Photography

I am sure there are tips on here about taking good photos of coins, but so far I haven't found them........
Any help?

thanks

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Decent camera (maybe smartphone?), solid-colored background (black?), proper lighting.

Lighting is usually from multiple directions to avoid shadows. Special bulbs will work better than standard.

Or did you already know those tips?

 

Here is my setup. Maybe that will help.

Here is a good resource also.

 

Any tips are appreciated. That whole shiny coin thing is throwing me a curve

 

There are a lot of sites for tips on improving your photo skills, but when you're in the middle of trying something new, do you really want to jump around from place to place?

Try this........

http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/product/numismatic-photography.html

Chris

 

Both cpm9ball and gbroke gave the best advice. I have read Mark's book cover to cover many times, well worth the money. In the mean time, IMO opinion, the two most important things are a good support and the lighting.

You don't need anything elaborate, just a steady support and two inexpensive lights. Start by placing them at 10:00 and 2:00 and experiment from there. You need a camera with a macro mode. If it has manual controls, I like to shoot at f/5.6. Bracket your exposures.

Mike

 

I think Numismatic Photography is a great book, but since different people have different learning styles, one website might "click" more than another article (or Mr. Goodman's book.)

Here are the pages/articles I've read and have bookmarked:

http://www.cointalk.com/threads/what-is-the-best-way-to-take-pictures-of-coins.147502/
http://www.coinimaging.com/photography.html
http://www.uscents.com/articles/DCP/DCP002.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~dougsmit/coinphoto2008.html
http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com/tips/coin_photography_tips.html

 

Follow that link that gbroke posted "Here is my setup"
Try to mimic that setup exactly and then with a little practice you'll start producing very nice photos. The setup he has shown is pretty much exactly what I use and I am very satisfied with the photos I get.
You can also do some editing to your photos like cropping and adjusting the brightness/contrast and hue/saturation with free photo editing software. I use gimp, but there are many more out there.
Here is a link to Gimp's website where you can download the software: http://getgimp.com/lp/index.php?pk=6542&c=Getgimp_US_Exact