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 Replies: 23 / Views: 4,745 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
I recently purchased a Proof Like Morgan and would like to get a picture of the reflections in it's mirrors. My eye sees the reflections sharply, but the camera isn't picking it up. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Edited by edweather
05/25/2015 2:53 pm
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Valued Member
Australia
90 Posts |
Post up Make and model of camera you are using.
Without this basic info we would only be guessing.
Posting an image that you have already taken, good or bad will also help to aid in an answer.
Hand held, tripod or copy stand mointed ?
Natural light, Desk lamp, flouro, LED
all contribute to an answer for a possible solution.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7375 Posts |
I'm using a point and shoot Olympus C-5500. It's a basic P&S but does have a super macro button. I have a tripod, but took these hand held because it was easy to monkey around with angles and lighting. I have a couple of Jansjos I use for lighting. Here's a couple of pics. To my eye the reflections were as sharp in the coin, but as you can see it showed up blurry in the pics.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6478 Posts |
Stunning morgan. No idea on the pics though, and uhh, whose phone number is that? Lol!
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
What you're shooting is exactly what you'd be seeing at that distance from the coin. If we say the coin has 6" mirrors, the sensor of the camera needs to be within 6" to see those mirrors. Aiming directly at the face of the coin rather than shooting from an angle might help, as well.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
OK, so I'll move the camera closer and give it another try. I'd really like to be able to get this on a photo. Would a manual focus possibly work, so I could focus into the coin?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
And consider including a ruler on the paper since in-focus distance is a factor.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Having seen these enough from my own camera, I can reasonably conclude that it'll make a PL designation. However, it's not something we've actually set up a procedure for. What comes to mind is maybe setting the coin up on an a horizontal angle and shooting down onto it, and physically holding what you're reflecting near the coin but out of the camera's view. Unfortunately, I can't afford PL coins so I can't test the theory.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Photograph in the normal way you have found best. As an addition, and to take advantage of the mirror fields, set up a small object close by, (e.g. a nice Flying Eagle cent), such that the reflected image of it comes through the camera lens. Practice using a small mirror and a common penny. Some nice photographic artwork, rather than just good photography, may come out of this ! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Dave, thanks for the vote of confidence, it means a lot especially if I decide to sell it. sel_691, Thanks, yes I have some decent pics(for me that is,)shot in the normal way. A nice shot showing a reflection would be awesome. I like the idea of practicing with a mirror. Probably a good idea before I drop this thing.  Tried a few more shots tonight and so far nothing worth talking about. Edited by edweather
05/25/2015 9:42 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
I would use a black background behind the camera to produce black fields of the coin. Here is one of my attempts with the black cloth behind the camera;  |
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Valued Member
Australia
90 Posts |
edweather.
To try and capture in the manner that you are trying to achieve :-
Set camera to Aperture Priority Mode.
Set Aperture to F8
Set ISO to either 200 or 400
(I would go to 400, this ISO change is being made to maintain a faster Shutter Speed, under 1/60th and camera shake can be just as bad as poor focus ability)
At this aperture setting your little Olympus is set to its native maximum depth of field.
This will allow more of the central area to remain in focus.
Try to maintain the document position as in photo 1.
To increase the focus area you would need to move further away from the subject coin.
Somwhere along the way the Right Distance from subject will be found.
The yellow drop cloth, to me, is a bit off putting, a white covering may improve the Silver reflective area better.
It's a matter of trial and error.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
All great replies. Looks like I have some experimenting to do. Yeah the orange drop cloth is a microfiber cloth. Just feel comfortable with it handy to not scratch the coin....but a white microfiber cloth is cheap enough at Walmart, will pick one up. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3186 Posts |
Here's one I shot. This one was shot a while ago but I liked how it turned out...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Ironically I'm not trying to achieve the black pool effect. I'm actually trying to have something show in the mirror of a PL Morgan to accentuate the fact that it is PL and reflective. ....but on second thought, it would be awesome if I could get my coin to photograph with white devices surrounded by black.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3186 Posts |
my apologies Ed.. obviously as I've aged, and believe me I'm aged, I didn't read your initial post very well... I haven't tried doing what you're trying to do but would love to see some results when you get it done....
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Replies: 23 / Views: 4,745 |
Posted 05/25/2015 01:40 am
