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 Replies: 11 / Views: 2,317 |
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Valued Member
United States
51 Posts |
I am trying top find out a better lighting combinations for shooting small silver coins (dimes and quarters) with a lot of luster. Here is an example of what I am looking at: this dime has a lot of luster, and I am trying to capture it without loosing too much contrast / details. Here are my two different lighting combinations. First - axial lighting. I love the details and contrast on this shot. However, there is very little of the "in-hand" luster on this picture.  This next shot is taken with two overhead Janjos, diffused with clear paper, by the rays on the coin you can see its approximately at 2:30 and 10:30. The light is straight down, about half way from the lens to the coin, and about three coin diameters from the top of the coin. This shot shows a lot of luster (like the coin in hand), but I am loosing the details and contrast.  I am looking for suggestions and/or recommendations on improving my second shot, as I think it has most potential. Not sure if I can improve on my first shot. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
Both techniques have their advantages/disadvantages. I may just have to give the Axial technique a "shot" on my next batch of ebay stuff, just for comparison. I believe that alot of sellers use the axial type lighting for details since the images are kinda "non-lustrous" like this sellers image of a gorgeous Walker I just picked up;  The seller states that this half has a hint of rainbow toning. Edited by oih82w8
11/16/2012 3:05 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4038 Posts |
Axial lighting gives that great "museum" look. Lots of nice shadow detail and definition of the devices. The only arrangement I've found that comes close to axial in definition and shadow detail, but still picks at least a solid hint of the luster, is my "smile director" setup. You can move the smiles farther from the coin to improve luster as you like.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5862 Posts |
Why not use both? With my setup, I have one overhead light and one from the side and it seems to work pretty well.
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Valued Member
 United States
51 Posts |
Ray, I've been playing around with a "smile detector" concept, but can't get a lot of improvement over the simple diffused setup. Not sure if I use "smile detector" correctly: I am positioning the coin in the shadow of the detector, is this the right way?
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Valued Member
United States
51 Posts |
barryg: why have I not thought about it before? To make a long story short, I have tried the combo (axial + 1 overhead Jansjo - diffused) and here are the results. I think its a definite improvement over the previous shots. What do you think?   I still want to work on reducing a bit of glare, maybe adding to diffusion on the overhead light will get me there. Will post the results... |
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Valued Member
United States
51 Posts |
Here is an update. I have purchased El Nikkor 80mm lens on ebay, and continued to work on my lighting configuration. I think I have gotten to the point where I am somewhat happy with my results. I am using 3 jansjo lights, 2 are used in axial configuration, 1 is slightly diffused with clear "cooking" paper, straight down, 2 o'clock. Here are the results. What do you think?   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5862 Posts |
I think the pictures look great!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Looking very good Kamorka. Better color fidelity and focus than previous.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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New Member
United States
21 Posts |
The pic improved qute a bit, nice job.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
674 Posts |
 . The final shots are wonderful.! |
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Valued Member
United States
51 Posts |
Thank you, guys. I think I will make one small modification in my next shots. Currently, I am using a spare Nikon battery to shield the coin from the direct light (axial set up). The battery is grey color, but I think its throwing a bit of color on the coin - will replace it with a small black box.
Ray, this El Nikkor is a great looking lens, however I am glad I have purchased Spiratone and Omegaron lenses as well - I have learned so much through trial and error - it makes me appreciate that much more the intricacies and differences of the better lens.
Once again, thank you everybody, and especially to Ray and Dave for your time and effort in educating everybody on this forum to take decent pictures of their coins.
Pavel
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Replies: 11 / Views: 2,317 |
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Posted 11/16/2012 7:15 pm
