Anyone care to share some coin photo tips? I have a decent older digital cam, but no manual control. I do have macro, but just trying now, I can get photos good enough for ID but probably not good enough to give a true ballpark value... (at least, I can't do it for proof marks on guns... I assume coin evaluating would need the same level of detail) So... tips? I do have access to a photo instructor at a community college and all of his toys - both digital and film. Thanks!
Use a tripod or a copy stand. Any movement of the camera will cause your images to be blurred. Use one light source - preferrably one or two incandescent lamps. Block off the windows so you don't have sunlight (a second source of light) coming in. Turn off other lights (again, a second source of light) in the room. Experiment with light diffusion materials. (Vellum is great.) If you camera allows it adjust your camera to the light source you are using (e.g., incandescent, tungsten, etc.). Use a background like a grey card and adjust your camera (if it allows it) to the background. This will help you get a proper exposure. Make sure your camera is in focus. Use a high f-stop (e.g., f/22) for greater depth of field. Use a cable release or timer instead of pressing the shutter release button manually to reduce camera movement. Buy a good book for other tips. A new book that was released a week ago is Numismatic Photography by Mark Goodman.
If you don't have a tripod or copy stand try this. Stand the coin up leaning it against something on a table or counter. Hold the camera down on the surface a few inches away from the coin. If your camera doesn't have manual settings you will have to try different lightings to see what works best. You can then crop the image with your photo editing program on your computer.
This may be obvious but . . . Shoot the coin at 90 degrees to the camera (straight on) rather than at some odd angle. If the coin is at an angle it will be distorted and portions will be out of focus.
Use good florescent light or daylight. Not both. Then set your white balance so the camera knows what true white is in that given light. With daylight, it constantly changes with the suns angle. So what you set it at now, won't be right 15 minutes or so from now. Every time you change lighting scenarios, you should change your white balance for true colors. Most digital cameras have a custom white balance. Just select custom WB, then zoom in on something pure white in that light and hit (normally) 'set'. Now the WB is set. Now you will get the true color of the coin or whatever. You can't always rely on auto WB. Cameras do not know what true white is in any given light unless you set it for it. All the colors it will produce is based off of this. Use manual focus and a macro lens if you can. I've had good success with this. I have a Canon S3 with 12x zoom and 6 MP. It doesn't focus very well when zooming in on closeups. It's worthless for closeups of coins without the macro lens IMO. And this is a pretty new camera with a reasonable amount of features and manual controls. Tri-pod will help a lot. Most any modern camera like the S3 has Image stability built in so camera shake isn't as big of a deal IME. But a tri-pod is the best. You just need a cheap little mini one. I like using a white background to shoot coins on. I don't want anything distracting in the picture and it helps reflect light. Adjust your aperture and ISO setting also if you can. My camera has a histogram on the screen which you just try to get the bulk of the graph in the middle so the light's right. You may or may not be able to do this but it helps allow you to take pictures in just about any light without needing a flash. Then the pic won't be too bright or too dark. You won't overexpose pics in high light.
Thanks Green, It's really not that difficult to learn to photograph coins. I always get a kick out of some of the shots I see on ebay. Some of my best shots were taken from a cheap camera with no manual settings for lighting. In that case put it on macro and try different light for the coin you're shooting to see what works best. To make the coin look like it's floating balance it on something. Here I used part of a pen.
Well, been busy with work, but I got with the photo teacher today, he has a lighted table with good tungsten lights, a camera mount on it, etc. Uses it for photographing documents, etc. So we'll see what we get either Friday or Monday!
