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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Denis Richard, post: 4881354, member: 112673&quot;]Static axial lighting is limited and I understand why people tend to dislike it. I also prefer light with direction to give me both highlights and shadows on the coin face. Static Axial lighting, when used with a tube around the coin to block the side light, does create an unappealing, one directional flat light, but I don&#039;t use static axial lighting. My axial lighting setup, I call dynamic axial lighting, is as hybrid using the side and top light for the best of both. (there&#039;s a picture of it in the post above)&nbsp; I want shadows and highlight, and the ability to control their contrast, to bring out the depth of the text and texture of the coin. I didn&#039;t buy my axial lighting set up, I made it.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178636[/ATTACH]</p><p>I use a combination of the downward light from the glass panel and the side light (diffused) from the light source to illuminate the coin face. I go even further than that. By rotating the glass panel on the axis of the coin, and tilting it, I can angle the top light left or right, up or down, to suit the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178685[/ATTACH]I also position the coin to the light source to give me highlights where I want them on the coin. As you can see in the set up picture in the above post, I have my light on the left hand side of the set up, so for the image below, face pointing right, to have the highlights along the nose ridge, the coin was upside down, pointed left, and I saw it upside down in my viewfinder when I took the shot. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178644[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I cut out and rotated the image in post.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>You&#039;re right, they&#039;re not, but they make coin photography soooo much easier, especially if you do a lot of it. For starters, I&#039;m not a fan of mixing my light sources, window light and ring lights, since they are almost never they same colour at the same time, so I use flash. Correct colour temperature light is also an important part of colour management. When you&#039;re using long shutter speeds, you&#039;re letting more ambient light into the camera, and then you need to be concerned with all the light in the room. Everything from your overhead lights to the glow from the monitor the will affect the image. You need to work in the dark, from only the light of the light source. Sure, you can work this way. When I shoot f14 at 1/200 (with a flash and 300W modeling light) I can have every light in the room on, so I can see exactly what I&#039;m doing as I work, and if I take a shot without the flash firing, the image will be black. The room lights, my working environment lights, have no affect on the image at all. To be fair, I keep the overhead lights off because the glare on the top side of the glass panel makes looking through it difficult when I&#039;m focusing and adjusting the glass&#039;s and diffuser, but all my other lights stay on. Flashes allow precise control of the amount of light you place on the coin and fully adjustable in 1/10 stop increments. The modelling light allows me to see exactly where and how the light is falling on the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178694[/ATTACH]&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Some would say it certainly is stupid. Personally, I think the added quality in both product and workflow is worth the investment, but I am absolutely biased on the issue.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178646[/ATTACH]</p><p>...and I never shoot on a black background. I understand the desire to shoot the coin and background at the same time, but it simply isn&#039;t possible to get the get the proper exposure for both in one image without independently lighting both&nbsp; subjects. Otherwise, one will always suffer to achieve the other.&nbsp; Make the coin the priority and expose it correctly and cut it out.&nbsp; The biggest advantage to having the coin image on a separate layer from the background is in editing the coin image itself. Color, saturation, hue, brightness or other adjustments don&#039;t affect the purity of the background color or image. Shadow / reflection adjustments don&#039;t rely on the actual lighting used, but are added as desired.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178682[/ATTACH]</p><p>I understand many people aren&#039;t handy with photo editing software. It does have a big learning curve, but the unfortunate fact is, it is essential to quality coin images. Every image, no matter how perfect in camera, still needs some editing. I generally adjust curves (set on luminosity blend mode), hue / saturation, and vibrance. For exceptionally matte, worn or monochromatic coins, like below, I will use slight dodge and burn techniques to bring out the subtle relief on the coin face.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178724[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178648[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Axial lighting is not for everyone.&nbsp; If you&#039;re interested in it, I hope this was helpful.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1178684[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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