How Do You Photograph Proof Coins?

I covered mine with a double layer of paper towel.

Hello rmpsrpms!




Could you explain a bit what this 10-2 lighting is? Is there a standard way coins should be lighted? Do you have any example shot?

Thank you very much!

Most people think of the 3 physical dimensions as height, width, and depth, ie XYZ. But you can describe those dimensions with other parameters with exactly the same results. For coin lighting, XYZ is very inadequate for describing what is important, so I use a different set of dimensions:

Distance from the coin
Clock position
Angle from horizontal

These 3 dimensions completely describe the position of the light the same way X Y and Z do, but are much more useful in setting up the lighting to meet illumination goals.

Regarding clock position, most coin photographers will light a coin either with a single light that shines from around 12:00, or more often with two lights, one at 10:00 and one at 2:00. Coins often depict things like people, eagles, or other physical objects, so these positions give a "natural" look to the design features, as if they were being lit by the sun coming from above.

Unfortunately, the 3 dimensions only describe the position of the light, but there is another important dimension: size. With the 4 dimensions of distance, clock position, angle from horizontal, and size, you can completely describe a lighting style.

Thank you rmpsrpms!

Which equipment do you use for lighting if I may ask? How do you diffuse?

By the way, after your initial input I found this article which seems extremely well written: https://coinimaging.com/photography.html

Thanks!

That article by Mark Goodman is indeed very good. He also wrote a book on Coin Photography (2 editions) that are excellent.

I personally use a masked ringlight for coins, not so different from what has been recommended on this thread, but smaller in diameter.

Good luck doing anything with only one inch between the lens and the coin, but there are some small diameter ringlights available that you might be able to make work with some creative work.

The best way to ensure the coin is parallel with the sensor is to place a small mirror where the coin goes. Stop down the lens to improve depth of field, and then focus on the camera lens as it appears in the mirror. Now you can adjust the camera so you are looking directly at the center of the camera lens, and the coin will be level.

Good morning Brandmeister!

Have you tried playing with a photo-editing program to tweak the various light levels? That can help a tremendous amount!

I took the liberty of playing with your last photo! Hope you don't mind.
The idea is: the proof field needs to be black so you "lower the blacks", on the contrary you want the face to be bright so you "raise the shadows" and/or "whites". Lastly, you will have some details of the coin that are overexposed (they reflected the light and "blinded" the sensor of the camera) so you try to correct them by "lowering the highlights".
In such black/white type of photos you can also lower saturation (how "colorful" a picture is) and/or play with "white balance" or "hue" to remove the yellow/whatever tint which derives from which light bulbs you used.



The coin seems to be inside a flip so that makes all more difficult and in this case also shows the dust more prominently.

By the way, since the proof will have a lot of black, it's probably best to choose a different color for the background of the photo?

Thanks, Jbuck. Joe, I will give your ideas a try on the next iteration of the box. The coin wasn't in a flip. It was a folder-filler that I bought for a buck. The flip that it came in wasn't exactly sterile, and I handled the coin with gloves (plus there's a lot of dust from sawing cardboard with a steak knife). I didn't want to put a nice coin in the prototype in case I knocked it over making adjustments.