Maybe its my camera. But I have no clue. I have adjusted every setting, adjusted every angle of the coins, adjusted the angles of the lamps, the type of lighting, the background, the F stop, the focus, the ISO, the exposure, etc. For some odd reason, I feel it is IMPOSSIBLE to capture the coin the same way as the naked eye can see it. My camera is a Canon ELPH 100 HS. Maybe I need a DSLR to make for better pictures.
I use clean foam as the background it works well for direct fit Air Tites since it gives a nice clean white background, here is an example of image i just shot an hr ago. And the end result: My camera is no where as good as yours, using 7 MP HTC cell phone camera.
Go to Hobby Lobby or Michaels and get a piece of hobby foam (costs $1 or less) that's a solid color. It'll keep your coins from getting dinged up, and makes a consistent background for your photos. As everyone here will always say...the biggest key to good photos is lighting, lighting, lighting...
Well I made this little holder out of a cap from a whitman tube, and a buffing wheel from a dremel. The fibers of the buffer wheel hold the piece well. Tell me if this is any better.
Well I added a top light to my light box. Now I have light coming from 3 directions. Also processed the photos for more realistic color. Tell me what you think. Going to bed...
This is what Green18 is talking about: Cropping them gets rid of all distracting things outside of the coin and helps focus completely on the coin. Nothing like me going "Ooh, what kind of cloth is Detecto using?" (Which looks like it can use a lint roller) But in all seriousness, try just using your flash with normal in-house lighting, but put a paper towel over the flash and try shooting them.
A white background and surroundings will work best. Its easier to play with the lights if needed. A black background and surroundings will force you to use mirrors and lamps to get a good picture. Also crop the areas around the coin so theres nothing there to distract the picture. A normal software will also autofocus the image when cropped.
Hey Detecto, really nice shots. Here's what I meant when I mentioned cropping....... To do this you need a decent photo editing program. Here's a link to a thread that some grumpy old codger made not too long ago... http://www.cointalk.com/t175157-4/
Nice photos with good detail. I would suggest instead of shooting horizontally, try placing the coin on a table or floor and shoot it directly above the coin. There are several advantages especially when you begin playing with lighting. This why you will not have the problem of getting lighting on the part of the coin closest to the ground (note your coins are all dark at the 6 o'clock area). I use my tripod which does a great job shooting vertically but ideally a documents table would probably work best.
This time I adjusted the shadows to bring out more detail. The 1st set is with the coin at an angle. The second is with the coin laying flat.
I take 2 or 3 hundred coin picture a week, to add to my collection data base. Having a good camera stand and lights is the trick. I use a two second timer to take the shaking out of the equation. I take the pictures using 14 mpg and when I crop the coin I have a good detailed picture. Below you will see my set up. I have my camera on auto focus and macro. You will find that every time you change background color your coin will also change colors unless you use filters. Good Luck. Big Ed
Very nice, do you software tweak the pictures post shooting or do you have pre saved filters that you apply to all the coins.
jjack I take all my pictures and then down load camera to my computer. At this point all pictures have the camera number on them. As I am cropping the pics I do a (save as) and title, ID number, and Grade the pictures into a folder, I have for each type coin. The folder for each type coin is in a main collection folder, so I can hyperlink the coin picture right to the coin in my Microsoft Excel coin file. Now I have the information and picture on the same page. I then load this to my 320 Gig. remote drive and have my whole collection with me at all times. It is great being able to see the coins without having the coin with me. A little bit of work and time, but well worth it. Thanks Big Ed
