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Posted 01/28/2012 4:06 pm
Well I got an itch to try proper Axial lighting this weekend, not the make-shift CD Jewel case I used the last time. :)
I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased two 8x10 frames, $7 for the two of them combined. I then bought some little brass hinges (<$2), and hinged the two frames together on the long side, thus creating a hinged sandwich of two frames. I cut little pieces of square dowel, and affixed "Sticky Tack" to one end, and I use that piece as my propping stick to adjust the angle of the glass when shooting. You can see a picture of the set-up here:
For lighting, I am using two OttLite bulbs in gooseneck lamps places behind a diffuser (paper tower) and I custom white balance the whole rig to those lights before I take any shots. I used the 75ARD1, stopped down to f/5.6. Because of the light loss (a lot because of the diffuser, and a lot that goes through the glass not reflected) the exposure was around 1.5 seconds. As such I used a remote shutter release, and a 2-second timer to avoid any shake.
Here are the images of my most toned coin -- an 1898 Morgan dollar with crazy toning on the obverse, and some wild toning on the reverse along with some fingerprinting. All said and done, I'm pretty happy with these!
They are adjusted for contrast and brightness in post-processing, and sharpened by 1 after being resized to 800px wide.
I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased two 8x10 frames, $7 for the two of them combined. I then bought some little brass hinges (<$2), and hinged the two frames together on the long side, thus creating a hinged sandwich of two frames. I cut little pieces of square dowel, and affixed "Sticky Tack" to one end, and I use that piece as my propping stick to adjust the angle of the glass when shooting. You can see a picture of the set-up here:
For lighting, I am using two OttLite bulbs in gooseneck lamps places behind a diffuser (paper tower) and I custom white balance the whole rig to those lights before I take any shots. I used the 75ARD1, stopped down to f/5.6. Because of the light loss (a lot because of the diffuser, and a lot that goes through the glass not reflected) the exposure was around 1.5 seconds. As such I used a remote shutter release, and a 2-second timer to avoid any shake.
Here are the images of my most toned coin -- an 1898 Morgan dollar with crazy toning on the obverse, and some wild toning on the reverse along with some fingerprinting. All said and done, I'm pretty happy with these!
They are adjusted for contrast and brightness in post-processing, and sharpened by 1 after being resized to 800px wide.
