Getting More Even Lighting in Coin Photos

I tried a new trick today that I believe someone else on CoinTalk posted about a while back. It was probably Doug, given his mastery of the coin photograph. The idea is to get more even lighting across a coin and to light up the edges of the coin. The whole goal is to make the photograph look more like the coin does in reality (at least that is my goal).

Here is the setup I am using right now. Sony a6000 with extender ring mounted on a tripod. LED light ring that happens to fit on the lens nicely. A CD spindle painted black with a piece of black velvet for a floor. A piece of manila folder taped into a ring and painted back. The coin is placed on the spindle like so:



This does a pretty good job. I usually add some side lights using small lamps with LED bulbs or try to work in the afternoon under a skylight which is filling the room with sunlight. The new trick is to use two pieces of copy paper bent into a cylinder and taped together. This is placed around the coin and the lens and light ring are placed inside. This has the effect of reflecting a lot of diffuse light around the coin.



Here is one of my favorite coins without the copy paper ring. #1



It is not a bad shot, but I think the paper ring shot is much better. Notice how well the edges of the coin are lit. #2



The same coin but with the bottom half of the light ring turned off. This is not as good for this coin in my opinion but it works great for bronze coins with very even coloration. #3



My favorite is #2, which image do you like best?

John

 

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Here is a Sestertius of Marcus Aurelius that is one of my favorite Roman coins. The bluish patina is very stunning in hand. It is hard to capture in a photograph. Without the paper ring it looked like this. Just really does not look natural and does not capture the coin well.



With the paper ring reflecting a lot more diffuse light:



This looks much more natural. Now I just have to reshoot my whole collection.

 

I like the first shot best without the ring light. Sorry, but I think it has more appeal to me.

 

I agree with Bing. The first shot is warmer and has better contrast.

 

Maybe I like the second one better because that is closest to what the coin looks like in your hand? The first photo has way more contrast than there is just looking at the coin. If I sent you the coin, then you would see what I mean.

 

The second picture also shows better detail. It makes for a better record of the coin. We all see things different and like different things. They are all great photos of 2 beautiful coins.

 

I agree Albert. Look at the edge of the coin in the first photo. It is like the coin is peeking out of the dark. In the second photo you can see the edges clearly. I like to be able to see the whole coin. I also like how there are no highlights but everything is lit up. I admit I am biased by my new (cheap) photo tool.

 

I see what you mean by the edge lighting, but the contrast in the first still has more appeal to my eye. Anyway, both coins are beautiful.

 

@Bing - I went back after reading your post and looked at those last two photos again. I do prefer the one that seems more chocolate.

@Theodosius - I appreciate seeing your coin photography set up and learning about your ideas. I'm going to put these to work and see if I can get some better shots. Whenever I look at Bing's photographs, it blows my mind. There are others here, including you, who take fantastic photographs of their coins. (p.s. I am drooling over the horse coin!)

 

Number 1, number 1, number 1 by a long shot!

 

The first shots give much better input to the coins surface. I am not too sure of the thread on this paper ring. But, maybe you are missing some settings on your camera?

 

For the first coin shown I prefer the first images with their greater contrast, although it would be better if you could light the coin edges (without flooding the whole coin with more light, as in the subsequent images). Even without the edge lighting I think the first image is pretty darned good.

The bronze is a tougher call. Somewhere between the two techniques is probably what I'd like best, although both sets are very nice.

 

Thought I'd do a very quick bit of post-processing with Photoshop. Do you think this is an improvement?

Photoshop, enhance contrast and adjust brightness:



Original, unenhanced:



Image #1, everyone's favorite:

 

I think your post-processing efforts greatly improved the picture.

I was going to edit the original images (#1, "the people's choice" ) in Photoshop Elements and will go ahead and do so to see if it ends up the same as your editing of his re-shot ring light images. PSE has a light editing function where you can adjust shadows/highlights and I often resort to this to brighten up poorly lit coin edges.

Here's that attempt, with yours below it:



Both have their merits and a favorite will likely be a matter of personal taste.

 

#1

 

Nice editing, the pictures do look better. I try not to play around too much with altering the photo. Sometimes I think a simple color correction and brightness/ contrast is all thats needed. Depending on what software you are using, you can also add a filter to make the color either more silver or bronze like.

 

Wow, tough crowd.

This time I tried to get in between the fully lit (maybe overly lit) #2 and the no reflected light #1.

This is my new favorite. Not the most dramatic lighting effect, but the truest representation of the coin. Come on and give your love for #4:

 

Looks good to me

 

I'm torn between 1 and 4. If the white paper is reflecting too much light (#2) I'd try replacing it with gray paper to reflect some light but not as much. You are driving me to play with some variations but the question is which coin gets the workout.

My first efforts with my first ring are shown in this 2008 shot. Unfortunately the image hides the direct lights (two CFL's behind the lens). I still prefer mixing ring and direct but have replaced both lights with adjustble models which have a little closer color balance to each other. I have a severe problem taking images I like but not being able to repeat results because I change something inadvertently. I do not care for your sestertius results but I can give a qualified thumbs-up to the silver #4. Does it need a tiny bit more contrast to restore sparkle? That probably depends more on our monitor settings than on the lighting.

 

Here's my efforts after a bit of Photoshop tweaking on the latest image: