Hi all, I'm looking through my old collection from when I was a kid. Good times! My favorite and oldest penny I have is 1863 Indianhead. The others are 1887, 1890, 1893, and 1899 through 1909. I want to show them off, but they are all pretty dark and the picture I attempted was poor. Is there a good way to clean/shine them, or would that just ruin it? I also want to show my 1809 half-cent coin, but in the picture it looks like nothing but a black circle. Is there anything I can do to impove that? Thanks!
Absolutely do NOT clean your coins in ANY manner whatsoever. You will seriously lower any value they may have. Just post the best photos you can. brown copper is tough to image because it's dark. Set the coins on white paper before photoing and use plenty of light, that helps some. Good luck.
I would strongly advise against cleaning your coins, that would most likely diminish any kind of value they have. As for pictures, I would say try using 2-3 lighting sources... I use halogen lamps. Make sure your camera is set to Macro. I would also recommend placing a white sheet of paper underneath the coin, then setting the white balance accordingly. DO NOT USE THE FLASH! It will over-expose the coin's true color/luster. Hope that helps... And welcome to the forum.
Well, a little better than I expected. Thanks for the photo tips! I put it on white paper next to the window. The sun light made a dark shadow so I put a bright bulb over it which reduced most of the shadow. Used the macro setting but couldn't get the camera's timer to work with the macro on, so my hand was a little shaky = blurriness. I'll keep working at it, but you get the idea for now.
For beginners photos those a very good! Keep playing with it, I'll be the first one to tell ya', practice will make perfect. Sometimes 100+ shots are necessary to get a good one. Nice photos, keep practicing!
Yeah, you really need to have the camera on a tripod or copy stand to eliminate the blur from the shakiness in holding the camera, but not too bad. The coin looks to have XF details, but the bright colored highlights on the coin are not to be expected on a naturally circulated piece. that suggests to me that the coin may have already been cleaned. Could be wrong though.
Thanks! And yes, I'll keep practicing. Illini420, when I look at the coin in person it doesn't really have any highlights on it. The edges are a tad bit lighter but its consistent all around. Those shiny spots (I think) must have come from the bright light I put right over it. Not really sure how to tell if its been cleaned before though. (Edit) ...Just thought I'd add that out of all the Indianheads I have, this one was the darkest. The others are much lighter in shade.
Not sure how the weather is where your at but if you can, try taking some photos outdoors. Place dark coins on a light, non reflective background. Not in direct Sun light but on a day when the Sun is bright. You may find that the additional lighting helps you take photos since you don't need all kinds of indoor lighting. If your using the average digital camera, you may find they come out much better outdoors. As a starter, might help.
Yep - keep practicing and you will get it. This coin looks like it has some nice details - just hoping the green that is poking through is not on the coin, but the lighting. As mentioned a cheap tripod works wonders and you can move back from the coin. Then trim the picture up to just the coin. The are lots of IHC fans on this site and we(or at least me) are always interested in seeing some.
