Alright, since I joined this forum, I have been away from my collection. It has been bugging me that I have not had any coins to take pictures of and post. So my solution? Buy new coins! haha Check out this toned silver eagle I just picked up, nothing too special but the back especially is pretty cool! Let me know what you think of the coin and pictures. F.Y.I. this is my first attempt at photographing coins so help/input is appreciated! Thanks!
Pretty good attempt at photos. The back would be beautiful if not for the splotchiness of the toning.
If those are really your first coin photo attempts, they are fantastic. You need a little more light, especially on the obverse, but you captured the colors very well. I like the coin and think it is very unique. My guess is that the reverse colors are stunning and you did not capture them the way you would have liked in the photo. The eye appeal of toned coins is highly dependent upon the luster. I imagine this coin is very lustrous and the reverse colors are probably extremely vibrant and attractive. I do however like to crop my photos against a solid color background before I evaluate my photos. I have taken the liberty of doing that for you. What do you think?
Thank you for your input, I do indeed like the coins against the solid background. This may be a stupid question, but how did you go about cropping the coins out in a perfect circle around the coin? How do you "cut" the coin out? I used sun light for the picture, seemed to give the "cleanest" light. Maybe I could supplement that light with a fluorescent one for more overall light.
I use either flourescent or OTT lights when taking my photos. I suggest you pick up a copy of Mark Goodman's new book NUMISMATIC PHOTOGRAPHY if you are serious about wanting to take good coin photos. Here is an example of his work (Just Incredible!) This is a link to one of my earlier threads on how to use photoshop to make your photos better. http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t41839/ Good Luck!
What a lot of people fail to realize when talking about lights is that there are several types of bulbs for each type of light. And each bulb has a different effect on pics. With fluorescent for example there is warm white & cool white as standards. Warm creates a yellow cast, cool a blue cast. There are also now specialized fluorescent bulbs that simulate the natural light spectrum - don't know what they are called though. So when you talk about lights - please be more specific about the type of bulbs you use for each has very, very different results.
All of the bulbs in my house have been converted to compact fluorescent bulbs which always create a yellow color on silver coins. Even when I shoot with the Halogen bulb, it doesn't seem to help. I don't know if they come in blue tone or in natural light. Ruben
They probably don't come in cool white. Most bulbs manufactured for use in the home are made with what they call warm white. It is easier on the eyes and produces less glare. The cool white bulbs are made for office & commercial use. But most people don't even realize there is a difference. But if you put 1 of each in 2 or 4 bulb fluorescent fixture - the difference between the 2 is like night and day. Something else most folks forget when trying to take coin pics - you want to do it in a dark room. All other lights in the house should be turned off and windows covered. The only light you want is what you are using to light the coins. This alone makes a huge difference in how your piucs turn out.
Interesting, I would have thought that the fluorescent bulbs would create more of a white effect. I may have to do some experimenting with different bulbs.
Maybe but the early photo's I took when we first met were taken in indirect sun light and they looked very nice and silvery, I've moved since then and just don't have that much direct sunlight any more and I can't get nice color anymore. Ruben
Florescent bulbs are highly charged gas the then generate light after a pattern of the atoms of the gas, which is distinct for each element, like a fingerprint. You can use this property of elemental gas, or even gas mixtures, to do spectral analysis for identification. They paint the bulbs with a phosphorus like powder to allow it be more diverse color (ie white like) but they gas is still the illuminating source. Ruben
Sunlight itself is fine. The point is that you do not want to mix light sources. You only want to use 1 light source. And I don't mean the number of lights - you can use 2 or 3 or even 4 lights if you wish. But you want them all to be right around the coin and all of them to be the same type of bulb. Or - just use the sun and no light bulbs. For example, say you set up to take pics on the dining room table. You want to turn the kitchen light off, turn off the light in the living room and close the drapes/blinds on any windows. And turn off the overhead light in the dining room too. Just use the lights you set up for the coin pics and only those lights. Or - if you use sunlight. Pick your spot by the window or whatever but make sure all lights in the room are turned off.
