| Author |
 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,061 |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
193 Posts |
I've been taking Wheat cent pics for many years now but never get BU pics right. How can you get the correct luster of copper coins with just a simple camera set up? Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. |
|
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
17526 Posts |
It can be a pain to set up, but axial lighting works well for me. Google 'coin axial lighting' and some resources should come up.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
3935 Posts |
Hmm, I would not recommend axial lighting to show luster. Luster shows up because of very directional light, and it presents in lines perpendicular to the light direction. So for luster you should try using a single light, fairly far from the coin, at around 45-degrees from horizontal. Move it around the coin to find the direction you want the luster to appear. You can use two lights that are orthogonal to each other to show two "luster bars". The classic positions are at 10 and 2, but the best for luster are 3 hours apart, ie 10 and 1, 11 and 2, etc. This brings out an "X" shaped pair of luster bars with best contrast since the lights don't interfere with each other.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
|
Valued Member
 United States
193 Posts |
Wow my set up is extremely primitive compared to you're inputs. Both of you're ideas would certainly better than my current set up. Thank you so much. My setup does tend to make coins look lighter than actual coin in hand appears to buyer. This occasional can cause negative feedback from buyers but I can deal with that. I will attach a picture. Maybe I could get by with a couple of those lights from rmpsrpms?  Edited by SomeGoodCents
02/28/2023 7:07 pm
|
|
Valued Member
United States
193 Posts |
lol it's primitive but has served me well unless I'm trying to get BU luster from coin. Check out my site on ebay. Oh wait, am I allowed to post link to ebay page? |
|
Valued Member
United States
193 Posts |
Not to promote my ebay store but just to get a reference of how this set up is working for me. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3935 Posts |
You can certainly upload a pic from your site to the forum so we can see.
If the coin looks lighter than it should, why not just darken it up? Unless you're shooting with the exact lighting situation that you've viewing with, you will most likely need to do some processing to make it match.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
|
Valued Member
United States
193 Posts |
Sometimes I touch them up with Fotor app. I don't recommend it, newer version cost and it's limited. Luckily I have older free version but its a little sketchy. Since I just subscribed to Pixlr X I will be exploring that option. However I'm not a big fan of editing pictures for the fear of being deceptive to my loyal customers.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3935 Posts |
It's only deceptive if the photo doesn't look like the coin. In that sense, it seems like what you're doing now is deceptive, and if you edit the coins to look more like the coin, you will be more honest. This is one of the biggest mistakes coin photographers make. They believe that any adjustments are akin to "photoshopping" the image, but this is absolutely incorrect. Don't be afraid to adjust the photo to match the coin.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
|
Valued Member
United States
193 Posts |
Let me be clear; when and/or if I edit pictures its for the sole purpose to more closely resemble actual coins appearance in hand. Any suggestion otherwise is ludicrous and quite frankly insulting.
Good day, Sir.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5339 Posts |
Getting luster in a photo is all in the lighting. That linear lightbulb you're using and ambient light might be making your light too diffuse. Try a single point light bulb at a high angle and further from the coin, as @rmpsrpms suggested. Can you post some examples?
|
|
Valued Member
United States
193 Posts |
Okay let me come down off my high horse of indignity. I can see why you would suggest this since I wrote about dealing with unhappy buyers. Actually I have 0% negative feedback from poor representation of coins. As we all know ebay has a abundance of photo tricksters. I do apricate your inputs rmpsrpms and I respect you're opinion. Zurie I have some 37-39 LWC in the mill to list next. Many have shades of RB with a few near Red BU I'll post example of problem pics here prior to proceeding. Give me a few days I have company this weekend. I'm probably not hard to find on ebay. Lots of lower grade LWC and catchy name Somegoodcents. |
| |
Replies: 11 / Views: 1,061 |
|
Posted 02/28/2023 4:41 pm
