Lighting in coin photos

You can either adjust your white balance on the device itself (phone or camera) or in an image-editing program once you upload it to your computer. Without knowing what type of device you have, I can't be more specific in how you adjust the white balance - every device has a different menu and different menu options.

Generally speaking, white balance menus will have options based on the type of lighting conditions you are shooting in (fluorescent, halogen, flash, cloudy, etc). You can then choose the appropriate option, and the color on the device display should match up to whatever you see in person.

In any case, I recommend starting out by taking photos on a pure white backdrop (e.g. a page of printer paper). Then you'll have a very clear reference point to determine how the white balance needs to be adjusted, whether it's too warm/reddish or too cool/blueish.

 

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This helps a little in understanding what you're trying to accomplish by "adjusting white balance". Thanks.

 

As mentioned above, the problem is all systems are different, what works for one person may not work for someone else. Unfortunately, endless hours and patience are required to familiarise yourself with your camera/phone settings.
I have found that two lights minimum are required and the ideal position of them for each coin. I diffuse mine with a sheet or two of white tracing paper especially when shooting through a plastic slab or capsule. eg the coin below is devoid of any glare from the plastic but the lighting could have been positioned sightly better

 

Once again, we don't know your tools available to you.
If you post examples, then we'd be able to help. Over on a photography forum we have ppl post their setups and image examples and help them improve.
Photography Beginners' Forum | ThePhotoForum Film & Digital Photography Forum

or even here there's threads about various things ==> Coin Light (or Photo tent) Box | Coin Talk

 

Digging back into my memory, when I was using a point n shoot digital, I would find a white spot on whatever I was photographing or on the background (if white), set the balance and snap away. Now I use an iphone and generally just go with what I get, although white balance can be set n the edit feature warmth balance.

 

I am not asking how to find "white balance" on my specific phone. I'm asking what is it that I am trying to do by adjusting "it". The link and Volante's post help describe what it is that you're trying to do by adjusting "it". Until I start doing my own fiddling with the million different knobs available to me, until then I won't know what it means and the level of effort it takes to "adjust the white balance". So far it means fiddle with the tint knob. Then do it again every damn time because the color of the coin is different from the previous coin. Not very helpful. But thanks for trying...I do appreciate the patience.

 

What the hell does that mean??? lol set it. What the hell are you "setting"?

 

When I open the camera on my Samsung A320 there is a button labelled MORE. Click on it and you get 3 other modes.
Food, good for medium/close
Macro, for 1-2 inches from subject
and Pro, here you can select ISO levels, color adjustment, white balance and brightness control.
Again, experimenting with the features available to you is required and time well spent IMO

 

Got it. Another vote for "fiddle with it". lol

 

try reading this (at least the First paragraph for what White Balance is) ==> Understanding White Balance (cambridgeincolour.com)

 

Yeah...getting to it. You already linked to it.

 

learning photography and lighting is like learning what Doubled Die actually is ... and takes just as long to really understand it.

 

So the "white balance" knob on my phone has 2 settings: "auto" and "manual". If I pick manual I can set "it" to something between 2,300K and 10,000K. So "it" is just the temperature setting - why not just call it that?

 

There is so much that books are written on the subject of macro photography. Here is my basic set up. In my opinion, lighting and focus are the 2 fundamental items. Lighting here are 2 goose neck lamps with incandescent bulbs with covers to diffuse the light. Set at just above camera lens so no shadows onto the coin. You can also play with coming in very low to the coin that works to cast shadows and show depth of design. Make sure to have a black or gray background so light is not reflected back into the lens from background. The neutral color also aids in getting the camera to capture the true color of the coin.

I have the coin siting on the spindle of a CD holder. The tip has the soft fabric portion of a Velcro dot. This helps the camera focus on just the coin and not the background. The camera is on a table top tripod, and I use the timer to release the "shutter". This is absolutely a must as you want to have as low an f stop as possible, which slows the shutter speed and allows for the detail to be captured. I don't do any post processing other than rotation and cropping. Others I know do things differently. But basically trial and error and with digital you can erase the bad photos immediately.
This one has too much white light reflected on forehead, nose, under eye on cheek, and on the chin, but still is not bad as no post processing. Have fun with it!

 

As Evan8 mentioned, a trick is to angle the coin up to 30 degrees to get the lighting correct. Especially on proofs and toned coins this helps get the black fields and the colors to pop without having to go to indirect or axial lighting techniques. The low f stop helps the focal length which helps to make the coin still look round and have all the details of the coin in focus.

 

Really appreciate everyone who posted instructions here. I am finding it really helpful. It also helps me feel less stupid for getting REALLY bad pictures of my coins with both a camera and a cellphone camera.

The ideas of 10 and 2 o'clock gooseneck lights, diffusing the lights, using natural lighting, tilting the camera so it doesn't cast a shaddow, even putting the coin on a "stand" of some sort - these are all great ideas. I'm going to try to remember them the next time I photograph a coin (or attempt to!).

 

Question: Can anyone recommend a very BASIC, easy to learn, Windows program to rotate and crop pictures, preferably free (or cheap)?

(I used to use a program called "Microsoft Office Picture Manager" but 2012 was the last year it came with MS Office. I'm still using it on an old computer, but that computer is dying and I can't find the disc the program came on. )

 

Try PhotoscapeX. Download free.

 

I will check it out. Thank you!

 

Another one I'd recommend is Paint.net (not the same thing as Microsoft Paint). A friendly and not too overwhelming UI, and very robust functionality for an entirely free program.