How Do You Correctly Illuminate Macro Shots In Indirect Sunlight?

Handheld LED flashlight with a filter over it?
John1

Also, I know this is a rookie photography question, but how does one handle the situation where the macro lens is super close to the subject? Is there a method for using angles other than 45 degrees? Don't be shy about the geometry or physics part of the explanation, that at least I will get. I do understand that the 45 degree angle is to illuminate evenly with reflected rays parallel through the camera-coin axis.

Very interesting!

Lego for the win!

I see improvement. Good luck with the continued testing!

More experimenting today. This time with direct sunlight on the kitchen table. Inexplicably, I had glass glare today, and for some reason could not get the bottom of the second nickel into focus.

My end goal here is to begin photographing my collection of modern WDDR nickels with lines in doors, with a focus on aesthetics.

So tonight I think I finally got the setup dialed in. I spent some time to cut black felt to cover the LEGO plastic almost everywhere in the axial box.

First test shots, Lincoln Shield cent, dim incandescent flashlight filtered through paper towel, to explore color and luster.

Lincoln Shield cent, incandescent lamp with no shade, filtered through paper towel.

New style 2005 Buffalo nickel, incandescent lamp with no shade, filtered through paper towel.


Immediately obvious are the reflections obscuring the bottom half of the coins. I covered almost everything inside the box, except for one edge where I just said to myself, "Nah, that will be out of the frame." So tomorrow I will disassemble the box and cover that edge with felt.

However, the Buffalo nickel is very evenly lit. Not too bright, but all details captured fairly well, and no pools of shadow. Autofocus still fights the setup a bit. My hope is that tomorrow, with some good tweaks, I will arrive at a good conclusion for prototype #3.

Axial box repaired with felt covering the top gaps. That at least eliminated those multiple reflections between the shiny gray plastic and the glass. Image cropped with a circle around the coin. The setup isn't quite where I want it to be yet, but the light is falling more or less evenly on the coin. I can tell that I now need to do some work on the light source.

I would have worked on the lighting some more, but my dog informed me that emergency snuggles were required OR ELSE.

I also need to locate a free app to control the basic focus options on the iPad camera. Even the tiniest flicker in the light source causes the autofocus to jump uncontrollably. The picture above isn't quite in focus, but for whatever reason, the AF function would pass through what was clearly a crisp focus before settling on something just a touch away from perfect. I think the image resize app to fit the 300kB forum limit is also suboptimal. All the recommended apps in photography articles have $$$ monthly subscriptions and about a zillion options, widgets, filters. There is surely a much simpler free solution, but it will require some more research.

cptbilly, I am happy to share my research. I have been impressed with your coin photos, but I imagine your setup is something rather superior to LEGO bricks and felt. =)