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 Replies: 19 / Views: 4,117 |
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
I have been lurking and reading for about 2 months. The knowledge and advice given was invaluable to me when it came time to try my first couple of shots. Over the weekend I sat down and played with distance and lighting for hours. I took 200 plus shots! Over 90% are utter garbage. I finally was able to get a couple that I felt are at least moving in the correct direction. I used a Panasonic FZ200 in macro mode with the optional macro lens. Suggestions are always welcome and positively needed. Old cleaning but slowly retoning with decent color. Thanks in advance  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
They look nice to me. Keep up the good work. Just a beginner here, but I'm sure someone more experienced will suggest how to improve.
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
 Edamos! Nice coin, nice pictures. The CCF members will help you out. |
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New Member
 United States
9 Posts |
Thanks for the input...but that is really the best of the 200 pictures. The biggest issue is the coin looking in hand like the photo. Here is another one that I would say came out pretty good. It is a little dark and I should have removed it from the mints velvet holder. Also having issues shooting through the plastic. This weekend I should have a small light box and better lights. I will give it another try.  |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
That's not too awful bad.  Is this the actual, maximum size of the coin's image? Or is this CCF's Optimizer reducing the image size to make the file small enough to upload? Crop the images as close as you can to the coin so as to maximize the actual size as displayed, and consider an external host such as Photobucket if our Optimizer is making the coin too small. |
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
Thanks for you suggestion about photobucket. I think to shrink it to upload took away from the image. As for cropping it I'm still learning photoshop as well. I really want to get good at this so I can image my collection. I tried a few graded ones in plastic and they all looked off and washed out. Too much glare.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Both of your posted images are a nice start; let's get you up to speed with cropping and image sizing/hosting before we tweak the actual photographic process. We want first to see the images themselves in their best-possible light.
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
Here are a couple of new attempts that I have only cropped to the coin size. Not getting better but still trying. I hope it works...first attempt at Photobucket!   Edited by Edamos
11/01/2013 10:33 am
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Valued Member
United States
146 Posts |
Edamos, I can't give any advise as your photos are already better than I post.If the Trade dollar photo looks anything like it does in hand that is a great photo.The devices on the obverse look like they are just sitting on the fields. That is a coin with personality. The others will be posting when they get the chance and you will be getting some great advise. regards coffeecup57 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2815 Posts |
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
I most likely should never have found this site. It is eating up all of my free time. I am learning to take what I hope are better coin images...but now with looking up VAM's, Photobucket and working on lighting, focus and attempting to image the coin as close to it looks in hand...hour after hour go by. Here is another attempt, but for some reason my shutter speed is always low. I will keep at it until it doesn't take half an hour per coin to get something I like!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Funny....I recently reclaimed my life back from this photo forum. It's bad enough to be obsessed with a hobby, but when 2 hobbies (photography and coins) collide, the obsession is exponential. I recently joined CPA, Coin Photography Anonymous, and haven't taken a pictures in 3 days. And thank God, I only have lousy equiptment....might not have survived if I had the good stuff.  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
In truth, Edamos, I'm having a hard time coming up with any advice to give you. These are some tremendous images. The 1878-CC is exquisite. VAM-27, right? You've a nice feel for lighting, achieving excellent detail with no washout. The only possible improvement is larger images; I don't know if you've pushed your camera to its' closest-possible distance to the coin to make the images larger on the sensor, but if you could make a Morgan come out at 800px instead of the 500 currently achieved....they're a *little* small for accurate attribution.
This involves additional complexity with lighting, though.
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
VAM-27 is correct...good eye. I will try to move the coin closer to the camera. I'm moving all of my equipment from the basement to a first floor office with much better natural light coming in as well as better overhead lighting that I can easily change to any color bulb or type needed. Using small lights to highlight the coins tends to wash them out for me. So I figured this might help. I still take most of my shots at 1/8th second or slower. From everything I have read that is way to slow. Even with a sturdy tripod and a remote shutter release it should still be faster. So I'm assuming its not enough lighting. I keep the camera at f4-f8 and the iso I have moved from 100-400 to see if I could get a faster shutter speed but very little changes.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
The proof is in the pudding; 1/8 is obviously not a problem for your equipment. Don't sweat the exposure if the result pleases the eye. I should think going from f8/ISO100 would make a huge exposure difference from f4/ISO400, though; are you running in full Manual mode?
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
I'm running in A mode. Camera is only a couple of weeks old. This whole process is new. If I use manual mode what settings should I shoot for.
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Replies: 19 / Views: 4,117 |
Posted 10/29/2013 4:17 pm
