How Do I Improve These Photos? (Demo Of My Mini Studio.)

Hows that?

I reversed the two lamps and their supports so the are out more away from the shooting background. If the shooting back ground were flat on the table the lamps would be up about as close as I think I can get them to the high angle in your picture. Much 'higher' angle and I would not be able to reach through with the camera.

The sunlight idea is interesting I may try that sometime. .

*EDIT*

About all I can think of for an even higher angle is to get a pair of bendy neck desk lamps with a narrower cup around the bulb so the angle would be more direct. These floods I happened to have on hand trying to save money if possible but another 30$s to finesse the end result might be in order.

I agree with the Cap'n, you need to get the angle up higher. What I'm seeing is the features are outlined with light halos, which is an unnatural look. You might be able to modify your diffuser to instead of having a band of diffusion low vs the coin, to make the band much higher, or perhaps make it the entire top of the fixture. This will make the light come from higher up and light the surfaces of the coin rather than hitting it at a low angle.

This is the jansjo lamp I see on Amazon.com that seems to do what might be required. Can anyone see anything wrong with picking up two maybe even three of these for lighting around the coin box right up against the edge facing towards the coin. Not so much to melt the plastic of course but from what I hear LEDs dont really get hot.

http://www.amazon.com/Ikea-Black-Ja...words=jansjo


*** EDIT ***

I just took this test shot moving the lamps as darn near as I could to the shooting box. I actually had to squeeze my left arm in sideways to get the camera, put the camera on two second timer and then press for the shot and pull my right arm out and position the second lamp.

I am starting to see what these images are supposed to look like better. More detail across the face, less 'thickness' around the outside of the detail areas. And I am seeing how much of an impact the angle is having. If no one says the jansjo lamp is a bad idea I am probably going to get two and see if having the angle right up against the box does enough of a change.

This last shot is slightly blurry because I had to almost balance the camera with my left hand for the shot I was taking because of the closeness of the two lamps. But it taught me some of what I have been missing so its still an 'improvement'.

Thanks everyone for their help!

** EDIT EDIT ** Forgot to post the image lol.

Closest is 40 minutes away without traffic. If we had another reason to go it might be worth it but I cant drive it for medical reasons. I'd need my dad to do it and his time is worth a lot more then the 20 or 30 I would save so I might as well just bite the bullet and let my dad spend his time on more important things. (Like helping me build a storage case for my complete set of State Quarter Rolls ).

I currently own four Jansjos, so I wouldn't stop you from getting them. They are pretty easy to white-balance too. My one complaint about them is that the switches on a couple are getting kinda fussy with repeated use, but for the price, I can hardly complain.

Thanks on all the jansjo comments. I'll definitely pick up a pair to start with then.

Yeah. My dad rocks. .

And rmpsrpms for blocking the bottom 50% your thinking blocking more of the lower will make the overall picture look better? Would that be like an exposure thing? I know my dad talked about adjusting the exposure and I only now just remembered so I wonder if maybe reducing the 'lateral light' but increasing the exposure might help.

Assuming most of the light comes directly from the bulb I do have another 6 to 10 inches of space left to drag the angle closer to the camera because the flood lamps have all that metal around them. The jansjo's seem to be more confined and direct so I would imagine I could get them right up almost if not actually against the parfait box. Especially if the LED makes them not hot and the goose neck lets me put them alamost anywhere. If I can work out physicaly fitting the camera I might be able to put them right against the parfait box on either side or darn close.

One problem I was having was the camera was physically blockign me from putting the lights any closer and my hands were creating shadows. If I can somehow get the source of the light to be 'below' my hands I might be able to get something like an 80% angle. Combine that with a higher block on the outside edge at the bottom (that 50% suggestion) it might improve.

I'll try and play with the 50% while I am waiting for the jansjo's. See how it goes.

Thanks!

Its actually really quick to setup. Even with the problem with the lamps having to be so close my right hand doesn't fit I was able to setup the shot using the 2 second delay on the camera (which I use anyway so my pressing of the button doesn't shake the shot) and just slide the last lamp in to place.

But I do have the two jansjo's on delivery so that will change things. See how it goes.

Part problem is my dad's time. I dont have the arts and crafts to do something like this and he has very limited free time so I am grateful I have what I have. I trust this will work once I work out the lights. If it still doesn't then I'll look more into your idea and see if we can reconstruct that.

I'm tired this morning, I have an ear ache and I just woke up lol so I couldnt process everything you wrote but I can tell from your pictures it works for you. If our system doesn't work in the end I'll take a closer look. .

Ear ache went away lol. Think it was temperature change combined with inner ear pressure or something. Went into a cold room and it got horrendous spent some time in a warmer room and it went away. Took a bit though.

I had a hard time processing all of what you wrote this second time around because the images stretched the post like three times the width of my screen and I have an HD screen lol. I did however think I got the gist of it and part of the situation is when it started to involve 2x4s it got way to big and bulky for my little work area hehe.

The angle thing isn't that bad for me. I modified the support strip so its thicker so even a 2x2 guardhouse plastic case sits without sliding. Also the 3x3x3 cube we modified is light enough that it actually holds itself in place when the camera is placed in the hole and all I need to hold is the camera.

Even as it stands now its really quick/easy to setup. I can place the coin and line up the shot through the hole without the camera nearly instantly and then its just a case of placing the camera, firing the timer and moving in the last lamp. Doing a test where you flip a coin (heh, whole new meaning I guess) to do both sides takes maybe 30 seconds to do both sides. Minute if I'm clumsy hehe. Since I like to look at my shots on the computer before I go to the next coin anyway thats the real slow down and I cant afford to buy another camera just because this one doesn't have the live feed so I'm stuck with that. I have lots of free time so its no big deal.

I like my setup and find it fits my personal situation/requirements well. I can also take it around the house if I want to/need to so I dont have to stay cramped up in my bed room which has no windows you can open at the moment.

I'm hoping this jansjo lights will solve the angle of the lighting problem and probably I can place them in a way that I wont have to move them when I take the shot. I will also when they arrive play with the mentioned idea of adding more black at the base to fight the halo I think it was called.

All considered I think I've put enough time into this with my dad that I dont wanna change major project directions when it feels like we're so close to perfecting this one.

Your pictures look great so if that works for you awesome. If my next stage doesn't make major improvements/solve the problem I'll see if I can cut and paste your reply to like word pad or something and word wrap it to something reasonable and see if what you wrote helps. I'm interested but I cant parse it the way those images stretched the text. .