I went out and bought 2 full spectrum lamps for pics and grading and here are some of my new pics. Opinions would be appreciated. :smile 1) 1783 MO 8 Reale coin from the El Cazador shipwreck. 2) 1898-O Morgan dollar NGC MS64 (VAM 11?) 3) 1922-P Obverse (VAM-2P Chin Bar?) 4) 2008 Bald Eagle Commemorative Revese 5) 2006 Proof ASE 6) 1852 3 Cent Silver Holed & Plugged. Indirect design transfer BTW All coins pictured are mine. Credit goes to my mom for taking the pics.
Beautiful coins,really nice three cent piece,Another thats way better then mine=[ and i love the silver dollar,how much did you pay for it? I really want one.
Which silver dollar? If you are talking about the Morgan it cost me $45.00 Any more opinions on the photography?
Those are some of the nicest coin pictures I have seen in a while, well done! I must say that I do not care for the angled shot used for the silver eagle as much as the straight down pictures. Overall, very nice coins (love the Morgan) and very good pictures! I am dying to start putting some pics of my own up but I am about 200 miles away from my collection!
I love how well the proofs came out! :thumb: I'm going to have to get some of those lights! Great pics! :bow: Ribbit
Nice work. You have the proofs nailed once you can get that look with the coin flat to the lens. This would bring all the coin in focus. A higher f/stop will increase the depth of field and help with focus as well but being flat is better. You need a bit more light on some of the others but over all you are doing great for a new setup.
Now you need to take pics of your lighting set up and post them on here for us to see how you did it.
Thanks. And toad they have the lamps I used at costco for 13 dollars each. And btw a lot of cameras have a "musuem" option that is meant to shoot through glass which works great on slabs, sometimes it is also called aquarium. And on the peace and morgan do you think those are the right VAM's?
I love that 8 Reale coin! Another reason why I prefer NGC. I think the occasional artwork they use on their slab labels for specialty coins really makes them stand out and adds another element of "coolness" to the presentation. Pictures are fantastic. I just read Numismatic photography by Mark Goodman. A couple things he mentions that might help you out is, the best coin pictures are always straight on. It's the only way to get the whole coin in focus. It's so critical that if the coin is even slightly tilted within the slab, he will use levelers (coins) under a corner of the slab to make the coin straight on to the camera lens. I've shot coins at angles too before if I was having problems capturing something. It works but it tends to leave portions of the pic out of focus. I know proofs are really hard. They still require some angle for me. If ever you can remove a plastic cover from the coin to take the picture, it is strongly recommended. Also, slabs can be polished to remove fine scratches to the point where they're nearly perfectly clear again. I've got to try that sometime. Thanks for sharing.
Sweet!! hya: I think the Fugio needs just a tad bit more light on the left side and it would be perfect. The reverse proof just jumps off the screen at you. Really clear. Great pics make the forum more enjoyable IMO.
I don't want to be the spoilsport here, but most of the pictures are way too dark. You need either more lighting, a wider aperture or a longer shutter speed. Photographing coins isn't easy and requires a lot of trial and error before getting it right. Also, copper photographs differently from silver and different backgrounds make differences in the resultant picture.
good looking photos, what kind of angle are you using from the camera to the coin, straight down being 0 degrees.
Pretty much just straight down. The camera was actually balanced on the two lights that we had laid on their sides. The ISO was 80 most of those pictures and the camera flash off. The white balance was set to compensate for full spectrum fluorescent (it was a preset) My Mom's camera is a Canon G9 12.1 mp digital and she loves it. :thumb: We've had 2 Canon digitals and they've both been great. She's saving up for a Canon si DSLR. I'll take pictures of the setup and post them. These were the first attempt she's made at photographing my coins and she's not totally happy with them, but I think they're pretty good. We've ordered the Numismatic Photography book from Wizard so that will help too. :smile
The book will help. Some of your pics have lighting problems to do with angle of the light, and some to do with hot spots. The book will not fix all of your problems. But it will point you toward the path. And if your mom gets a dslr, she'd be best served to get a good macro lens to use with it. I HIGHLY recommend the Sigma 150mm. They make 'em for every camera type. I have one for my Nikon, and it does make a significant difference. Also, get a good copy stand. They show up used on eBay from time to time - about a 30 inch column will do for most things. Mine has a 36 inch, and the only thing it's not long enough for is some very large medals. But that's all just if you want to throw money at this. If you don't, you're getting very serviceable results and you can improve them with modest expense. Good luck!
This is a link to Mark Goodman's site. It might give you some help while you wait on the book. http://www.coinimaging.com/photography.html
:thumb: It's all a good effort Garrett, but would have to agree that your lighting isn't enough in many of your photos. Keep playing with it. That said, I've got a long way to go myself. Most of my photos are off angle a bit to capture more light (with the tradeoff that some of the detail gets lost) and I don't even have dedicated lamps to help. Eventually, I'll get a proper set up.
