My first real photo attempt

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

-jeffB said: ↑

Careful, there.

There's a common conception that a photo captures "reality", and that processing the photo "improves on" or "distorts" that reality. But it's just not so. Every photograph is processed in some way, and every photo is only an approximation to reality.

Your camera adjusts brightness and contrast in its image (subject in some cases to manual exposure and aperture settings). It interpolates image detail across its mosaic of color sensors. It performs sharpening (again, sometimes subject to manual control).

More importantly, your eye does these same things, whether it's looking at an image or an object.

Yes, you can clearly modify an image to make a coin look better than it is. You can also modify an image to make a coin look worse than it is. I would argue that you cannot modify an image to make a coin look exactly as good as it is -- there are too many factors to control, and too many areas of subjectivity.

And, if you choose "not to modify an image at all", you're just leaving those decisions up to the camera manufacturer. Which, unless we all use exactly the same cameras, under exactly the same light, with exactly the same settings, doesn't really make things any more "objective".
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Point well taken THANKS Jeff!

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Siggi Palma · Feb 9, 2011

Your welcome Mark, Glad I can help

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

EyeEatWheaties said: ↑

Also try diffusing the light - tape a paper towel over the light - to capture a little more detail/contrast.

I would use the 2 reveals at the 11 adn 1 oclock position straight down diffused and seee what that looks like.

try to shoot your coin types from the same angle position and height once you find the pics that look the best. remove the paper towel to highlight lusterous coin.

Oh ! some cameras perform a little better when you block teh viewfinder with a peice of electrical tape. try a before and after and compare
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Thanks EEW! I will try that as well, I really appreciate the input.

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

Siggi Palma said: ↑

Your welcome Mark, Glad I can help
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Have no fear, I'll have lots more questions LOL!

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

Collect89 said: ↑

The new photo shows the luster in the fields and the obverse much better. There are not many hits in the fields but the primary area on Liberty's cheek shows a lot of breaks in the luster. Her cheek is important & I'm going to lower my guess to MS62.

I lived on the California side of Lake Tahoe as a year-round resident. Carson City was on the other side of a mountain range from my house. I always envisioned CC dollars bouncing around in the back of a horse drawn wagon coming over that mountain range. It was easy to envision how they could get all banged-up with that transportation environment.
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No Problem at all! Thank You for your comments!

Collect89 · Feb 9, 2011

Nice photos 1066Merlin

1066merlin said: ↑

Ok here is another set of photos, I used natural light as Siggi suggested. I know they are a little out of focus but I do like the lighting. (of course the dust is in perfect foucus) How do I get the dust off of the coins! The proofs are all kept in airtites and I used the canned air to blow them off before the photos were taken. I had no clue there was that much dust! Anyway, these are my favorite modern proofs especially the Irish 10 Euro. I also took photos of the reverses but they would not load after resizing? Why is that?

Thanks for all the opinions and all the help!
Mark
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Let me explain a diffuse lighting technique I use when taking pictures of proof coins in slabs. First, I make a tube out of drafting (translucent) paper. The tube is about 11 long & the diameter of the tube must be large enough for the slab to be placed at the bottom of the tube. The camera is aimed down the tube at the slab. A couple lights are aimed at the sides of the tube providing diffuse light from all directions except from the direction straight up the tube where the camera is. This technique allows the slab & the coin to be illuminated as in these photos.

I hope my description is clear.

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

Collect89 said: ↑

Let me explain a diffuse lighting technique I use when taking pictures of proof coins in slabs. First, I make a tube out of drafting (translucent) paper. The tube is about 11 long & the diameter of the tube must be large enough for the slab to be placed at the bottom of the tube. The camera is aimed down the tube at the slab. A couple lights are aimed at the sides of the tube providing diffuse light from all directions except from the direction straight up the tube where the camera is. This technique allows the slab & the coin to be illuminated as in these photos.

I hope my description is clear.
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Crystal, that is a very cool way to fix a problem. I'll have to try that one out for sure. I haven't tried to photo any of my slabs yet because I had no clue how to deal with the reflections from the slab. Thanks! That is a great idea!

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

Siggi, how are you backlighting your photos?

Siggi Palma · Feb 9, 2011

As I do not own any coins in slabs so I dont have to backlight.

I am going to advice you on one book that will help you imensly as it did with me.

http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-Ph...004X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297285458&sr=8-1

It does explain alot by one of the best coin photographers in the world.

1066merlin · Feb 9, 2011

I will have to pick up a copy for sure

EyeEatWheaties · Feb 14, 2011

1066merlin said: ↑

I will have to pick up a copy for sure
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I started with that book when I decided to invest in a DSLR - highly recommended!

also something I learned tonight. Consider the image hosting service you are using, they too compress images and can distort them. I finally got around to checking into this and found an upgrade option on photobucket. Now everyone can see the images the way I see them on my computer.

I encourage everyone to click on these photos twice to enlarge them as large as they will go!

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My first real photo attempt

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

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Siggi Palma Well-Known Member

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Collect89 Coin Collector

Attached Files:

Copy of 1880 Slab.jpg

Copy of 1909 PF65 CAM.jpg

Copy of 1885 Proof Morgan Slab Obv.jpg

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Siggi Palma Well-Known Member

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My first real photo attempt

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

Guest User Guest

Siggi Palma Well-Known Member

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

Collect89 Coin Collector

Attached Files:

Copy of 1880 Slab.jpg

Copy of 1909 PF65 CAM.jpg

Copy of 1885 Proof Morgan Slab Obv.jpg

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

Siggi Palma Well-Known Member

1066merlin ANA#R3157534

EyeEatWheaties Cent Hoarder

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