coin in the hand photography

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by ro1974, Jul 21, 2017.

  1. ro1974

    ro1974 Well-Known Member

    i trye many ways to see people the real good coin, A photo can with manipulation makes a coin beter then it is

    I trye in hand now
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  3. Gavin Richardson

    Gavin Richardson Well-Known Member

    My photography set up is by no means elaborate, esp. since I use (gasp!) a cell phone. But I've found that no matter how I manipulate light and arrangement and setting, some of the "truest" images I photograph are of coins held outside in my bare hand.
     
  4. TheMiz

    TheMiz Member

    That's because 'natural light" is the best light source for coin photography, especially when diffused. I use other light sources, i.e. halogen, Phillips natural light bulb, etc. And sometimes a combination. Nonetheless, a great pic with a cell phone!
     
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  5. Gavin Richardson

    Gavin Richardson Well-Known Member

    Well, I don't know if Ro is using a cell phone in the OP post. I do. Maybe one day I'll get a digital SLR. But until then, the cell phone technology will have to do.
     
  6. jb_depew

    jb_depew Well-Known Member

    The kind of camera you're using aside, much of a camera's ability to capture an accurate exposure of a coin has to do with the camera's meter. A camera's meter is a device which "measures" the amount of light in front of it based on the tonal value of what makes up the bulk of the picture. Imagine the world (everything you can see) as you would in a black and white movie... like Schindler's list or wizard of Oz. Everything on a scale of white to black, on a scale of 1% black (very light) to 100% black (pitch black). A camera is always metering it's exposure to 18%. 18% is the color of green grass (as it would look in grayscale). What this means is that if you photo a coin (or anything for that matter) against a predominantly white background, it will generally be underexposed (dark). The camera sees lots of white, and is bringing the entire exposure to a baseline of 18%. If this makes no sense, photo a coin against white, and then try a green backdrop. Fancier cameras will allow for spot metering, which will take the meter value just from the very center of the frame (the coin), and thus return more accurate results, but I suspect most cell phone cameras use matrix metering, which measures the entire scene, background included, to determine how light or dark an exposure should be.
     
  7. jb_depew

    jb_depew Well-Known Member

    Btw, your skin tone is closer to 18% than white (regardless of race) which explains why most in-depth shots turn out nice versus photographing against a white background.... Especially for silver coins.
     
  8. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Pretty fingers, but I prefer the coin.....In hand is a term, 'crop' is a necessity.
     
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