what do you think of these pictures of a Morgan Dollar?

cho10 · November 14, 2005 8:09AM

I have been doing a lot of experimenting.
These were done using a Nikon D70. The holder was placed on a slightly inclined plane with a White background,
I have tried with a Black background but the results seem warmer with a white background.
I used 3 13W ott lites (2 on each side and 1 above)
I think that the D70 has some issues in terms of White balancing but I may just be a bit fussy.
Fairly closed diaphragm, 200 ISO. Macro 60 mm lense (90mm on a difital camera).

MikeInFL · November 14, 2005 8:18AM

FWIW, I prefer a to remove the plastic entirely from the shot and crop in a dark background for my coin photos, but it is really just personal perference.

As for white balance, have you purchased a grey card and are you using a custom white balance? If the answer to either one of these is "no", then that's the cause of your color problems.

With the 60mm, you can really use it stopped down -- f16, f22, and f32 are all very usable with this lens.

As you may be aware, although your D70 crops the 60mm shot to look like the field of view is 90mm, it is still very much a 60mm lens -- you get 60mm perspective and working distance -- it just crops down the final photo.

All that being said, the photo does look very good. The exposure looks dead on and the coin shows good contrast and is evenly lit. Well done!

Hope this helps...Mike

p.s. the last shot, the closeup, needs work.

hiyosilver · November 14, 2005 8:21AM

Obv. pic
Text

MikeInFL · November 14, 2005 8:21AM

One more tip.... Have you tried the lightshade trick? It will help darken the fields...Mike

MikeInFL · November 14, 2005 8:23AM

And another tip... Forget that your Nikon has a JPG setting. Shoot in RAW and use Nikon Capture. Your photos will never look better...Mike

p.s. The last step in your post processing should be saving in jpg.

MikeInFL · November 14, 2005 8:27AM

One more.... When saving in jpeg, use the lowest compression setting (largest file size) to retain the most detail in your photos. The last photo (the closeup) looks like you have the jpeg compression turned up....Mike

nwcs · November 14, 2005 8:41AM

<< <i>And another tip... Forget that your Nikon has a JPG setting. Shoot in RAW and use Nikon Capture. Your photos will never look better...Mike

p.s. The last step in your post processing should be saving in jpg. >>

BTW, if you use Photoshop it can work directly with Nikon Raw.

Louis · November 14, 2005 8:45AM

I like the Morgan.

MikeInFL · November 14, 2005 8:46AM

<< <i>BTW, if you use Photoshop it can work directly with Nikon Raw. >>

Not nearly as well as Capture does, IMHO...Mike

dwssws · November 14, 2005 8:50AM

I like the pics

cho10 · November 14, 2005 8:52AM

<< <i>One more.... When saving in jpeg, use the lowest compression setting (largest file size) to retain the most detail in your photos. The last photo (the closeup) looks like you have the jpeg compression turned up....Mike >>

The originals are 3000 x 2000 and are between 2.4 and 2.6 MB.

The detail is not Jpeg reduced any longer. I had been staying away from RAW due to size issues but I will try it. I have a number of 1GB memory cards to play around with.

I thought I had to do a Jpeg reduction to post them here in the forum.
Silly me!! They are on one of my web sites so while the images may not be lightning fast in loading due to their size, the Forum Gods should have nothing to complain about.

mgoodm3 · November 14, 2005 8:53AM

nice pics. Make sure you use the "preset" WB setting. Turn your lights on with your white background and go through the motions to measure the Wb and you should be able to get a good WB for your lights. Since you are using low wattage bulbs, make sure the room is dark when you shoot as any other lights in the area will give the pics a slight color since they're not the same color temp as the Ott lights.

Personally, I prefer a longer lens than a 60, allow more working distance and high angle lighting. 105's are popular, I use a 150mm.

If I were shooting that coin, I would fill the screen with the coin and get all of the lights as close to the lens as you can.

TorinoCobra71 · November 14, 2005 9:11AM

Those are GREAT Pictures of a PL Morgan!

TorinoCobra71

cho10 · November 14, 2005 9:36AM

<< <i>nice pics. Make sure you use the "preset" WB setting. Turn your lights on with your white background and go through the motions to measure the Wb and you should be able to get a good WB for your lights. Since you are using low wattage bulbs, make sure the room is dark when you shoot as any other lights in the area will give the pics a slight color since they're not the same color temp as the Ott lights. Personally, I prefer a longer lens than a 60, allow more working distance and high angle lighting. 105's are popular, I use a 150mm. If I were shooting that coin, I would fill the screen with the coin and get all of the lights as close to the lens as you can. >>

Thanks for those tips about lighting. It is amazing how many things I have had to learn from scratch (I have been doing semi professional photography for years for travel and wildlife) since I decided I wanted to take good pictures of my coins. It is a brand new world. I have tried the Preset setting and the Auto setting for White Balance. I will get a Grey card to check exposure with.

I have an excellent Sigma 105 but I find that the distance I have to shoot from is inconvenient when I have to take a lot of pictures in succession. The macro shots are excellent with both lenses but I find the Nikon 60 allows me to take pictures sitting down. When you have 120 or 130 coins to take pictures of in one session, being able to organize things on a table can be very convenient.

I really am intrigued by the suggestion to try RAW. My company produces image manipulating software and we are licensed by Nikon to handle the NEF format. I will try ours, Nikon Capture and PhotoShop and see which of the 3 does best for my needs.

cho10 · November 14, 2005 6:10PM

I want to thank all of you for the very helpful suggestions and tips.

Claude

what do you think of these pictures of a Morgan Dollar?

Comments

Leave a Comment