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Message:: [QUOTE="SuperDave, post: 2415075, member: 1892"]OK. Lighting. As much as I emphasize the fact that coin photography is a skill, not a talent, and as such can be taught/learned by anyone, lighting is a bit more of a black art. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> The basic rule of thumb is, you want two lights at roughly 10:00 and 2:00 to the coin, as close to the lens as physically possible so that they can be as perpendicular to the coin as possible. This eliminates shadowing and illuminates the largest-possible percentage of the coin's surface. After all, detail is what we wish to present when offering images of a coin for evaluation. I personally - at the moment - use two Jansjo gooseneck LED table lamps, something like $10 each from Ikea. Here they are, flanking my imaging rig: [ATTACH=full]499683[/ATTACH] They have the advantage of very small size and infinite adjustability. You can get them very close to the lens (while remaining above the lower lens glass, so nothing reflects into the lens). Lustrous silver is harder than anything else to light, so that's where we'll begin. Direct lighting best presents luster, and diffuse lighting best prevents dark/light areas like so: [ATTACH=full]499681[/ATTACH] You can tell that's a pretty lustrous coin, but it's losing detail in the darker areas and a bit overlit where brightest. This is where diffusion - the practice of inserting something a little translucent between light and coin - comes in. There are those who advocate "light boxes," milk jug domes, and the like for shooting coins. I'm not one of them. They block too much light, make it too lacking in directionality, to ever present luster from being accurately depicted. You end up with something like this: [ATTACH=full]499682[/ATTACH] Lovely detail, no luster. You can employ anything from a layer of tissue paper to carefully-designed vellum cutouts with painstakingly-placed slits (I hope [USER=31773]@rmpsrpms[/USER] sees this and mentions his Smile Directors) to achieve that balance between direct lighting and diffusion, but I can't be more specific than that because all lighting differs. How much light? Well, my two Jansjos are rated as "40w equivalent" bulbs, and are capable of throwing enough light that exposures can be 1/150 or faster with lustrous silver. If you're using a solidly-placed rig and a remote shutter, there is no reason you cannot shoot as slow as 1/4 or slower. My previous go-to lighting before the Jansjos was two 50w Halogen GU16's intended as track lighting, and you couldn't tell the difference between the two systems aside the Halogens meant exposures in the 1/800-1/1000 range at the lowest ISO, and the made the coin too hot to touch after the shoot. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> After lustrous silver, nothing else is difficult to light. Lustrous nickel? No diffusion, no problem (aside a scratched slab): [ATTACH=full]499689[/ATTACH] Lincolns? No biggie, Red or Brown: [ATTACH=full]499690[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]499691[/ATTACH] Circulated coinage is essentially childs' play. Proofs can be fun; I took a kitchen ceiling fixture with a Circline circular fluorescent, cut a hole in the center and poked the camera through. Worked well: [ATTACH=full]499688[/ATTACH] Toning is a subject for a thread of its' own. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]

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