Hello everyone! My coin buying has been slow lately but that doesn't mean interest in the hobby has changed! I have recently completed a large project of photographing my nearly 600 military trade tokens and now my attention is on my ancients. I am not a fan of "in hand" photos or white backgrounds and taking my own photos gives me a chance to handle and appreciate my coins even more. I just wanted to share a few images I took tonight. Not all of these necessarily needed new pictures but they were what I grabbed off the top of the pile. Feel free to share any new pictures of your ancient coins. Antonius Pius, 86 - 161 AD AE, 25mm, 9.28g; Laodikeia ad Mare, 140 - 141 AD Obv.: AVTO KAI TI AIL ADRI ANTWNINOC CEEBV; Laureate head right Rev.: IOVLIEWN TWN KAI LAODIKEWN; Turretted and draped bust of Tyche right, QE-HP in fields Pisidia, Termessos Major, Time of Gallienus, 253 - 268 AD AE 9 Assaria, 29mm, 14.17 grams Obv.: TEΡMHCCEΩN AVTONOMΩN Θ; aureate head of Zeus right. Rev.: TΩN MEIZONΩN / Θ in left field; Tyche standing left wearing kalathos and holding rudder and cornucopia. Philip I, 244 - 249 AD AE, sestertius, 32mm, 2347g Obv.: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG; laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right Rev.: LIBERALITAS AVGG II; Liberalitas standing holding counting board (abacus) and cornucopia; S-C in field I have more to add later...it's getting late here.
Thanks for the kind words guys! Tonight I took a few more pictures and found some gaps in my database I will have to sort out. Here are just a couple pictures from tonight, forgive the lack of attribution (if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll get it up):
Excellent Photos! Lately I have been experimenting with ways of throwing a little light on the dark side edges of the coin to improve separation from the background but it is easy to overdo it and get an unnatural look. My photos are not improving because I am trying things that don't need to be tried in the hope of finding a small improvement in some detail but end up hurting the overall look. Not serious but fun:
I think your photos look great. The problem is that you are comparing what you see in the photo with what you see in hand. Ideally, the photo should show the coin exactly as it appears, but the reality is that that is never the case, and every photo falls short of what we imagine it should look like. The rest of us just see the photo, so we are evaluating it on its own strengths and not comparing it to some ideal. And your photos look really good. Have you experimented with different backgrounds? Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish the edges of dark coins against a black background. Also, when you add the background during post processing, it can sometimes make the edges appear jagged. I photograph my coins outdoors. I built a stand for my camera by sticking a 3/4" think wooden dowel into a scrap piece of 2x8. I clamp the camera to this dowel. Then I drilled hole into the 2x8 and I stuck a short piece of 3/8" wooden dowel in. I put a sheet of black construction paper over the base of the 2x8 (with a hole for the dowel to come through) and some modeling clay on the end of the dowel. I place the coin on the modeling clay--the clay holds the coin in place if I need to tilt the entire contraption to get the sunlight to approach the coin at a lower angle--and photograph the coins about 1" above the black construction paper background. I built this thing about 10 years ago, and by now the construction paper has faded. I still looks blackish to the eye, but my camera's auto aperture setting lightens both the coin and the background. The result is that the background comes out much lighter in the photos. It now appears as sort of a slightly blurry, mottled gray: This allows dark coins to show up better. This Macirnus is mostly black but shows up well against the background: The only downside is that silver coins don't stand out as well: I don't think there's one correct answer. Every approach is a series of trade-offs. I still have a long way to go--one thing I might try is building some sort of reflector to bounce a little light onto the coin from the opposite direction--but it's fun to keep experimenting and trying new approaches.
Thank you @dougsmit ! @gsimonel The back background in my photos is all shadow. I use an old CD-ROM spindle with a tube around it to create the effect. I only use Paint to combine, crop, and resize my images. I need some clay/or tack-free adhesive to hold the coin in place, with the higher reliefs it's a real challenge to get them to keep balance.
I continue to maintain that there is no such thing as 'the' way a coin looks in hand. If you do not like what you see in hand, move the hand. If what you see is too dark, move into better light. If there is glare, move out of direct sun into softer shade. Coins give off no light but merely reflect the light that falls on them. It is our job to send/find light for the coin that will reflect back to us as we wish. If you don't like the way a coin merges with the background, send more or less light from the direction that causes the problem. Sometimes a small paper reflector is all it takes. The fault is not the color of the background or the coin but how we address the situation. See '4' below. This setup has been simplified but I have more setups from the past than I have photos of them.
The major change I have made since then is replacing the tube of black foam with an inverted black plastic flower pot. I found that it kept more light off of the background since the tapered sides did not reflect as much down there.
Here are some more from last night, most are pretty decent: Maybe some more light for the above Constantius II will help. I don't like the shadow in the bottom left of the obverse. I think by putting some white paper to act as a reflector on my "rig" like in Doug's above photo could help.
I'm less pleased with the way the silver coins came out, but here they are. Hard to get all areas of this coin lit up with my current set up, and I don't like the shadow in the lower left of the obverse. I will try the reflector trick next time. I'm satisfied with how Nero turned out. The lighting on the obverse is a little harsh. This coin was quite a challenge because of the high relief and reflective surfaces. Very reflective coin. Not happy.
Try lighting the whole room and let light come to the coin from all sides. For such coins, I often use my LED ringlight (D in my photo above). They are cheap and can help some coin photos (and ruin others).
Is the white on the surface of the first coin as prominent in hand? I have a real problem with my camera exaggerating residues on the coin surface. Something that is normally barely noticeable in hand will appear profoundly contrasting in the photograph. So I'm wondering if that is the case with this coin or if the photo accurately captures its normal appearance.
Here's a photo I recently posted in another thread. I didn't even notice the blue until I saw the photograph:
