Post your coin photography set-up

What is that screen behind the lights Bob? It appears that you are bouncing the light off of it. A sheet of vellum?

 

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It is a vellum type paper attached (taped) to a piece of card stock.

 

I'm gonna have to try that.

 

That makes two of us.

 

I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but between the paper and card stock I have a sheet of aluminum foil. Initially I was working to see if the foil would be a good deflector. It didn't work as well as I was hoping. I just put the sheet of velum over the foil.

I noticed in a PCGS video about their photo department Phil was using a hand deflector about the size of a playing card. I've also made some card stock/velum deflectors the same size. Sometimes I use the large one and other times the hand size one for fill in. And sometimes I don't use either. It's just what ever works for you in a particular shot.

 

Which video was this? It would be neat to see anything that happens in that dept.

 

I'll have to look for it. I saw it about a year ago.

 

I found where it was suppose to be, but the link doesn't bring it up. It wasn't a video after all it was a slide show. I emailed Phil and he had no luck finding it either.

I wish I would have saved it.

All I could find is the front page of the article by Phil from 10/23/2012


http://www.pcgs.com/ezine/2012/10/23/coin-dealers-chasing-spouse-coins

 

I've had best luck using just a white 4x6 index card as a reflector, same one I use for white balance so that the card has no impact on the image WB.

 

Sent a message on your website. If you didn't get it just let me know.

 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I have a specific question that does not seem to be addressed. This seems an important aspect of not only setting lights at the right positions, but it seems height and angle from vertical are also critical.

How do I keep from flooding out the features of dark copper?

I have a cent that looks like this, captured with an iPhone.


But the best I can do with using two lights at 10 and 2 are these flat images.

 

Don't be glued to the 10 and 2 light setup. Move the lights around to see how they affect the look of the coin.............or rotate the coin around. If you have LiveView capability you can watch real time results while doing this on your monitor. I move my lights up, down and even away from the lens and coin to see the changes in detail.

 

Thanks - this is information I will put to use. I will try to update what I find out.

 

You'll be limited a bit by the bulk of the camera with light placement; experimentation is in order.

Settings for the camera you used on the pics above: Macro focus mode, of course; "Center" AF Area; "Spot" or "Center-weighted" metering. Use Aperture Priority - set to one of the smaller (higher numerically) apertures, try f/5.6 to start, go wider if you can't get fast-enough exposures for a sharp shot - and let the camera determine exposure and compensation. Use the lowest-numerical ISO setting you can get away with, in no case higher than ISO200. With a firm-enough mount, you should be able to use exposures down to 1/20 or maybe even slower, as long as you're triggering the shutter on a timer. From the EXIF data on the images above, this should be easy. You managed 1/80 at f/5.6, meaning there's plenty of light.

The minimum focusing distance of this camera increases rapidly as you zoom in; best to use it zoomed all the way out (31mm) as long as you can get enough space between camera and coin to effectively light it.

Don't be afraid to use a little diffusion with your lighting, especially with copper. Circulated copper is difficult on contrast, because so little of it actually exists on the coin. I've been known to add contrast in postprocessing.

I suspect your iPhone will prove the better coin camera of the two.

 

So much information, and so little ability to express thanks. I have a lot to think about and to try.

You have already given me an idea to try. Right now the Jansjo lights are in a high axial position. The light hits all surfaces of the coin evenly. I have this idea.

If I lower the incident angle of the lights, can I use shadowing to show the contours, instead of relying on just the contrast inherent to the coin?

On this diagram, the blue line represents the surface of the coin. At A, the light source shown by the green arrow would brightly light the left part of the contour, while the right light (red arrow) would strike a glancing blow. The center, B, shows a flat area receiving equal light from both sides, and the right arrows, at C, show illumination mostly from the right. So there would be gradations in the light that may show the detail even on an uniformly colored coin.

So I plan to try a low angle, possibly in conjunction with a very close macro distance. The light could still come in under the edges of the lens, while direct overhead light would be blocked by the camera, adding to the shadowing effect.

Another idea is to use a broader light source. I posted a photo of a 1936 Mercury the other day (see thumbnail) which I took using only the 4 foot daylight fluorescent over my workbench. It created a beautiful diffuse lighting. So that may also work to give a nice light variation over the contours.


So much to try! Thanks to both you and Bob! I will try to post any successes, assuming there are some.

 

This is the setup. The camera is a Sony DSC-H9, a so-called superzoom. I have the two Jansjo lights. The camera has a multitude of zoom and macro combinations to try. For now I am going to explore the suggestions above to see what works.

 

Just be aware, a zoom lens is a compromise on every aspect of lens construction. It's a near-generality that even a cheap prime lens (no zoom) is clearer and sharper than any zoom lens, and if you exclude professional-level zooms then it's absolute truth. For a consumer camera such as this one, the compromises in lens construction will favor the features most likely to be used by the widest number of buyers, meaning macro capability won't be high on the list.

The distance of closest focus will grow rapidly as you zoom in, because that function is meant to bring distant features closer, not to make larger images of things close to the camera. At maximum zoom in Macro mode, your lens will not focus on anything closer than 3 feet from the camera.

For the record, for much of my shooting, the Jansjos are touching the sides of the lens, or very nearly. That close.

 

The first pic you showed, taken with the iPhone, is an example of direct-reflection lighting. I've often called this "pseudo-axial", and it gives a bright illumination to the flat surfaces of the coin. The second images taken straight-on but with lights at a lower angle are near "opposite" of the pseudo-axial, as they show very little surface illumination, but a lot of highlighting of the edges of the devices. What you are probably looking for is something between these two extremes, though closer to the axial look. As SD says, with the Jansjos touching the sides of the lens, the reflection angle is at its maximum. Often I go even further and put the Jansjos between the lens and the coin. How close you can get depends on aperture, and you must avoid blocking your view of the coin while simultaneously not shining light directly up to the lens, but this is often the only way to get high enough angle to get close to axial while shooting straight-on.

A while back I created a special way to shape the light coming from the Jansjos so that I could get as close to vertical as possible while not actually shining directly on the coin. I called these "Smile Directors" and you can do a Google search ("smile directors coin photography" works well) for posts to see how it's done. In those posts I described another special technique for placing a mirror where the coin goes so you can precisely position the lighting to maximize angle while avoiding reflections. This is especially important for slabbed coins so you can avoid glare off the slab surfaces.

 

I've done that.