So my story begins when I went out in town to find a tripod for my camera. I decided to check out the most popular camera shop in town, as everyone who has a camera nicer than mine tells me that these people know more than the others. Well I go into the store and ask the guy there where his tripods were, he pointed me to a section where I see nothing but tripods for $120 or more, one was like $250. Well I explained to him that I do not need anything fancy, I just need a basic tripod. He pointed to what he described as "The cheapest your gonna find." This janky lookin piece of Crap was $90. Well I decided to try my luck at other places. My first stop was Walmart, which sadly did not have anything but a strange 8inch model. My next stop was Office Depot, there I found a decent tripod for $30, it has a level and tightens in every nook and cranny I could see, it works great and I bought it. Later that week I actually discovered for smaller 4 foot tripods, you can get a very nice looking(2 levels) for $20 at Radio Shack. Ranting done.:loud: Been playing with my camera more, this pic was done with ridiculously low light. I had a slow shutter speed and a "2.8(somthing)" aperture. Still looking for a good book that talks about non-SLR digital cameras in detail. If any knows of one that would be nice.
Hey that's a good photo. It is clear and the cent shows its gloss. You showed that the cent has worn ares too. Very honest shot. I like it!.
Details Fine shot, indeed! Now for the scary facts. As I see it the total image is about 500X500 pixels. dd: Of that, 170 X 170 are of the coin. I think that works out to about 87% of the picture is of the table and 13% is of the coin. But having a tripod sure makes a difference over handheld photos. Keep on keepin on and hopefully others will be able follow through on this useful hint.
Of course since you have already made your purchase this suggestion is too late. But maybe it will help others. Look at camera stands rather than tripods. Unless you have other uses for a tripod in addition to coin photography.
I could have gotten closer, but I couldn't find a way to make the gloss look better without showing the crappy scratches. The scratches are evident, but the coin just looks better from far away.
aCTUALLY, That does look like a great setup! Now if I can figure out how to take a photo of my camera so it is in it....be right back.
I like simple Current tools for fun. I Like the 3D options of a balljoint monopod just bolted onto a portable plywood slab movable into the sunlight for full spectrum effect. As my photos attest, this is a work in progress. But I also wanted to point out other old useless tools, like the slide trays for sorting and holding, storing for 2x2's with Gramp's attic be full of them antiquated objects. Try it, you'll like it! And they can be found for next to nothing.
Cropping it with photoshop doesn't hurt Nicer than handheld. My setup is a milk carton with the bottom cut off. lol
Here's a nifty DIY project that I found online a few years ago, How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html This tutorial/DIY project helps you create a macro studio out of cheap household materials that will deliver great results. There are pictures of the set up and a video link as well. Highly suggest that everyone who needs such a set up, give this a try. I built one and it takes a lot of the pain out of making small subject and macro photos with nice even, flat lighting. You will also notice in the video that they use one of those cheap Joby Gorilla tripods.
I've been doing photography for a long time. Unless you're supporting a DSLR with some heavy glass (lens), any tripod over $50 is worthless. My very first tripod cost me $35 from Ritz. It was used for nearly 8 years EVERYWHERE. Multiple hiking trips, multiple family trips, a couple of small paid photo/video projects, etc. It survived through the life of two of my little point and shoot cameras, early on. And even the first year I had my first DSLR with a small lens. But as soon as I started buying the big, heavy, pro "L series" Canon lenses, I could no longer support my camera. So I bought a very nice $$ tripod. If anyone here needs advise on purchasing photo equipment just let me know. I don't sell it but I know what is good.
