Change the lighting change the coin. Warning big files

Since Early December I have been offshore Gulf of Mexico. I took my camera and a few coins as I expected to have plenty of time to experiment.
Resources onboard the vessel are a little limited especially when it comes to lights but I played with what I had.
The one thing this playing has taught me is Lighting is the key. You can pretty much get by with a cheap low res camera but if you don't light your subject properly its not going to look good.

Anyway here are some examples of the way different lighting set ups produce different results on the same coin.

 

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Good sharpness in the image.
Don't know about the color without the original in hand.
The key is getting the image to look reasonably like the coin.
Hold your 1864 Large Motto 2-cent piece in good lighting next to your images and look for the closest match.
I'm guessing it's the last one.
(BTW, nice coin.)

It looks like it has a nice wood grain appearance (if you like that sort of thing).
Caused by poor mixing of the copper with the other metals it's alloyed with, I believe.

And examine the date closely.
Looks like a RPD (repunched date).

 

I like the 2nd photo, but kanga is right, just try to get the photo to look like the coin.

 

the Middle image actually represents the closest to reality. Taken with a single 500watt Halogen light 12 inches away angled down at 45 degrees. It was too hot to take more than the 1 shot. Any longer and the lens hood starts to melt. I am trying to get closest to the original without photo shopping the colour...

 

Just git passed the lighting part in The Coin Collectors Survival Manual and it is nice to actually be able to see the difference. Thank you. What are the different lighing situations?

 

Image 1 Daylight
Image 2 2 x desk lamps with compact florescent bulbs
Image 3 LED macro ring light
Image 4 500 Watt halogen (Actual colour)
Image 5 60 watt bulb and an aluminum foil reflector
Image 6 500 watt halogen 24 inches away angled at 90degrees (lighting across the coin)

 

"Since Early December I have been offshore Gulf of Mexico."

Do you work on an oil rig? Just wondering...Mike

 

Not a rig I was on the Fugro Explorer
http://www.fugro.com/geotechnical/offshore/drillship.asp

last week I transferred to the Boa Sub C
http://www.boa.no/Default.aspx?ID=7&M=News&PID=121&NewsID=7

I might get home before the end of the month if I am lucky

 

Cool! It was either something like that or a seriously long fishing trip.

 

If you like the results from the halogen light, you could try a lower wattage or positioning it further away, then lengthening your exposure to compensate. You should get about the same results with 1/10 of the light and 10x the exposure length.

 

Number two is close to # four, great looking coin with a nice rich color! Thanks for sharing your experiment.

 

Hey guys, this post is almost three years old. I hope he is still around or in our part of the world.

 

D'oh! I'm not in the habit of following the "similar threads" links at the bottom -- I popped this one up in another tab for later, then forgot where it came from. I'll bet there was another one that I just reanimated, too.

 

Wow people are still reading my thread after all this time.

Yes I'm still alive

Landed today and went straight to the Houston Money Show.
Just got back from Mexico in time for the last day of the Houston money show. Business was slow. I only made half a circuit before I Had blown all my money.
Some dealers were nice and willing to chat even if they had nothing of interest to me. Other live on another planet. I saw several Nice 2 Cent coins in PCGS holders with CAC stickers.
In particular there was one 1865 MS64RD coin it was nice and I concurred with the CAC/PCGS grade. Grey sheet was around $225 for RB and Numismedia says FMV for RD about $800. Asking price $1800! I choked and put it down really fast.
A similar story with a Nice CAC NGC 1864.
Dealers that think just because two companies agree on the grade they can double the price really make me mad.
The very next table had a PCGS MS64 BN 1865 for $170 so I bought that one.
My second purchase was a raw coin Marked RB UNC $90
It not RB and I would put it Maybe MS60 but it was a KF-F2-TPD (BR2382 FL65-lolr)
I offered $80 and it was accepted.
I was more then pleased to and this variety to my set.
I generally don't like big shows as it seems to bring out the worst dealers as well as the good ones. I wish I had had more cash on me but if I had I would have spent it.