Lighting in coin photos

I can't figure out the trick to getting the lighting right when trying to take a picture of a coin. Normally I use the scanner and it works for most things, but when I have a really nice, uncirculated or proof coin, the scanner makes the surface look dull and you miss the impact of what the coin looks like in hand. I've read that people use their phones for pictures and I try that, but I can't get the lighting right. If the light is above the coin then the phone gets in the way when taking the picture. Anywhere I put it, the color seems wrong and it's actually worse than a scan. I have an Android phone of no particular quality but I would think it could get the job done. What's the secret?

 

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When I was using my phone I would put the lights at about 10 and 2 o'clock. It was enough to show the cartwheel on an uncirculated coin or give me a nice black field on a proof. If the color is off you may want to see if your phones camera app will let you adjust the white balance. Lights tend to bring color to the photo (usually yellow to red in my experience), but by adjusting the white balance you can bring a more natural tone to the picture.

 

Yeah, as someone who is learning a DSLR camera with a 100mm macro lens, it's so much easier to get the lighting looking better since the camera is farther away. I use two LED desk lights and try to arrange them for axial lighting. This Morgan I have came out decent but the obverse is DMPL while the reverse is PL. The reverse shows my axial lighting pretty well.




When it comes to phone cameras, I never had great luck. I learned however, that if you diffuse the lighting and maybe even tilt the coin slightly you get much better results. I never used my phone for much coin photography but I was able to capture this matte proof with my old Android Note 4 which turned out pretty good. I laid the phone horizontally with diffused lights above and in front of the phone, shining right on the coin. Then, with the coin laying flat I tilted the phone backwards slightly to capture the angle of reflected light.



I never used a phone much for coins as I used a Nikon point and shoot camera until it stopped working. It did okay for the job but I was never happy with the results until I got the "big boy camera."

Here is the same matte proof but with the Nikon camera:


As you can see, the slab made the lighting more difficult to capture the colors.

Overall, it takes so much time and experimentation to get the lighting just right. And of course it depends on the coin as well. In my experience, it has been a lot of trial and error, mostly error. But with patience I am getting better.

 

This was taken on the floor with sidelight from a window. Samsung Galaxy S20. I find the focusing complex. Still working on that.


Using a lamp on the desk gives a false colou r. Heres a comparison.

 

Do you have a light aiming at the coin or just lighting the room? Like is it just a desk lamp or directed at the coin?

 

What do you mean by "diffuse" the lighting? Do you put something in front of it? I do have a DSLR camera but I bought it to take nature photos so my lens is more for distance. I can't get close enough with it to take coin photos.

 

the problem most people have focusing with a cell phone is
(a) being too close for the cell phone camera to properly focus; and
(b) having a complex background that the camera would rather focus on than the coin.

With lighting from a window one needs to put the cell phone away from the window (window, coin, camera) so the camera does not make a shadow on your subject. If the light is directly above you'll get a shadow.
LEFT: camera making shadow on the coin
RIGHT: camera furthest from the light source


When you start wanting shadows a particular way or colors you'll have to start sterilizing your camera space.
(a) the more colors around you camera area the more potential for Color Casting - this is then where people start using "light tents" to provide one type of light, and a diffused light.

There's so much more to it .... but just getting some of the basics corrected cam greatly improve things.

If you show a picture of how you take the pictures we can then point out how to quickly improve it.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/natural-light-photography.htm

 

"diffused" light
This is considered "hard light" vs "soft light"
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/portrait-lighting.htm

is normally when there is a photo umbrella put over a direct flash in photography. This prevents the light rays from creating "harsh" shadows on a subject. As if you were to go outside on a bright day with no clouds. You have dark shadows with clear edges.
That versus going out on a bright day but with a cloud layer. This cloud layer prevents "direct" light and your shadows are lighter and have fuzzy edges.

On my studio lights I have diffusers which are basically like a white shower curtain preventing a direct light to the subject as shown here as I pull the main diffuser back so you can see the LED light system behind it.


for my lighting I can have a one, or two or three layers of diffusing depending how "soft" I want to make the light. Plus I can add reflective, 2 lights, or more. But this all gets rather expensive, rather quickly.

 

Lot's of people recommend this, but what does it mean to "adjust"? On my phone, I have to dig through about 50 different menus to find anything that even alludes to white balance and then I have no clue what to do with it once I find it.

 

My Samsung has a focusing point on the screen which you touch and hold to pinpoint the object. You can also try a preset like 'food' which allows a close up shot

 

You can sometimes find useful tips/tricks on your model of camera/phone on youtube

 

your phone in "editing" mode may have a "color" or "cast" option to change things.
Each cell phone system is different.
Each Version of cell phone is different.
My iphone 6 has "CAST"
my iPhone XR has "TINT"
but you may be able to see the different Tint of the images below.


your phone may also have different "Modes" Original, Vivid, Vivid Warm, Vivid Cool .. amongst a wide range of photo editing tools just built in to it.

 

And?

 

Not only lighting, but background color can change the photos dramatically.

 

==> Understanding White Balance (cambridgeincolour.com)

You'll have to take an image and then play with it until you think it looks right or better.

We don't know your environment, your phone, OS version of the phone, s/w of the phone, experience, knowledge of your phone, etc.

it's like someone coming to CT and first post is stating "I have a 1970 S DDO-001 I found roll searching .. where do I send it to get it certified" ... which leaves questions unanswered without much more information.

 

So I think you're saying that "adjust" means to "fiddle with it/that/this/and the other thing until I like how it looks", then do it again for every coin. I was hoping for some direction like "turn it on" or "turn it off" (i.e. something a bit more quantified than "fiddle with it/that/this/ and the other thing").

Thanks for the link.

 

Gorgeous pic on that Morgan reverse!

To answer the OP's question, if you already have a DSLR then I would recommend getting a macro lens if you can afford it, looking secondhand if necessary. Two gooseneck lamps at 10 and 2 (with natural daylight bulbs) is my usual method, making sure your white balance is correct. To really get the luster or color to pop, you may need to tilt the coin into the light slightly (or alternatively, tilt your camera).

Mark Goodman's "Numismatic Photography" is the Bible here, if you really want to get deep into it. Looks like it's out-of-print now, but you may be able to find a copy on eBay or elsewhere online.

edit - Lately I've been experimenting with a lightbox. It's not going to work well for lustrous coins, but if you're looking for more even, diffuse lighting I would highly recommend it over using a scanner.

 

Well intentioned, but frustratingly not helpful.