Best I Can Get On A $400 Budget? Help

I use pieces of Canson Opalux. They are available for about $4-5 per sheet on Amazon or at your local hobby shop. You can use them to make various kinds of Directors or RSD's as well if you want to try those out.

Your lights are too low an angle from horizontal. Bring them up higher, and maybe take a couple of shots at each step to see what the best angle is...Ray

PS See how all the features are surrounded by a glowing "halo". This means your lights are hitting the edges of the devices rather than the tops. This is opposite of what you're looking for...

It's not the distance from the coin that I'm concerned about, but the angle from horizontal. The reflected image has a much higher angle, nearly axial (90 deg), so shines light on the surface of the coin rather than at the edges of the devices, which lights the surface and puts the edges in shadow.

I often put a mirror on the surface in place of the coin, and then move the lights around until they are shining back nearly over where the coin goes. If the coin is raw, then you can even have the lights shine directly back over the surface of the coin. If you shoot slabs, you need to back the lights away a little to avoid the direct reflections from slab surface. Try the mirror, and show us a picture of what you see...

That looks better. You may want to add some diffusion. You're using Jansjos or similar, correct? If so you can just cover them over with a tissue and tape or rubber band it behind the light head. Don't try this if you're using halogens...Ray

Second photo is diffused

Just comparing the 2. So you think the first photo is better?

Thanks Ray...I will do some adjustments on the penny pictures.

Here is a BU nickel...

Is your white balance adjusted for the nickel? I'm seeing a yellowish tone, and the background looks brown.