First Attempt Axial-Help/Comments

Back at it again (been absent for a few days for the birth of my 4th grandson, yahoo). I mentioned before that I changed my light (13 watt CFL, 835 lumens, 5000K) and have since added a flat black peice of heavy material that completely covers the setup including the light. I have a flat black peice of wood completely shielding the coin from any direct light. Here is what it looks like.




Although the Morgan looks pretty much like it does in hand, it still has some hot spots. The overall pic looks a little dark, but when I try to adjust the brightness, it just enhances the hot spots.

The colors on the Jefferson look pretty good, but the coin in hand has alot more luster. The picture looks grainy to me like it was shot at a very high ISO. I shot both at ISO400, f8 with a Canon 100m macro.


I am using a secondary light only to manually focus (I am shooting in live view). I turn off the secondary light and use the diffused light only, correctly placed and completely covered. When I do this, I cannot see the coin at all on my monitor, it is pitch black. My shutter is taking 20 seconds to cycle. Now I know this cannot be correct. It seems to me that I have some problems other than just the lighting (kind of like the elephant in the room that I havent seen yet). If y'all aren't tired of beating a half dead horse, I would appreciate any additional help/suggestions anyone may have. Thanks

A lot of improvement there IMO. The Morgan has a much better look (as long it is true to life); maybe a contrast & brightness adjustment in post processing to even out the lighting? The ASE & Jefferson have a few hot spots; ? same solution. Better let the pros chime in here but looks like a huge step forward to me. Keep on tinkering. jprine if this was easy it would take all the fun out of it. Someone said "if at first you succeed try something harder". Can't remember where I saw that but it is both funny and true.

Also... f2.8 3000... What lens are you using? What is your distance to the coin?

I would try going down to ISO 100, using F/10, and choose whatever shutter speed gives you a good light reading. It will probably relatively slow, 1/8 or slower depending on the luster of the coin. The Jefferson photo seems to show that your lighting is not diffused enough, the whole coin should look relatively flat, it almost looks as though just the center is lit. I would recommend with starting with a nice shiny half dollar or something like that. Maybe even a proof. Your picture should come out something like this:





Now my setup is letting some direct light through, but then again, my setup is a piece of glass clamped to a exercise bike, a cheap side table, a 60W CFL in a Walmart lamp (modified with a reflector from a home depot clamp lamp), about 2 ft. back from a sizable sheet of tissue paper. Oh, and I block the light with a FAL magazine.

I modeled my setup after the one found here: http://www.school-of-digital-photog...-setups.html

Looks like you made some good adjustments, and I think you're right on about just needing some more diffusion. When you are post processing, are you just doing brightness/saturation or adjusting all of the levels?

Cherreepicker, how do I add additional indirect light? My whole setup is covered with flat black material. I am using rip stop nylon for a diffuser and have bought some more today to try tonight. I have got to figure out how to move my light further from the material as suggested, it is currently attached to the light. Will work on that tonight also. Thanks for the reply.

Sorry but I missed this before; "Cherreepicker, how do I add additional indirect light? "

I'm using a form of pseudo-axial lighting for toned & PL coins. I use the axial approach bouncing light off a tilted glass but also allow the light to "peek" over the glass to add additional lighting.