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 Replies: 195 / Views: 19,028 |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
If the light at "7" is coming from 7:00, there can be no area directly facing that light which isn't illuminated. This is not the case here because of the line of shadow demarcating the edge of the C. Why is that line not illuminated? On the other hand, with a light at 1-2:00 high, the bright inside curve of the C - where the leftmost line labeled "7" points - will shadow the "shoulder" of the letter and show this illumination pattern. I'm not sure the 11:00 light is even involved here, and see no way that anything is being reflected from around 7:00.
The thing to do here is to shoot identical shots at the same settings as the two-light shot, only with one light off each time, to see where the true single-light highlights are.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Here's what it should look like for each of the positions plus the combo: .....................................11:00.......................................................................................1:00.....................................   .....................................7:00.......................................................................................11+1+7....................................   Adding the annotated original:  Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.comEdited by rmpsrpms
06/06/2015 3:41 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
This might help explain the shadow demarcating the edge of the "C":  |
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
9163 Posts |
I think I will forget those shots and try a zoom mode shot tomorrow.
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Valued Member
United States
430 Posts |
WOW, impressive graphic. So the best light "angle of attack" ( borrowing an aviation term) is above 45 degrees?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Yes, above 45 degrees...typically 60-80 degrees. My preference is to have the edges of the devices darker than the surfaces. To achieve this, you must go to these higher angles, which will minimize highlights on the device edges and spread the reflections over a broader area, thus making the illumination more even. Here is a modified graphic to show this:  Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.comEdited by rmpsrpms
06/07/2015 12:52 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
OK new pic in zoom mode, lights 11:30 and 12:30 , adjusted the brightness to 60 and contrast to 35 still have some dark spots at 7 o'clock if I move the left light I can get rid of them but then the dark spot moves to 9:00  The coin in hand does not have those dark areas, it's a nice new coin. Edited by mcshilling
06/07/2015 12:52 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Looks much much better. Mottoes are level. Better focus and clarity. Overall better exposure. I don't see the dark areas you are talking about, though. You mean the slightly darker area at bottom of the shield? If so, then you are there because it's almost impossible to get lighting so even that you could get rid of those kinds of variations across the coin.
Now, on the negative side...
You've blown-out highlights in several places on the ribbon, and a bit around EPU. Keep the same lighting, but turn down the Ev a bit more.
Also, what does "brightness to 60 and contrast to 35" mean? Are you adjusting these in software?
Let's see this shot, or perhaps your next one, with no processing at all and then we can judge the quality of the "raw material" coming from the camera.
I assume this is done with Neutral style, 0 sharpening, -4 contrast?
Excellent progress.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
Quote:
but turn down the Ev a bit more.
When you say down do you mine -5 to -1 ? Quote:
Are you adjusting these in software?
Yes Quote:
I assume this is done with Neutral style, 0 sharpening, -4 contrast?
yes Will post one without touching it |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Make sure you are moving the zoom box over the brightest area of the coin. I'd suggest having the box surround the top of the N of ONE, and extend left enough to view the top surface of the N, the surface of the ribbon, and the field at top left. Critical focusing would be to the ribbon surface, since it is between the field and the top of the N. When you focus on the ribbon, if the field or the top of the N go out of focus, then you need to stop down a stop to improve depth of field. Or you could accept the shallow depth of field. Or you could stack. But stopping down to f/8 or even f/11 should not compromise sharpness much if at all once you downsize. Being out of focus, even a little bit, is far worse than having a bit of diffraction blur.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
This is the same shot untouched except for resizing. I will have to reread your last note a few times and will try.  edit- both these are on F5.6 Edited by mcshilling
06/07/2015 4:42 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
That is excellent raw material but you can do better by taking the same shot at f8. Don't change anything else and post the downsized, unedited shot.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Your photo above is good enough that I thought I'd do some editing on it. Now, I don't have the coin in front of me so don't know if this is closer or farther from what it really looks like. Only you can tell, but this gives you the idea of what you can do with good raw material, and I am not all that good at editing...  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
Same pic but on F8  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9395 Posts |
Looks great -- more realistic than most of my recent shots.
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Posted 06/06/2015 12:50 pm
