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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Hobo, post: 392102, member: 11521&quot;]<b>Monday</b></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We pulled out our cameras and started shooting away. The instructor said he plans to collect our data cards at the end of the course and compare our first shots to those at the end of the course to show our progress. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I immediately learned the cheap copy stand I bought is completely inadequate for my camera. It is too short for my camera and lens and it is not nearly stable enough. I didn&#039;t even attempt to use it so I loaned it to another student with a lightweight point-and-shoot camera. I used a very nice copy stand that belongs to the ANA and it worked great. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I got decent coin photos right out of the chute. I played around with lighting and focus and got better results but still not excellent. A roving instructor came around and had me shoot a Byzantine hammered gold coin that is very cupped (1/2&quot; or more). The object was to 1) get the design in focus (in the bottom of the &quot;cup&quot;) as well as the outer portions of the flan that are much higher and 2) properly light the coin so there was little or not glare or shadows. This was a challenging coin to shoot but I got decent results (after a while). The trick on this coin is to have a LOT of depth of field and to focus between the upper edge and the lower recesses of the coin so everything will be in focus. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I spent a good bit of time showing another student how to operate her brand new Nikon D-200 (bought before coming to the course). It is similar enough to my D-300 that I was able to show her the basic settings and controls. Another student has a D-70S. All the other student&#039;s cameras are point-and-shoot models, most of which are giving good results but one or two are not well suited to coin photography. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>For the next 3 days Doug Mudd (ANA Museum Director) will spend an hour or so teaching us how to use PhotoShop to manipulate our photos. I am looking forward to this. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A word about the instructor. Tom Mulvaney takes photos of coins for auction catalogs as well as books. He has photographed some rare and famous coins. The US Mint asked him to photograph the 10 1933 Double Eagles that were confiscated and stored in Fort Knox. That&#039;s quite an impressive resume and I am honored to learn from him.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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