Reflected Light

Heres a quick photo of the lighting set up

I had been thinking about placing a reflector the way you mentioned. I have a dead Chinese ring light and the plan of action is to use the lens filter fittings from that ring light and attach a cutting board to the ring light housing which clips on to those fittings.

I have also been looking out for the Oly Lieberkuhn reflectors for 18 months but they are ridiculously expensive and I think too small for coins

May be contact this guy

http://www.shapeways.com/product/G5...meter-f-35mm

Sorry for the subject, its not a great example. This coin was in some change I picked up in Colorado at the summer seminar. The boards were positioned as RMPSRMPS suggested. I think I need to bring the fourth light I have into play but I only have three snoots( a fourth is in the post) I used only two lights and removed the honeycomb at the end of the snoots. I also had to change the lens ( previously I was using a Minolta 100mm F4 bellows lens) to an oly 135 mm F 4.5 bellows lens. The reason for the change was at the magnification I was using the minolta and bellows were colliding with the boards. I set it up so quickly I forgot to check what F stop I was using. Magnification is just over 1:1

Edit just checked the lens was at F8, 5.6 is actually the best for the lens and magnification on my rig.

rmpsrmps made a suggestion regarding the positioning of the boards. It matched an idea I had had for a long time. After the trial with the penny, which impressed me despite the less than ideal subject, I decided to put that idea into action. As mentioned earlier in this thread I had a dead ring light, yesterday I removed the LEDS and wiring I then permanently modified it with a dremel. This morning I purchased a very large polypropylene cutting board. The new board is 45cm by 30 cm( aprox 1 ft 6 inches by 1 ft) I cut a hole dead center then epoxied in the ring light housing. I can now screw the ring light filter mounts on to my lenses and then clip on the board. It looks ridiculously large but I like the results( same two coins as previously pictured):





Lens was an Olympus ( Oly) OM 135 F4.5 bellows lens. I set it to F8 as there is a limitation with my rig. The camera arm is friction drive. With too much weight it sits slightly off level, so although F 5.6 is best, with the weight of this new reflector, F 8 was necessary to ensure the coins were in focus

WOW!

I find this comment rude and worse completely unhelful!





I react that way because in other forums one can at least expect constructive teaching criticism. The people there will add links to other threads that serve to teach and encourage. That shouldn't have to be pointed out here.

If you are going to make such comments then you need to go all the way and explain where your coming from

How does it provide confirmation?


Here is a "coin" the technique seems to be very good for.

It is neither a proof nor a DMPL The medal is 64.5 mm in diameter is cataloged as morel number one. It is a very important part of New Zealand Numismatics, this example being silver is only 1 of 10. There is one gold example in the Dunedin Museum. Much more common is the copper strike( Maximum population 25 examples)






Yes on the reverse I over exposed some highlights. Camera Sony A7r, lens minolta 100 mm F4 @ F8. Used silent shutter mode so neither the front shutter or the rear shutter were activated.

Interesting point to raise I will keep note of it. Your experience matches mine prior to finding the cutting boards. I gave up on Aluminium foil long ago for that same reason. However one day I will try it again to see if I can develop my own technique for using it.

I made an observation earlier in the thread, but I didn't emphasize it. I repeat and expand:

I think the cutting boards I am using are acting much more like diffusers' than reflectors. The cutting surface is covered with a minute cross hatch pattern, I assume to stop vegetables and meat from slipping when the board is wet. When I used smooth white reflectors( such as a white acrylic tray) I did not get results anything like what I am seeing now.

The cutting board is producing significantly different results. I suspect what is happening is the light when it hits the cross hatched surface is, as it is being reflected, being scattered in many different directions. Effectively the cutting boards are allowing me to increase the lighting distance while ensuring the light has a fog like/defocused quality when it illuminates the subject.

The second important factor that I suspect is involved is the fact that the boards are slightly transparent. I first tried them out as normal diffusers, but the amount of light they transmitted made for exposures approaching 30 seconds( bulb). The boards are therefore transmitting some light( at a guess, from my diffuser attempt 15%). It is highly likely some of the reflected light is not just coming from the boards surface but also its internal structure...which of course would also create a fog like quality/glow I feel I am using clumsy wording so I hope I am communicating what I believe is happening adequately.