Still Trying For A Good Coin Picture Method

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Author	Replies: 3 / Views: 1,228
snitchard Valued Member United States 420 Posts	Posted 07/18/2023 12:36 pm Hello, My apologies, I don't know how to resize the images in the post. I'm still practicing at trying to get good coin pictures. I bought a $6 table top cell phone tripod. I took a few pictures of the following: A random circulated penny found in my pocket A random circulated quarter found in my pocket My 1979 Proof Set My 1986 ASE My 1987 Commemorative Constitution Dollar (Proof) I removed the ASE and Commemorative Dollar from their protective holders and I have never done that before and was VERY nervous! These pictures are "un-doctored" and not cropped. These pictures are "un-doctored" but cropped. These pictures are cropped and "doctored" meaning I played with exposure, contrast, brightness, etc. I'm not sure if you're supposed to "doctor" coin pictures or not. I'm just using my living room ceiling light for lighting and all the the lights in my house are this same kind of light and I'm clueless how to diffuse a celling light. I no longer have my scanner so I'm really trying to practice. I think the cropped and doctored ones look the best overall for the most part, but again I'm not sure that coin pictures should be edited like that. I just want to be able to share parts my collection here and on my website. I considered taking pictures of my entire collection but that would probably take years and because Proof sets, mint set, and ASE coins (which comprise the majority of my collection) have a lot of similarities from year to year I figured there is no need for a picture of every single one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Rich Rich M. - Collector since 2008 Report this Post to the Staff

John1 Moderator United States 56855 Posts	Posted 07/18/2023 12:41 pm Way,way too many photos. What is your light source? Too much glare. Have you tried this yet? http://goccf.com/t/422658 Or these? http://goccf.com/t/160092 http://goccf.com/t/116512 John1 Report this Post to the Staff
snitchard Valued Member United States 420 Posts	Posted 07/18/2023 12:51 pm John1 - I'm just using the regular ceiling light in my living room. I have tried the book/bottlecap method with a ring light but got the same results. I have no clue how to reduce external lighting (ceiling light) in the room when using the book/bottlecap method. I have no clue what I'm doing wrong. Rich M. - Collector since 2008 Edited by snitchard 07/18/2023 1:41 pm Report this Post to the Staff
coinphotofan Valued Member United States 71 Posts	Posted 08/27/2023 9:00 pm There are two major issues with these pictures. The focus is off in some of them, and the lighting is not right. I will not discuss the focus issue, as I don't have any clue on the reason. But the lighting is much too simple. There are a few rules with coin picture lighting. First, different coin surfaces call for different lighting. You don't want to use the same light on a proof coin as on a business strike coin. Second, you need to be able to change the width, position (indicated by the clock position such as 10 o'clock), and angle (relative to the coin surface) of the light source. With a ceiling light, none of these can be adjusted. The much-discussed diffusion method is used to widen a narrow light source, in addition to softening the light. Your ceiling light is already wide enough. No more diffusion is needed. Third, often more than one light is needed. One light is usually used as the main source, and the other for a specific purpose, such as bringing out the cart wheel effect/light band, or creating shadows to enhance the 3D effect. With some coins with very reflective surfaces, probably one light may work withe help of some cards. But this is the exception, not the rule, and requires advanced lighting skills. To improve the quality of your coin pictures, please review some of the discussions on this forum on lighting. The following example is taken from one of the threads here. (I don't remember exactly which one.) And the result is outstanding. To share another example of coin picture lighting, the following illustration was provided by the panda coin expert Peter Anthony, showing the lighting setup when he took a picture of a silver panda coin. He mentioned that it took him more than one hour to come up with this setup. He was once a product photographer and knew what he was doing. Report this Post to the Staff
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