New At Photography, Request Guidance....

Same goes for any multi-shot processing, including focus stacking or super-resolution.

But there is one area of multi-shot processing that makes sense to me, related to coin photos: image averaging. It is not possible to take a completely acceptable, single shot of a coin. I know that's a bold statement, but it is really not possible to get lighting, luster, color, surface details, shadow details, resolution, etc all in one shot. When I post a coin photo online, sometimes the first question is "does it look like that in-hand?". Well, of course it does, if you hold it in the same way with the same lighting as when you took the photo. But change the angle, light type, etc and it looks different. By doing multi-shot averaging, you can take a color shot, a luster shot, and a surface detail shot and then merge them together later. In the end the coin won't look at all like it does in hand in a single view, but more a collage of different views.

What I can see merit for in HDR is elimination of shadows and highlights, basically centering-up the histogram. Haven't tried it yet on coins.

Sure...here are some pics of the same coin taken with 5 different lighting styles:

Single light high angle for luster and color


Single light lower angle for luster and surfaces


Single light very low angle to emphasize surfaces


Single light with white reflector/diffuser


Two LEDs with Directors ("RSD" "Ray's Super Diffuser")


And here are some Weighted Average Composites:

2-Shot Composite with White Diffuser and Luster + Surface shots


2-Shot Composite with high angle Luster and low angle Surface shots


2-Shot Composite with low angle Luster and White Reflector shots


5-Shot Composite with all shots averaged


These shots were all taken with an el-cheapo 75mm Vivitar enlarger lens that has significant internal haze...

You should put a smiley after that first question, unless you are serious, and if so please re-read my earlier post. The question is actually a pet peeve of mine...

;) perhaps you are right... I did mean to put a smiley.

It is a nice Cent, and maybe one of the most photographed coins around. I've taken literally thousands of photos of it! It came from an original roll whose storage conditions over 50 years in a safe caused the coins to all tone beautifully. I still have most of that roll, or at least most of the more dramatically-toned examples. Man would I love to find another roll like that!

The RSD setup was optimized with this coin, so it's good to hear that it does the coin justice. Some time I will take a picture of the RSD in action...

All right gentlemen,

Super Dave, thanks for being the Sign Post. I interpret the sign to read, "No Return Beyond This Point."
The Pentax K-x arrived yesterday. My lenses appear to fit well, including the Sigma Macro 1:2.8, f= 50mm.

I was able to adjust the neck strap.

Then I went to the operating manual.
It was like a book, "How To Speak Chinese." Written in Chinese.
And 300+ pages in length.

I wouldn't mind learning the basics from Matthew Harrison Brady, but this camera is a little intimidating.

Before bedtime I read 35 pages, understood half of them, and managed to get the batteries installed.
Unfortunately the "rechargable batteries" weren't charged.
Tonight I installed charged batteries, which allowed me to delve into the unknown, with some power.

Newbismatic, I love the variety of your images of the Lincoln Cent. You set the bar high. I want to do similar work, but may not live long enough to master this camera.

BenE,
Oh Dear Sweet Brother of Pentax, I fear that some night you will hear my hand knocking on your door, in desperate need of advise.
This level of complexity could not exist without a significant number of followers, so I suppose that many others have mastered this camera.
If fortune prevails, I will join your ranks.

Others, thank you for your contributions and encouragement.

If I can ever figure out how this thing works, I'll have a lot of photo's to share.

Thanks,
Kurt

This is a great thread! Lots of fun and interesting stuff.

My RSD setup is really just a pair of Jansjo LED lights with what I call Directors: a combination of diffusers and reflectors. These Directors create a "strip" of light about 1-1/2" long and 1/4" wide, sort of like a very small fluorescent bulb. The directors are reflective everywhere inside their (taped-together) structure except where the light exits (exit aperture), where they have a piece of translucent, thick vellum. On the surface that faces the coin, they have a piece of flat black paper to keep any stray light from hitting the lens and causing flare. The "wall" of this black paper is vertical so that I can get the lights as close as possible to vertical from the coin with the exit aperture. They are glued together, then taped in place on the LED head.

Here are some pictures from different angles, plus a picture of both in action. Note the angle of approx 10:00 and 2:00, but in this case the lights are distributed over a much wider clock angle of 12:00 to 4:00 and 12:00 to 8:00 but at different angles to the coin. This seems to make a very pleasing combo of direct and diffuse lighting, and elimination of hotspots.