clear, more complex and not labelled yet. Maybe I'll figure a way to make the image more clear. The various size tops for the steel rod (right image) replaced the wooden dowel of 2015. The tapered flower pot (H) with interchangeable hole sized tops (J and J1) was a great improvement in darkening the background but makes it hard to see what is going on in the photo. I can't afford to buy as many coins as some of you so I spent more time playing with photos.
2015
http://www.pbase.com/image/160721449

2017