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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;rmpsrpms, post: 2360616, member: 31773&quot;]tpsadler...the totorial post by Brandon (brg5658) is excellent and should get you started. The post explains two dimensions of coin lighting:</p><p><br /></p><p>1)&nbsp; Angle vs horizontal</p><p>2)&nbsp; Clock positions</p><p><br /></p><p>My response in Brandon&#039;s post was to add 2 more dimensions to coin lighting. The first one:</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Distance of the sources from the coin</p><p><br /></p><p>completes the 3 physical dimensions and specifies the position of the lights in 3-Dimensional space above the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>In addition, I described a 4th &quot;dimension&quot; to coin lighting:</p><p><br /></p><p>4) Apparent size of the light sources</p><p><br /></p><p>This includes both the actual size of the light source, plus the diffusion applied to the source. Diffusion makes the source appear larger, ie coming from a wider range of angles. </p><p><br /></p><p>Since Brandon&#039;s post, I have explored two more dimensions to coin lighting: </p><p><br /></p><p>5) Shape of the light source</p><p><br /></p><p>In several posts on the other forum mentioned by Brandon, I described the effect of shaping the light source for best control of incident lighting angles. Google &quot;smile directors coin photography&quot; to pull up the relevant posts. </p><p><br /></p><p>My most recent work on coin lighting relates to yet another dimension:</p><p><br /></p><p>6) Coin tilt</p><p><br /></p><p>Tilt is used to artificially increase the angle of the lights vs the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now, back to the OP&#039;s predicament. I have a 105VRMicro as well, and when using it have always had difficulty getting lighting up to the high angles that Brandon describes in his tutorial, especially for smaller coins. This is due to the relatively short working distance of this lens, plus its large diameter, both of which make it more difficult to get lights into the positions shown in the diagrams. In fact, the shortcomings of the 105VRMicro was the main driver for me to go down the bellows path. Bellows allow you to choose small diameter lenses with focal lengths that allow the lights to be positioned as Brandon shows. </p><p><br /></p><p>But all is not lost! There are two ways that the 105VRMicro can be used so that lighting is at a high angle. First is by tilting the coin. Second is by creating a diffuser that positions and shapes the lighting &quot;below&quot; the lens, ie between the lens and the coin. In the Google search above, several of the links will show a cone-shaped contraption that attaches to the lens, and has a piece of diffusion paper attached at the bottom. This contraption can be implemented various ways, but all have the end result of creating a variable-diffusion, arc-shaped light source that can be dynamically optimized for coins with varying sizes and reflection characteristics, slabs vs raw, etc. I will dub this the &quot;Smile Director Cone&quot;, or SDC. </p><p><br /></p><p>To get started, I suggest you read the various lighting-related posts brought up by the Google search, and in parallel buy 2-3 Jansjo LED lamps. These come from IKEA, and are about $10 each. Then try setting up the lights as they are shown in Brandon&#039;s post, and see what you can achieve. Post your results to get feedback. Most likely the steps after that will be trying tilt, then adding a SDC. I&#039;ll keep an eye on this thread and will add more info on the SDC as needed to keep you moving forward.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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