With our recent question about posting informative videos, I started wondering about the relative merit of building videos out of stills with voice over narration and filming coins wiggling so you see motion. I have always been a still photographer and feel more comfortable there but wanted to try some wigglers. I'm thinking the best answer might be a combination of still and motion shots edited together. The obvious way is to shoot coins in hand but this shows a wiggle mount which will require more practice to make look right. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to improve motion photos without showing fingers?
Lovely Tet, but I would rather see you holding it and tilting it in a brighter light rather than the mysterious floating coin.
I'm curious about whether the coin needs to move at all (could feel disorientating?) OR if the lighting could move instead? That way the coin stays in place static and doesn't make one seasick, but the lighting on it changes bringing to life the details of the coin? I mean, that's why we move the coins in our hands in real life (to see how the light bounces off differently as we move it), but we normally can't move the lights (aka the sun or ceiling light fixtures). Thoughts? Maybe rig a little sliding mechanism secured on a rail that moves the light from one side to the other?
Hmm. SloMo is a good idea but in your video it feels too slow, or perhaps there just wasn't enough motion. The net effect was hypnotic though. I swear I heard the devil at the end of the video It might be possible to construct a motorized platform which would be obscured if the setup is similar to yours. An expensive alternative* would be to coat a more bulky platform in Vantablack. Oh man how I want some Vantablack!! I'd never have to painstakingly edit the backgrounds of coin images ever again . *Correction: impossible alternative, unless you have a friend in a qualifying lab or institution. Vantablack does not sell to private individuals
Hmm. Most of the photo-adjusting tools I've used have an adjustment tool that lets you set a black level -- in other words, anything darker than this level is mapped to absolute black. With that, all you'd need is a backdrop that's darker than any feature on the coin. That ought to be easier (and cheaper). Guess I'll add that to the "experiments" to-do list...!
Perhaps it's a reflection of my lack of skills as a photographer, but the edges of the coin in my photos are usually not crisp enough to allow good use of such a tool. The edges end up either stair-steppy or with a few pixels of non-black and non-coin. After finding that I can't just buy a little sheet of Vantablack, I searched for other options. Looks like there might be some commercially available highly dark/matte black paints available. In particular, Stuart Semple's "Black 2.0" pain looks promising. Semple has a big grudge against the manufacturers/patents owners of Vantablack because they granted exclusive right of use of a sprayable version to artist Anish Kapoor. Semple has taken extreme issue with that-- turning the battle and joke into a company! The sales pitch for Semple's black paint: BLACK 2.0 Simply the best flat, matt, black paint on the planet. Unique acrylic co-polymer binder enables more pigment load than any other acrylic paint Developed for artists by artists State of the art mattifyers reduce light reflection Top class lightfastness Exceptional coverage and adhesion - even on shiny surfaces (some may require a second coat) Coverage 2m x 2m (approx.) per bottle. (some surfaces require 2nd coat, porous surfaces should be primed first) Non Toxic Cold to touch Black cherry scented Priced at what it costs to make Shippable worldwide Not available to Anish Kapoor *Note: By adding this product to your cart you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor. To the best of your knowledge, information and belief this material will not make it's way into the hands of Anish Kapoor. #ShareTheBlack ... Other fun links describing the little war: https://www.wired.com/story/vantablack-anish-kapoor-stuart-semple/ https://mymodernmet.com/stuart-semple-blackest-paint/ I'm ordering some today
Ugh, didn't think about that. And I don't think rounding off the curve at the bottom rather than clamping it would help much. Again, I should experiment. It looks like you've found a promising solution. Another suggestion would be to look at telescope supply sites -- people building their own telescopes work very hard to reduce internal diffuse reflections, because they reduce contrast in the final image. I've got (somewhere) a sheet of stiff felt-like paper for lining a telescope tube, and it's very, very, very black. I also might try taking something that's already dark and heat-resistant (tile or painted metal, perhaps?), and depositing soot on it from a candle flame. That's something that works well for thermal-infrared work, where a really black and non-reflective surface is useful for calibration.
I don't believe it's a reflection of your lack of skills, I think it's just the nature of the beast. You've got a shadow on the edge of the coin, and there is no exact point at which that coin can be cropped. It's going to stairstep, and the best image will come from shooting the photo against the same color background that you want to display it against so that shadow gradient looks correct.
I agree, which is why I want some Vantablack I'm currently shooting coins supported by a skinny dowel (painted black), on a black base. The black is not matte, or not matte enough, hence the search for a blacker black
I have the same type of setup and I'm ordering some Black 2.0 as we speak! If this works it will be amazing! Thanks for the links Tif!
I misunderstood and misreported the Semple/Kapoor battle. Kapoor is an artist who received from the makers of Vantablack an exclusive license for artistic use of a sprayable version of Vantablack. That's why Semple is so disgruntled (me too!!). I have corrected the error in the posts above.
I don't understand why you want the stuff. I tried it on one of my coins and can't see where it brought out any detail. Now, tell me how to get it off the coin!
I tried another video and lost the color in the coin. I don't see the value of pursuing it at the moment. The pasted together stills are easier and better to me. I'm just not a videographer.
