Plays with axial lighting

After much frustration, here is my direct lighting photo followed by my Axial Lighting photo. I wish I could get a true picture without manipulating the image, but I'm not there yet.





Comments on each are desired.

 

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What do you mean "without manipulating the image"?

Are you photoshopping and adjusting the controls?

 

What is wrong with the first photo? Does the coin exhibit more of the color that I see in the second photograph?

 

The photos look colorless, but sharper with the Axial. I increased the temperature to make the finished photo look closer to the coin in hand. It's actually a lovely chocolate color with surfaces that look problem free in hand.

The obverse in shot 1 is closest if you can imagine it without the dusty green that isn't visible. It still doesn't get to the lovely chocolate though, even with manipulation.

 

I agree that the first image is probably most accurate as to how the coin really "looks." Axial lighting tends to exaggerate minor surface irregularities and can make a coin look very beat-up when in fact it just has normal circulation. The technique also seems to pick up the thin oxidized layer on copper that bends the light into those amazing iridescent hues. To some extent, it is a departure from "reality," but it also presents a unique way to "see" a coin.

 

I think i must be brain damaged ... but I still dont get axial lighting (even with all the photos of the setup). I just have some sort of mental block in this realm.

So does axial mean lighting coming across the coin surface parallel to the coin itself (and not shining down on the coin)?

 

The source light sends light to the glass which then basically splits the beam and sends it down to the coin. The source light is blocked out from hitting the coin.

 

Nice PIctues! :smile

 

Thanks blu62 ... so all i need is a piece of glass at a 45 deg angle over top of the coin with light coming into the glass from the side

BTW ... I just googled some terms here and found this nice resource (basically showing the same stuff, but for me it was a bit easier to understand)

http://www.sigma-2.com/camerajim/cjgcoins.htm

 

The light would be going into the 45....

 

You're going to need a decent way to mount the camera steady, aimed at the coin, with the glass in-between. A copy stand usually works best.