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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,218 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
This is another 'old coin' which I shot again, using my new technique. What's tough to shoot on this coin is the obverse detail, which gets obscured by highlights under direct lighting--so I opted for more angled, diffuse overcast light--which even picked out the die cracks. Yes--I use natural light for coin shots, and it often works very well!  A lot of my ancients have different darkness/luster between obverse and reverse, as seen here.  Syracuse Sicily, Hieron II 275-215 BC, AE18 5.74g Head of Poseidon left Ornamental trident, dolphin to each side "IER-WNOS" below Calciati 194 Edited by DVCollector 09/01/2014 7:44 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
DV, I have an almost identical coin, perhaps the same engraver. I use natural light all the time. It has it's drawbacks, but it's all I have. 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5155 Posts |
The photos border on professional. I struggle with ancient coin photography like whao. BTW I love the fact your coin names the tyrant. I have one, but I dont think its quite as nice as yours.
Edited by Ancientnoob 09/01/2014 11:32 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
Doucet, yours is nice too--and the styling is similar.  I agree that ancients are tough to photograph--but have a lot of potential with the high relief.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2480 Posts |
Very nice photo. I'm having problems with focusing the image. No matter what I do lately they are not sharply focused. I tried image stacking this weekend but if you're starting with poorly focused images, it doesn't help.
I must take 50-100 pictures of each coin and still I'm rarely happy with the focus. :(
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
ThisisFun, as someone who has done a lot of macro work, I would first try to establish the closest focusing distance with your camera. Often the best way would be to attach the camera to a tripod and focus on an object which you successively move close in each shot. Normally, a camera with autofocus will indicate where you have focus in the viewfinder. That's the methodical way to do it. However, I'm more of a results-oriented photographer, and I'll just about try anything until I get the results I want. That's how I arrived at that method I linked above. 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4973 Posts |
very attractive coin, and a nice pic of it.
one of those is on my "hit list".
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Valued Member
United States
152 Posts |
although not directly on topic of this lovely bronze, I have used color corrected CFDL bulbs (pick a nice high wattage) housed in a reptile clamp lamp with ceramic base. That, with a photo neutral gray background, has given me some very nice shots. And the upside is that I don't have to wait for a nice sunny day.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
I should add that I have lights to shoot coins too, but I find that overcast daylight really reduces reflections, particularly on this coin which has a very shiny obverse.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,218 |
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