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 Replies: 15 / Views: 7,673 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
I saw a couple of articles recently that recommended a lighted flat panel for photographing coins. Here's an excerpt from a WikiHow article: Quote:
Step 1: Place the coin on an illuminated flat panel. An illuminated flat panel is simply a small platform used by numismatist photographers that lights the base of the coin. This helps to prevent any shadowing that occurs with external lighting sources such as camera flashes. There's a similar recommendation in this article: https://adaptalux.com/howto-photograph-coins/What do you all think--do illuminated flat panels improve photo quality? |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
Artistically maybe, but I don't like coins being shot at an angle when I'm grading or buying them, even a little tilt makes a coin go out of focus right where I need to see usually, it seems. I've seen some success with using an illuminated background, but I think it adds too much brightness over all, you still need to light the surface of the coin properly.
My 2 cents worth!
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Valued Member
Russian Federation
172 Posts |
Westcoin, "out of focus" depends of your camera and lenses  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
900 Posts |
I tried this a while back to try to get a better contrast between coin and background. It did help in some situatioons, but I found that it caused the coin image to be too dark, and I didn't know how to compensate for this. It could probably be fixed in photoshop, but I never pursued that. If you want a simple way to test it, try the ScreenLight app on your iPhone (I assume its available for Android as well).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4036 Posts |
Backlighting is a really bad idea. Not only is it unnecessary, but the extra light also causes reduced contrast since unwanted light gets into the lens and some of it hits the sensor due to internal reflections and flare. The best background for highest quality photos is black velvet, or some folks even suspend the coin above the background to eliminate potential reflections altogether.
The author of that article knows less than nothing about coin photography, much to the potential detriment of the 45000 folks who have read it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
@Ray I definitely had issues with contrast, and continue to have my best success with the black velvet background. At the time, I was experimenting with photoshop "Select Subject" feature to crop the background out of the photo. Photoshop does a great job, but the edge detect is not that great without a sharp contrast. I cannot capture the scalloped edge of a reeded coin with a black background (not saying it can't be done, I just haven't been able to achieve it). I tried the backlight to create a sharp contrast, and it worked better than what I was able to achieve on any of the non-backlighted backgrounds I tried. The only minor downside is that the coin picture sucks.  If I could find a fixed Photoshop procedure for creating better light/contrast (such that it worked for all types of coins), I would pursue using the backlight. It may be pretty simple, but I haven't really experimented.  Here is what I get trying to achieve the same thing when taking the photo on a black background.  Edited by Jadey
05/31/2019 1:29 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
Quote:
Westcoin, "out of focus" depends of your camera and lenses Agreed, your photo is quite nice, I am referring more towards online sales sites like ebay. I was a working photographer for over 10 years, (sports & concert). With photo stacking software or a tilt-shift lens, or multi axial bellows set-up there can be very artistic shots made. For a simple coin photo for authentication, grading or to try to entice me to buy, I prefer straight on shots well lit, filling the frame. What I was more referring to on ebay is when a coin is propped up at a slight angle and the POV I need to see for DDO, RPD, etc. is just too much out of focus, mostly the photos are pretty good but some are terrible. "Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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New Member
China
24 Posts |
Agree with westcoin and ray's point of view.
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New Member
China
24 Posts |
I use 18 percent grey card and black velvet.  |
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Valued Member
Russian Federation
172 Posts |
@ Westcoin, it was just one shot, not stacked and without tilt-shift lenses.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4036 Posts |
JW...I'm still looking for a suitable 16MP USB camera. Question for you...does yours require saving the image to a TF card, and then transfer to the computer? All the ones I see available have low resolution when output is done over USB. When HDMI is used, the output is normal HD, but the image can be saved to TF card at high resolution. They also claim there is no adjustment available for white balance and exposure when in USB mode, but can make these adjustments in HDMI. I am not sure how the adjustments are made, though. Does your camera operate this way? Please describe your workflow for this type of camera...Ray
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Forum Dad
United States
24150 Posts |
Bought one 10 years ago, used it one day, and it went up in the attic.
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Forum Dad
United States
24150 Posts |
Quote:
The best background for highest quality photos is black velvet, or some folks even suspend the coin above the background to eliminate potential reflections altogether. Years ago when I was taking a ton of pics I glued black felt to a piece of wood. I then screwed in a drywall screw to about an inch height above the wood and topped it with a small stick-on felt dot used for the bottom furniture legs so they slide. I would set the coin on top and image with a copystand. They came out beautiful, the background just "fell off." |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
I like your "golf tee" idea. I may play with that a bit.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4036 Posts |
JW...I ended up getting a 16MP FHD camera from a Chinese seller, and it finally arrived. I'm really amazed at the quality of image I can get from this camera. I started a thread over on Photomacrography forum to share the results, and will probably share something here later as well, but first take a look: https://www.photomacrography.net/fo...50952#250952 |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 7,673 |
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Posted 05/31/2019 04:44 am
