A New Photo of an old Favorite

Taking photos of my collection is one of the aspects of collecting that I very much enjoy. However I am far from an expert at it. For example, I sometimes struggle to capture good photos of coins that have nice toning. I tend to have the best results with direct sunlight but it's hard for me to find a good outdoor space for taking coin photos considering my only private outdoor space doesn't get great direct sunlight at the right time of day.

Below is one of my favorite denarii that I recently took another attempt at photographing. It doesn't quite capture the magnificent iridescence of this coin but I think it's a big improvement on some of my previous attempts!


Roman Empire
Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161
AR Denarius, Rome mint, Struck ca. AD 140-143
Wt.: 3.01 g
Dia.: 17 mm, 6h
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III; Laureate head right
Rev.: AEQVITAS AVG; Aequitas standing left, holding scales and sceptre
Ref.: RIC III 61; RSC 14

Here is the photo from the auction house that I was using previously for comparison.



Feel free to post newer photos of some coins you have owned for a while!

 

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Wow, that's a much better photo! To tell you the truth, I hadn't really understood why you liked this coin so much. Now I do!

Here's a retake I did to capture iridescence (I have found a ring light really helps with this):


And an A. Pi I bought for the toning (seller's photo):

 

great coin and pics! I admire your display skills.
I also like the scale -

 

WoWiE!!! Just an amazing coin and an amazing capture right there folks. Wonderful iridescent toning and portrait.
I've been trying to up my photography game for a while... With very limited results. What time of day is the best for outside shooting?
Poor Pius. Sleep with your sister or kick your preggers wife to death and they'll remember you always. Rule during 20 plus of the most peaceful and prosperous years of any civilization and no one remembers ya.

Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD). AR Denarius (18 mm, 3.39 g), Roma (Rome), 153-154 AD.
Obv. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XVII, laureate head right.
Rev. COS IIII, Vesta standing holding simpulum and Palladium.
RIC III, 229b.
Nicely toned

 

Nice capture @Curtisimo !

 

Thanks SA! That’s a nice photo of that Otho. You are very good at capturing an even lighting across the fields. I might give the ring light a try. If I try again on my OP coin I will try to make sure the fields are more even. The right side of the obverse looks darker in my photo but in actuality it goes from a deep purple to a lighter blue at the edges just like the bottom left.

Thank you Sir! Great RR coins.

I tend to like taking photos when the sun is highest in the sky or close to it. When the sun starts to go down it can be hard to get an even lighting on the coin IMO.

Thank you

 

Nice new pics @Curtisimo , that toning looks awesome!

Here is a redo of an old favorite.

Original. Put the coin on my table ol' gnarly and click a few pics of each side. Pick the best and done.




New, direct sunlight, took probably six pics of each side, picked the best, and edited for background removal and joining pics with gimp.

 

@Curtisimo , that's a beautiful photo. The toning is fantastic. I can see why you like it so much.

I think we are all guilty of liking a coin because we fell in love with the toning. The toning definitely sold this one to me.

 

It is an excellent coin and the new photo is great. Personally, I don’t care for the water effect, I find it distracting.

 

Fair enough. For my part I always equate ancient coins with the open waters of the Mediterranean. It makes me think of ancient ships and trade. Plus it helps me to have some info on the coins as part of the photos.

I tried to do a drip effect but it just didn’t look right. I’m happy enough with the results though. Here are some water shots of the Aegean Sea in Greece that served as my inspiration.




I’ve also experimented with a black marble effect. Marble makes me think of Greece and Rome but I didn’t like the black background as much.

 

Those are amazing pictures of amazing photos! Lots of kudos for you all guys!

My photos are terrible most of the time (maybe always), and I think this one is an improvement of my skills, at least it is a bit better than many of my previous ones. Will keep trying:

Antoninus Pius, Denarius, Rome, 147 - 148 AD
18 mm, 2.96 g
Ref.: RIC III Antoninus Pius 162; Cohen 283; Sear 4067

Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XI Laureate head of Antoninus Pius r.
Rev.: COS IIII around Annona standing to l., holding anchor set on ground in her left and grain ears in her right hand over modius filled with grain ears.

​

 

Hmm... I'm going to go against the grain here and say I prefer the auction house images.* I'd probably like yours better if they were lit differently. I'd prefer lighting from the top (~1:00-2:00 for the obverse, ~11:00 for the reverse). With mild obliquity to the plane of the coin, with the right camera settings, and with tilting the coin very slightly towards the light, you can probably make that iridescence pop while preserving the presumably dark toning. The coin's reverse in particular loses detail in the newer images.

I love your water background although always worry about bronze disease when you use it for AE coins .

* I feel uncomfortable giving this critique since my own images are inconsistent.

 

I actually like the marble!

 

Curtisimo, Your new photos certainly accent the beautiful iridescence on this denarius, but TIF makes an excellent point, you have lost important detail on both sides of the coin. On the obverse detail has been lost near the 7:00 o'clock position & on the reverse the forearm of AEQVITAS is missing on the new photo.

 

Fair points and I appreciate the feedback. The lighting contrast of the auction photo certainly makes a lot of the detail pop but I’ve always thought the auction photo makes the coin look “washed out” and loses some of the coin’s in-hand character, particularly the coloration and toning.

My new photo certainly doesn’t do the coin justice either as I said in my OP I have a lot to learn about coin photography. I hate using the auction photos for my coins longer than necessary so I think I’ll stick with my new photo just because it’s the best I have had so far.

I should confess that I didn’t use natural sunlight for this one which is usually when I do my best toning photos. This was my best attempt done with my in house lighting set up. I will definitely be trying again with new photos at some point to see if I can hit all bases.

I’ll try the tilt trick @TIF . Thanks. Any other suggestions are welcome as well.

 

I almost always use artificial light (Ott lamp; this model for the past year) because natural light is so variable, although where I shoot is usually very bright with natural light.

 

Okay. Because I prefer playing with my coins to doing work I need to get caught up on I decided to take one more stab at getting a good photo. The coin is just too nice in hand not to have a good photo.

Below are the results. The top is the newest photo taken at a slight angle, the middle is the auction photo and the bottom was my OP attempt on a flat surface with somewhat angular lighting.

Thoughts anyone?

@TIF , @Al Kowsky , @Severus Alexander ?

 

If everything is in-focus and well lit, the best photo is the one that best represents what the coin looks like in-hand. I'm guessing the new photo best represents how the coin looks, and that's the one I think is best. Nice photos!

 

What OJ said. The obverse toning in the new one isn't quite as luscious as in the second photo you took, but it captures the detail much better.

Why don't you send the coin to me? I could take a photo for you, and babysit for a while...

 

As Doug has said in the past, what a coin looks like in hand varies from moment to moment, angle to angle, room to room, light fixture to lamp, etc. There is no one "this is what the coin looks like in hand" still image. A video can more accurately show the in-hand look if you can shoot good quality high-res video but that is difficult.

Anyway, the top picture in the last post is very good!! Your Ptolemy I portrait coin several posts up has perfect images-- well done!