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 Replies: 36 / Views: 5,239 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
I've been really busy, but finally carving out some time to practice my coin photography. Do these photos look good enough for ebay, etc.? 
 Thanks! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1901 Posts |
They look pretty good maybe cut out less rim with round photo?
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
666 Posts |
Good point! Thanks so much. :)
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6514 Posts |
Think they look spectacular. I do agree with Mrzllewellyn about not cropping so close to your image. Can I ask what kind of setup you're using?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
Nice to see a post from you, Mark.  I agree with the above comments, but for ebay's sake, they are perfectly fine and better than most. In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Valued Member
United States
415 Posts |
I think they look fine as long as it shows the same color of the Lincoln Cent in the picture as it does with coin in hand. I disagree with above comments about over cropping. As long as your not cropping out any of the ACTUAL coin, closer the better. With ebay, It will make your "main" photo stand out from the others who didn't fully crop when scrolling through a search page. Edited by Copper Penny Connection
06/03/2018 02:22 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
Quote:
As long as your not cropping out any of the ACTUAL coin, closer the better. That's what is being referenced. Some of the actual coin was circle-cropped out of the final image(s). In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
Edited by spru
06/03/2018 02:31 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9159 Posts |
When you post pics try to get the finished size the same on both. Also on the obv. side turn the coin so Liberty and the Date are straight.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
Thanks everyone for your feedback and suggestions - all very helpful! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
Quote:
Can I ask what kind of setup you're using? Ray ( rmpsrpms), who frequents this forum and offers great advice (along with many others), put my setup together. It's pretty close to Example #4 on Ray's website. Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS Lens: Nikon EL-Nikkor 63 mm f/2.8 An adapter that allows me to attach the 42mm (T-mount) of the Vivitar bellows to the 39mm thread of the Nikon lens Camera Info & SettingsFirmware Firmware Version 1.0.7 ISO Speed 100 Flash Off White Balance Mode Tungsten Lighting: Three JANSJÖ LED Work Lamp by IKEA - I tried to space them equal distances apart, although the desk I'm using is small so that was not perfect. I tried to point them down as close to vertical as I could, but they are more like 160 degrees (if vertical is 180 degrees). They each have filter paper over them to diffuse the light. I purchased the paper from Blick: Canson Opalux Translucent Paper, Item #10240-5919 >> "Opalux is a translucent, 110 lb weight paper with a satin finish that's ideal for drawing and color prints. It's also great for creating translucent cards and decorations." Details re: JANSJÖ LED Work LampsLuminous flux: 88 Lumen Height: 60 cm Base diameter: 12 cm Cord length: 2.0 m Power: 2.0 W LED life approx. 20,000 hours. Light color; warm white (3000 Kelvin). Built-in LED light source. Arm: Steel, Paint Shade: Aluminum, Powder coating Edited by dd27
06/03/2018 3:56 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4037 Posts |
The photos look good (though I agree...please rotate to make the mottoes level). I still see some highlighting on the edges of devices, so you can probably improve things a bit further. Recently I've been recommending lens-mounted diffusers, which bring the light as close to the lens as possible without causing flare. Take a 5"x5" piece of Opalux and cut a hole in the middle. The hole should be a little smaller than the front outside of the lens. Cut a few small slits around the periphery and then push the paper onto the front of the lens. Then shine your lights onto the diffuser. Move the lights close to the diffuser to reduce diffusion, or farther away to spread the light onto more of the diffuser, increasing diffusion. It's very simple and effective used this way. You can do some sophisticated "shaping" of the light by masking-off parts of the diffuser, such as the area near 12:00 (to keep the light from shining from that direction) or the area outside a certain diameter (to make the light more axial in nature) or the light inside a certain diameter (to eliminate glare from slabs). It's a powerful lighting platform.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
I'll definitely try that Ray - thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
I just posted a 1952-D LWC for grading practice: http://goccf.com/t/320548I also tried to get it level and cropped accurately, plus I placed the penny on a grey card (18% gray), which I think looks slightly better (o/w I use black background). I appreciate y'all's help!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
Quote:
Take a 5"x5" piece of Opalux and cut a hole in the middle. The hole should be a little smaller than the front outside of the lens. Cut a few small slits around the periphery and then push the paper onto the front of the lens. Then shine your lights onto the diffuser. I've been using Jansjo's with a ping pong ball covers for lighting, but was in Hobby Lobby the other day and they had Opalux for $4.99 a sheet so I decided to give it a try. Cut out a circle of Opalux just big enough so that it wouldn't hit my home made copy stand when focusing the camera (my Pentax camera doesn't have Liveview, so I use autofocus. When the lens focuses, the Opalux would hit the vertical support of the stand if the sheet is too large), cut the center hole so that I could put the Opalux between the UV filter and lens. When you screw back on the UV filter it holds the Opalux with no problem. Looks like this  I left the ping pong balls on the Jansjos (so I guess the light is being diffused twice), grabbed a couple of coins from change and gave it a go. Here's what I got   Not TrueView quality, but I'm fairly happy with them. Will have to play with the lighting a bit more and see what difference it makes. Also, will have to test it out with some BU and PRF coins. |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Looks good to me! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4037 Posts |
The shots are a bit washed-out because you have too much diffusion. I think you have too many lights. With the diffuser, you can get by with 2 lights. Try removing the other lights, and then moving the two lights a little (or a lot) farther from the diffuser. This shines light onto more of the diffuser, increasing the diffusion so that 2 lights can be used instead of X.
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Replies: 36 / Views: 5,239 |
Posted 06/03/2018 01:12 am
