Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;CircCam, post: 3052176, member: 85675&quot;]Aside from a solid camera and macro lens, I&#039;d invest in a couple solid lights.&nbsp; Then as others have mentioned, the background behind the coin is key, and for me it is chosen on a coin by coin basis.&nbsp; Whatever material it is, it needs to not be reflective.&nbsp; Then it just depends on the coin- for a bright uncirculated war nickel I&#039;ll start with a white background.&nbsp; For a gun metal circulated bust half or dark seated dime, I&#039;ll start with grey.&nbsp; Take some shots changing nothing but the background and it&#039;s amazing how different the results are. </p><p><br /></p><p>Then it&#039;s all about the lighting- daylight plus luster= usually crappy looking results.&nbsp; With circulated pieces I just try to match the average in-hand look- if all I see is every tiny mark and the coin looks way worse than it does in hand, I likely over-exposed it, etc. </p><p><br /></p><p>My background is in recording audio sources and it&#039;s a lot like photography.&nbsp; Before I ever set up a microphone, I listen to the source.&nbsp; If it doesn&#039;t sound good (look good in coin photography) I change/move things until it does.&nbsp; Then I place the microphone (camera lens) where my ear (eye) was, and capture that perspective.</p><p><br /></p><p>Once you have solid pictures going on, use image software to crop the coins (if you care to) and fine tune settings until it looks closest to the way it does in hand.&nbsp; Tread very lightly here, one digit parameter moves at a time as a little goes a long way.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m no photography expert but figured I&#039;d share my methods as I&#039;ve come to a place where I&#039;m happy with my photos even if they aren&#039;t up there with the pros here, and I&#039;m just using a canon powershot digital camera with a macro function enabled. </p><p><br /></p><p>Grey background when photographing:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]764015[/ATTACH]</p><p>White background when photographing:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]764016[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Daylight on my countertop when photographing (it just worked and was closest to the in-hand look):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]764017[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in