Playing With My Lightbox

Best coin photography I have ever seen. Thanks for posting,
Denis Richard.

 

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This image is right out of camera.

The white background appears greyish in the image because it’s underexposed. That is perfectly normal with axial lighting, when you’re using the same light source to illuminate both the coin and the background. You need much less light to expose a coin correctly than you do to expose a white background to appear pure white.

This is the same coin cut out and put on a white field.



Regarding your other questions, I'll start with the last one first. I'm not that worried about the white balance. I use a studio strobe so I set mine to "Flash". even with that, I shoot in raw, so I can change the white balance on any image, at any time, by need or desire. Second, I use a colour management software, X-rite Color Checker Passport, to create a colour profile for my axial lighting setup that I apply to all the images taken with it. This keeps all the colours accurate and consistent.

The other two questions require a longer explanation than I can reasonably type here, but the very short answers are light modifiers, contrast control with the diffuser, and focus stacking. I'm putting a video together of my process and it will cover those issues.

 

- do you have suggestions for capturing the 'true' colour of a coin (i.e. standardize white balance?")

Further to my earlier reply, this is a shot of the x-rite colorchecker passport I use for colour management.



You include it in the photograph of your lighting scenario and create a .dng file from the image with the software. The software knows what the colours on the grid should look like, and adjusts the image colours to match them based on your lighting set up. Once the profile is made, apply it to the image, and any other images taken in the same lighting conditions. It's easy and effective. There are a lot of videos on YouTube about it.

This is the final image, cut out and coins added. They look similar because I'm shooting with studio strobe lights and my white balance is set at "Flash". It's pretty accurate right out of the gate. If you're not using studio lights, which I believe many of you aren't, the difference will be more pronounced.


Hope this helps.

 

Thank you very much. Always appreciated.

 

Mr Richard I am wondering where you picked up that cool looking glass angled frame? Is that something readily available on the market? TYIA!

 

This is a great thread! I used to have great success using a cheapo Canon point & shoot camera and a desk lamp with Reveal light bulbs. Axial lighting was great for certain things, like proofs, but utterly washed out others and flattened frosty luster.

I've since bought a DSLR and I've been having similar trouble finding a good setup with lighting. Here's one of that same Elymais type, but the lighting is just too harsh (it doesn't help that the metal is shiny on this one on the high points).



This is with a D3500 and a kit lens. While I can get some great shots out of it, I can definitely see the justification for a macro lens! The lighting on this is a few Ikea Jansjos with diffusers. I'm not sure that I'm a fan of the Jansjos and will be experimenting with other lighting setups.

Just for kicks, here are some comparison shots showing the difference lighting and white balance can make. On top, the old point & shoot's pictures from 10 years ago; on bottom, the new Nikon. I still don't have it dialed in on the new ones - some detail is lost, white balance isn't quite right... but it is an interestingly different perspective.




This one was shot with axial lighting:

 

It's not available anywhere, as far as I know. I made that rig myself, the result of experimenting with axial lighting over ten's of thousands of coin images. The glass panel is from an 8x10 picture frame. I wrapped black electrical tape around the edges because they were a bit sharp and it also provided a better grip on the glass inside the holder.

 

I've always loved the look of the 1966 10 Scilling Easter Rising coin. You mentioned you used axial lighting with it. I assume you had the glass on a 45 degree angle, and parallel to the light source. This is the way they show using it on most of the YouTube videos I've seen, and you mentioned your images with axial lighting can appear "utterly washed out others and flattened frosty luster." That's not surprising. I assume you've used axial lighting like it shows on YouTube. Personally, over thousands of coin images, I've found it is rarely the best way to use it, unless your coin is completely matte. Your images will benefit enormously if you rotate the glass plate on the z axis, from the center of the coin (from the camera perspective) to remove glare and take full advantage of the gradation of light that is provided with the system when it is used more creatively. I have photographed this same type of coin many times with axial lighting. Here is an example of one. The glass plate was rotated about 10 degrees, and all of the glare in the background disappears.



There is a long photographic explanation on the properties of light, reflection and optics that details why this makes such a difference, but for here, suffice it to say it does. Below is an angled view of the same coin, in the same lighting rig, with axial lighting support in the shadows.

 

Lots of nice coins and photographs of same! I have a couple of the 1966 10s coins I must re-photograph.

This is a photo' from Sunday that I'm happy with - reverse of an Eravisan denarius, based on Cr. 393/1 of about 75 BC.



ATB,
Aidan.

 

Hey Denis, I've been inspired by your work to try out the axial illumination method but have noticed a fairly significant drop-off in sharpness. I've tried 1.5mm thick photo frame glass as well as 3mm thick borosilicate glass (given borosilicate is typically used in optics). I have it angled at 45 degrees top-to-bottom and have tried introducing a slight angle across the glass (left-to-right) to reduce glare.

I'm shooting with a Laowa 100mm f2.8 2x macro and Sony A7R III so I can achieve pretty sharp images to begin with, perhaps making it more noticeable when I try the axial illumination method.

Have you had similar issues or has it not been much of a concern for you?

 

Glad to hear you’re trying out axial lighting. I hope you like it as much as I do.

I don’t know if I mentioned it already, but I only use axial lighting to shoot raw coins. I have a different set up for certified coins and a third if I want high contrast proof coins.

Obviously, the only thing that can make a difference to image sharpness with axial lighting is the glass plate. Personally, I haven’t noticed any appreciable loss of sharpness with my set up. I think the biggest difference is I’m not using a 2:1 magnification lens, as you are. My lens is a 1:1 ratio. I guess that might have some impact on sharpness through the glass. I assume you eliminate camera shake, use a trigger, clean the glass, and all that good stuff before you shoot.

I’m a Nikon guy, using an AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens. I usually shoot at f14, 1/200 sec, with a 500 watt studio strobe. I don’t have any motion blur or ambient light issues, though I occasionally have to focus stack a flat shot with thicker coins. I'm using a Nikon D810 and my shots come out of the camera pretty sharp.

Out of curiosity, how close are you to the glass when you’re shooting? I’m about ¾” above the glass, and about five inches above the coin at my lenses minimum focus distance of 12 ¼”. With larger coins I can be 12” – 16” above it.

 

I can definitely see the benefits of this method, it shows a lot of promise. The sharpness is really the only thing holding me back at the moment.

I'm also shooting raw ancients, so no additional bits of plastic or anything in between the coin and glass.

Sorry I wasn't too clear on the lens earlier. Most coins I'm shooting are between 0.9x and 1.3x magnification, even though the less can do 2x I don't have many coins small enough to require that level of magnification.

My settings are approximately similar, often between f8 and f16 and 1/200sec or there about. I mainly use a 60W studio LED (Godox SL-60W). I do have two small flashes but I tend to prefer the continuous lighting. I'm using a remote shutter and don't think there would be any sources of vibration that would have a noticeable effect at this magnification - at least none that are perceptible through the live-view monitor.

I'm often focus stacking high relief coins, mostly Greek drachms, staters, or tetradrachms. Even for a flat Roman AE I might stack it so I can take advantage of the sharpness at a wider aperture. But when comparing axial vs other methods I'm always comparing parts of a single image and not the resulting stack.

At 1x the focus distance is about 9.5cm (3.75") and my assumption is that it's better to have the glass closer to the lens than the subject. So the smallest distance between the glass and lens (i.e. the front of the lens is closer to the glass due to the angle), is maybe a bit less than 1/2".

I guess it's worth mentioning that I'm often looking to fill the frame with the coin rather than shooting at a lower mag. with more working distance and cropping later.

I will do some more testing today and share a photo comparison, perhaps you will notice something I've missed!