First Attempt At Shooting Silver.. Opinions And Advice Welcomed

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 2,315
chettieyy Valued Member United States 297 Posts	Posted 12/08/2016 12:25 am Ok so I have been playing around with my new setup ( Canon t6i ) and while I have extension tubes for close up photography and and reversing ring to reverse mount lenses I figured it would be a good idea to get the basics down.. Kinda like jumping into a pool and realizing you don't know how to swim. So I have been playing around with the lighting I have and tinkering with settings here and there.. My main focus has been subject lighting and trying to get the color of the coin correct as well as bringing out the toning on a couple of coins I also played around with when I was trying out the extension tubes. Anyway here are the results thus far. Settings: AV mode Max zoom on a 18-55 lens tethered to my laptop F8 Iso 100 Wb- Tungsten Ev -1/3 Here are a few I shot with other settings a little while back.. sorry can't remember the settings used for those as I was just messing around with extension tubes for smaller coins and also noticed a focus issue where not the whole coin came out clear. It seems like I may have to manually set the focus area instead of letting the camera decide whats best as you will see in the next few pics. However I did manage to get the color to come through that the coins exhibit quite well I think for my first time trying. I know I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn but thats what makes this fun as you can see the results the more you learn. Constructive criticism encouraged Report this Post to the Staff

John1 Moderator United States 56855 Posts	Posted 12/08/2016 04:50 am I am no pro but the first thing I noticed is all the pics seem a bit out of focus. Is that the right F stop for coins? John1 Edited by John1 12/08/2016 06:32 am Report this Post to the Staff
Biedercoins Pillar of the Community United States 1602 Posts	Posted 12/08/2016 05:29 am I'm thinking your focus problem is from not being (your sensor) parallel to the coin face. So the camera is picking a side and focusing on that. Also keep your aperature closed as tight as possible; that Ike and F8 are pretty good, but if you have a lot of light, close it to at least F10. Exposure is pretty good. Report this Post to the Staff
moxking Rest in Peace United States 17900 Posts	Posted 12/08/2016 09:13 am The Ike is definitely the best. The tilt of a few of the coins, especially the quarter can probably be resolved by insuring the lens is parallel to the coin. Report this Post to the Staff
chettieyy Valued Member United States 297 Posts	Posted 12/08/2016 4:38 pm Thanks for the replies moxking, John1 and Biedercoins as well as the responses you gave regarding focus and where I may be having an issue. Quote: The Ike is definitely the best. The tilt of a few of the coins, especially the quarter can probably be resolved by insuring the lens is parallel to the coin. Yes moxking on the ike, the coin was parallel perfect with the camera on tripod, you are correct on the quarter and the half as I took those on an angle to try and catch the toning better.. After some extensive reading especially on photographing coins my understanding is the best and only way to do it and get quality results is with a straight on shot. Quote: I'm thinking your focus problem is from not being (your sensor) parallel to the coin face. So the camera is picking a side and focusing on that. Also keep your aperature closed as tight as possible; that Ike and F8 are pretty good, but if you have a lot of light, close it to at least F10. Exposure is pretty good. Thank you for the response and yes I will experiment between F8-F10 and see how much the results differ with the current lighting setup that I have. Quote: I am no pro but the first thing I noticed is all the pics seem a bit out of focus. Is that the right F stop for coins? John1 Hi John and thanks for the response. Yes F8 is where I should be for shooting coins and can probably get to F10 or 11 depending on lighting and Iso.. My initial settings were suggested to me by rpmsrpms in another thread I have a little further down the list... I agree the quarter, half and mercury are all out of focus and I am pretty sure the fact that those particular coins were shot on an angle not to mention not the best lighting setup at that time definitely had something to do with the focus issue.. Do you think the ike is out of focus as well? Thanks Report this Post to the Staff
mamastinky Valued Member United States 441 Posts	Posted 12/09/2016 05:18 am Quote: Do you think the ike is out of focus as well? I think the Ike photo has the poorest focus; I would step down your f-stop and use the camera's digital zoom to fine-tune the focus manually; I have discovered that the hot white light reflected from silver like that will confuse some cameras' autofocus. Quote: you are correct on the quarter and the half as I took those on an angle to try and catch the toning better.. After some extensive reading especially on photographing coins my understanding is the best and only way to do it and get quality results is with a straight on shot. If your goal is to capture maximum color in general and especially if you plan to photograph a substantial amount of colorful coins, I highly recommend constructing a box for axial shooting (I eventually made one out of carboard and black paper). If you only expect to rarely shoot toners, then a photo like the one you took of Kennedy works just fine in my opinion. That image looks pretty nice. Report this Post to the Staff
chettieyy Valued Member United States 297 Posts	Posted 12/09/2016 09:23 am Took some more shots after playing around last night with my camera settings and lighting on mostly bigger silver coins (some MS and some circulated) just to get an idea of the difference possibly needed to shoot both types of coins. Here are some new pics.. If there is anywhere I can improve please let me know or maybe different settings to try.. Thanks in advance All Pics taken with same settings as above post only this time with the camera parallel and completely dark room except for coin lighting lamps. Report this Post to the Staff
chettieyy Valued Member United States 297 Posts	Posted 12/09/2016 09:30 am Thank You mamastnky for your feedback and also your honest opinion... I went back and played around some more with the camera and lighting last night to see if I could retrieve some better results as I realized a few mistakes I was making. Quote: I think the Ike photo has the poorest focus; I would step down your f-stop and use the camera's digital zoom to fine-tune the focus manually; I have discovered that the hot white light reflected from silver like that will confuse some cameras' autofocus. My goal is more quality than anything but I do have some toners that I would love to shoot some quality pictures of as the toning is unreal.. I have already planned on buying a light box as I think that would render the best results over a broad spectrum of shooting. Quote: If your goal is to capture maximum color in general and especially if you plan to photograph a substantial amount of colorful coins, I highly recommend constructing a box for axial shooting (I eventually made one out of carboard and black paper). If you only expect to rarely shoot toners, then a photo like the one you took of Kennedy works just fine in my opinion. That image looks pretty nice Report this Post to the Staff
MerlinAurelius Valued Member 126 Posts	Posted 01/05/2017 02:08 am The second batch of pics looks good to me. Nice coins Report this Post to the Staff
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