Help with photos

I am interested in upgrading my photography skillset for individual coins, but without having to purchase any additional specific camera(s) or expensive contraptions. If I can keep it below $20, that would be great. But I have quite a bit of electrical knowledge to be able to configure just about any setup recommended, provided I can stay under-budget.

I currently use my phone camera, which is actually a great camera (S22 ultra) so any sort of gonipkunads or whizzle-wazzles to add to my current setup (of nothing) would be nice to hear!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Have you tried one of these adapters for your cellphone? $17.99 for this one Kit.
Amazon.com : Selvim Upgraded Phone Camera Lens 4 in 1 Kit: 235°Fisheye Lens+25x Macro Lens+0.62x Wide Angle+Kaleidoscope Lens, HD Phone Lens Attachments Compatible with iPhone Samsung Android & Most Smartphone : Electronics

 

Hi No_Ragrets,
IMO, If you are not compiling a fantastic portfolio of your collection either for publishing or super pic enlargement, I'd keep it simple. It really depends on what you need the photos for.
Good luck,
J.T.

 

I will look into these very soon. Thanks!

 

"Fantastic" would be subjective, honestly. I believe that I am assembling raw coins in fantastic condition but, because of my inferior photography experience, my coins have been deemed as "cleaned," scratched, or otherwise generally inferior. But in hand, they have eye appeal that I'm still incapable of describing. And that is one reason why I am reaching out today, so that I can expand and upgrade how I take pictures of and show off individual coins.

 

Search the posts on CT for photography and such. There are an unlimited number of setups and techniques described herein.

 

Whoops

 

I haven't actually realized there is a search function on here until just now. Thank you for your advice which led me to finding it!!

 

@SensibleSal66
OK Sal, I was placing an order with Amazon so I added 1 of those to my order

 

The shoebox setup cost under $20. Packing materials via Amazon, glass from a broken picture frame and box from some new shoes. I bought the LED light at some earlier point and coincidentally it fit in the box. Around $15 if I remember correctly. The iPhone 5 was a holdover rather than a trade in. I used that until the battery finally blew out.

 

That would be wonderful if I could set up something like that and improve upon my miserable coin photography.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which does offer a RAW mode.

I didn't notice the glass in the picture with the obverse of the dime. I did on the reverse. When's the glass used?

Also, what are you using to rest the coin upon? What would I use for larger coins?

 

1) Looks like a bottle cap.
2) Something that fits.
Seriously, I use a large Medicine cap or Jar lid.

 

The glass is at a 45 degree angle to reflect light onto the coin. Note the light is at one end of the shoebox. I rest the coin on a foam insert from a coin case, but you can use anything you have laying around. The object is to lift the coin off the backing so the camera can focus on the coin rather than the backing. Use an appropriate backing. In the other setup you can note the difference between the blue and chartreuse backgrounds. The chartreuse reflected the light which obscured the image. You’ll likely use different color backings with brown/bronze than with white/silver.

to further reduce glare in the shoebox, I use the backing to absorb the light. Also, placing a ping pong ball between the light source and the specimen diffuses the direct light keeping the glare to a minimum.

I have considered replacing the LED light because it can make the photos look unnatural. But I haven’t gotten around to it. If you look for setups, especially for cameras, they look similar to what I have done on a shoestring budget. But they usually use better light sources.

My objective was to see what was possible with things laying about the house. Many don’t have the time or money to invest heavily in coin photography setups. And that money better spent on coins anyway. I also didn’t want to buy a digital mic since my experiences with these and like setups is that they typically have a disconnect with resolution and optics and lighting is a bag of tricks. I’ve seen some here master it but most newbie’s upload bad photos for community review that aren’t that helpful.

 

I probably already have everything to do this, provided I can get the glass and box size to be compatible. The only thing I haven't picked up on is your light source location. Is it behind the white packaging?

Thank you so much for your help, too! I'm going to be tinkering with this type of setup today or tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to share some better looking pictures soon!

 

You are correct. I used packaging that came in an Amazon delivery. Tyvek like material. It was easier to fold to build up thickness and replaced the coffee filters.

For me it became a challenge. How to take decent photos without breaking a budget. I was using an old iPhone 5 which had a decent but not state-of-the-art camera. Easy to snap a shot and email it to myself for editing and publishing.

I see many discussions on what to buy here at CT. Yet with a little scavenger hunt about the abode, one can build a pretty decent shoebox studio that will do a good part of the job. Closeups may need magnification. For that, I’ll snap a shot through an eyehole on my AmScope microscope. That cost about $100.

 

A little progress was made today with some new-to-me means of capturing images. I was struggling with the lighting because I was either using ambient room lighting, a flashlight, or a dimmed combination of the two, but I just found out we have a ring light here so that should be fun to tinker with tomorrow!

I realize these still aren't great photos, but I'll get there! Any additional tips would be appreciated if you have any! Some of these photos were just coins I had laying around to test the waters before reaching for the ones I'd like to actually get better pictures of.

And yes, that proof quarter is actually in that bad of shape! I got it for $3, so I thought it would be a nice sacrificial lamb in case things went south.

 

Not bad. Just need a little tweaking. Have you tried PhotoScape X or LunaPic programs? Both free and LunaPic No Download. Edit by cropping, adjust lighting and re-size is what I recommend.

 

I have not (yet) but I will definitely look into it. Thank you!

 

White balance seems off on most if not all of those, that will help alot too. I get it close in my camera and then tweak it slightly in Post. I use paint.net, it's free and fairly powerful. I've been using it for years, I've not tried the other 2 programs suggested they might be as good or better.