is it just me, or is this picture gorgeous?

p.s. you will never be able to get the entire coin in focus with a macro lens and such a tilted photo. The coin must be much closer to "flat" (i.e. perpendicular to the line of sight) in order to get it in focus.

 

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Lay the coin flat and use a tripod to shoot down at the coin. Lighting should come from both sides at a 45 degress angle.

 

He he he. lol

Couldn't resist.

 

okay, thanks to both of you.

 

As suggested, you should shoot perpendicular to the coin but you may get reflections from the plastic holder. If possible, carefully remove the coin from the holder for best photographic results.* Also, move the lights around & see what looks best on your camera's viewfinder before you shoot the photo. Sometimes using only one lamp can give better results than two. The lamps & overhead lighting can give you hot spots in your photo so diffusing the light is sometimes the way to go. You may want to diffuse the illumination by holding some translucent paper between the lamps & the coin.

Another way to diffuse the light is to make a tube of translucent paper & place the coin at the bottom of the tube. You aim the camera down the tube & shine your lights on the side of the tube. This technique provides very uniform diffuse lighting for photographing proof coins. Try it, I think you will be surprised at the results.

Finally, I suspect that there is a shutter release timer delay that you can set on your camera. Set the delay for a couple seconds so that the camera actually takes the picture a couple seconds after you have depressed the shutter release. This keeps the camera held steady on the tripod when the photo is taken.

* Always handle the coin from the edge & hold it over a soft surface in case it is dropped. Do not talk over the coin while you are taking photos of it outside of the holder. If you feel that there is risk of damaging the coin, then don't take it out of its holder.

 

Once you get a hang of it your pictures will get progressively better, for example some of my earlier pictures are not the best but they have gotten better. I do wish i can get a tripod and a dedicated camera to shoot some of these pictures.

 

The only reason why i have these items is because my mom does photography of many things... except my coins. she says i have to do those myself. lol

 

alright, you said for better pictures take the coin out of the holder, how should you take it off? and set it on a piece of cotton, like a cotton glove i use to hold my coins, would that be good?


Mizozuman2

 

you can use a polarized lens filter if you keep getting a reflection from the holder. but you shouldn't need it.

 

coins and moister don't mix. but I gave yours a water effect anyways. just for fun

 

couple more fun shots of your coin.

 

now your coin is a christmas ball. I like your shot.



​Merry Christmas !

 

here is your liberty before the holiday feast.
here is your liberty after the holiday feast.

sorry, i'm just having way to much fun. :yes:

 

Don't damage your coins !

The two-piece plastic holder normally separates at the edge. However, that proof coin is very susceptible to damage when it is removed from the holder. Perhaps you should leave it in the holder & practice your photography shooting through the plastic. You could also practice using some lesser-value coins that do not have mirror proof surfaces.

 

At least with my coins i never take them out of Air tite coin holders too risky if you mess something up and ruin the proof finish. Even with coin holder if you focus right you can get some decent shots the only problem is reflection from plastic edges...

 

@z115, go ahead, i enjoy these funny pictures! :yes:


collect, i think you said earlier that you can take a piece of paper and put it around the coin. would that help with the reflection from the plastic?


Mizozuman2

 

Do you and the picture want to be alone together?

 

I raid a piece of black or white felt from the wife's sewing room.......

 

When shooting a coin inside a slab, sometimes you have a reflection off the plastic which is near the coin location. In this case, I sometimes place a sticky-note at that location on the slab plastic to block the reflection.

 

ah, i see. thank you.

Mizozuman2