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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,417 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2424 Posts |
Ok, so I am venturing into the picture taking side of coins. i found a box, cut holes in the sides, put white paper on all sides, put my desk lamp behind the back and point, click shoot! please tell me how I did and what more I can do to take better pics. these are just a few of the FIRST few. I moved the lighting around to get the light to reflect better on certain areas. please please please critique me~! Camera: Sony Cyber-Shot 12.1 megapix Macro Setting is on, iscene recognition is on(detect best settings) No flash first off is a morgan. 1900-o   i then shot the morgan on a black background   now, the firs thing that I want to do is get one more light... that way I will have better lighting already! right? here is my set up; took 1 hr to make   i imagine with more cropping, these would be ready to put on ebay |
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Valued Member
United States
424 Posts |
The one on the black background looks pretty good. The white, just looks off. Perhaps another lamp from a side? Still, better then most on ebay! |
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Valued Member
United States
384 Posts |
 I like the black background as well. That's a good setup, I might have to copy it. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10038 Posts |
Although I am just beginning to take pics of coins, I have been able to achieve a lot of success with taking pics of (mucho!) glass items for over 12 years now. So I am currently trying to see what tricks I use in that area that will help in taking coin pics. One trick I learned is to balance the colors once the pic is taken. I took your fist pic done on white, out it into my graphics program, and then told the computer to white correct the lightest spot on the coin in the pic. here is the result: http://www.imagebam.com/image/c13bb5129716265I could have gone a step farther and reduced the saturation value of the color in the pic which would actually get rid of some of the random spots of hue and make the coin more the silver color it is. BTW - this is a very simple thing to do with a program from Ulead Inc. called Photo Impact. You can get version 10 off of ebay for around 20.00 and, personally, I fin it more powerful and MUCH more user friendly than Adobe. The white adjustment and color adjustment are so simple to do - and pretty intuitive with this program (took me about 3 seconds!). Now, admittedly, I do not know how Adobe stacks up to this program in other areas that I never venture into, but for frames on pics, title and text manipulation, color balancing, it just cannot be beat. It was recommended to me by a professional printer. He said he uses it instead of Adobe b/c of the more user friendly interphase - and you sure can't top the price compared to Adobe! |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
You want critique? I'll give you critique. As soon as I find something wrong with your images.  Seriously, though, any advice I could offer steps straight into the realm of extreme nitpicking. One, I think you're the tiniest bit off of completely-parallel between coin and lens. The images are slightly sharper at top than bottom. Your box is going to give you more even illumination, probably at the cost of showing luster. This may be a compromise you like; it may not, but satisfy yourself first and then worry about us. Outside the box (heh), try two lights rather than one, at about 10:00 and 2:00. This may throw enough extra so that the camera will adjust itself to show the top and bottom half of the coin in equal light. With two lights in-hand, you can play with angle and locations to improve as well. That is one strong camera. |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
I am glad I stumbled onto this thread. Best Buy has the 16.1 megapixel Cybershot on sale right now, and I plan on picking one up today. From the reviews I have read, it completely demolishes anything near it's price category. Outdone both the Nikon and Canon that are more expensive. This camera even got better ratings recording HD video than many of the dedicated video recorders. From your pictures, I can see I will be quite pleased with my purchase.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2424 Posts |
thanks guys!
yea this camera was a wedding gift from my parents a few years back. it shoots in HD. I beleive I have it set to the 3M setting, 16:3 ratio I THINK... I was very impressed on the zoom on this thing as well. but just my steady hand, as you can see gives you some really good results! I wonder if I had an SLR, if that wuld make a huge difference? I saw another post a picture difference of a point and shoot and slr. what wold give me the SLR details? adjusting the settings on the camera more?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
Might I suggest 2 more lamps, 1 on each side, a tripod or other device so you can take photos from the top and hold the camera steady and parallel as SuperDave suggests. You did very, very well on the first try with this setup and are well on your way to taking outstanding pics.............I'll give  and 2 big toes up also for your efforts! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2424 Posts |
thanks TIM!
i dont own a tripod yet, but if I did would I be able to hold it as close as I did with my hands before? second lamp is on the way I may add, from my wife, for my birthday on friday
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10038 Posts |
I have picked up good tripods at garage sales for under 5.00 - just make sure they work well.
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Valued Member
United States
97 Posts |
appreciate the photos wish more people would do this on e-bay!
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,417 |
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Posted 04/26/2011 9:52 pm
