I knew imaging proofs would be tough. And I knew it would jump up and bite me someday. Well someday is now. Here's what I've achieved so far: The "noise" on the images is from the holder (slab). I can do a bit of polishing/cleaning and diminish that. Of the two images which do you prefer? Any other suggestions?
Are you using a camera or a phone? What lighting are you using? In the search function you will find many threads on this subject
There are many threads on this subject. The search function is great. Here is link to them https://www.cointalk.com/search/5516091/?q=Photographing+proof+coins&t=post&o=date
I use a DSLR (Nikon D90) and an OTT-LITE with a white tube which Goodman says is close to the sun's output.
These are taken from directly overhead, through the plastic with 2 simple, adjustable brightness LEDs.
They look like frosted proof which emphasizes the difference between the devices and the fields. That helps separating the two. The older US business design proofs weren't struck that way which makes them more difficult to show the differences.
But a proof will still have mirror like fields and be distinctly different to the devices, frosted or not. And what I believe you are trying to achieve is to show the depth of the mirror finish. Try less or diffused light because the images you posted look over exposed. Have you experimented with the functions on your camera. Each time you choose a setting for aperture, ISO etc, write it down and file it with the image. The closer you get to your objective, you can then fine tune it. Maybe this will help. @Denis Richard,
Proofs are a challenge to shoot. There are a few techniques I use, but here's a quick and easy technique without any special gear. It's not the best method, but it works. First, remember that with mirror finishes, you don't light the mirror, you light what the mirror is reflecting. I place the coin on a piece of white translucent plastic and put a light under it, pointing up. With the camera pointing down at a 5 degree angle, I have a perfect silhouette of the coin. The law of reflection states that when a ray of light reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. If you only have one light, set it up like this: Based on my 5 degree camera angle, (though in the image above it's more like 45... ignore that, it's a stock reflection image I drew over) the coin is reflecting at the opposite angle. This is where I place my reflector. This technique is quite effective. My reflector is a white strip of foamboard, about 1 1/2" wide and 12" long. if you have two lights, which is recommended, use the second to light from the side. This shot was taken that way. It's not bad. It could use some brightening in Photoshop. This one was shot with my dynamic axial lighting set up.
I've got the parts for an axial lighting setup. My problem is finding enough space to set it up. We've moved into a smaller place (senior living community) so the space I had 7 years ago doesn't exist anymore. My only chance would be to kick my wife out of her sewing room and take that over. Guess what my chances of pulling that off are?
What I used to do is hold up a black paper in such a way that it reflected off the fields, emphasizing the mirror of the coin
