First time photographing my coins. I think I did ok!

SiriusBlack

I'm a photographer by trade, but I don't usually do small product type shots. I'm more of a street/landscape photographer. Here are a couple examples. I think I'd switch to a black velvet or felt background instead of the black plastic. The plastic is to reflective and didn't go as black as I wanted.
Interestingly some coins turned out better than they view, some worse.

Visually you can't really see the toning very well on this 1835 Half Cent but in the photos it became much more obvious and colorful.

This one other than being in terrible condition, shows some gunk on it. I'm not sure what that is or what to do about it. PVC maybe?

Insider2

Cannot believe these are your first tries. Nice. Try a gray background and you need more light.

SiriusBlack

@Insider2 said:
Cannot believe these are your first tries. Nice. Try a gray background and you need more light.

I thought they were dark, but believe it or not that's what the coins look like. They coins are dark, so I tried to be accurate to that instead of brightening them up so they look pretty, but not accurate.

And thanks

Insider2

@SiriusBlack said:

@Insider2 said:
Cannot believe these are your first tries. Nice. Try a gray background and you need more light.

I thought they were dark, but believe it or not that's what the coins look like. They coins are dark, so I tried to be accurate to that instead of brightening them up so they look pretty, but not accurate.

And thanks

This 25c looks better. Trust me, If an auction house can reproduce accurate dark color, a professional as you are will figure it out. Have you tried tipping the coin a little?

ms70

Nice job! I agree that accuracy is better than pretty!

SiriusBlack

@Insider2 No I haven't tried tipping. I'll give that a try. Maybe I can adjust the lighting a bit so that it's not quite so flat? Maybe that is my issue. Not enough contrast to make it pop more?

Timbuk3

Wow, good job, thanks for sharing !!!

SiriusBlack

This one is a much brighter coin. Better?

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Insider2

@SiriusBlack said:
This one is a much brighter coin. Better?

Easy to find fault Sorry. Too much glare on the high points.

Just for the heck of it try a shot with florescent light and try a shot with a transparent sheet to diffuse the incandescent light. Some folks use a light on both sides of the coin's stage.

ctf_error_coins

You need to work on your lighting, you have a ways to go.

SiriusBlack

@Insider2 Criticism welcome! I'm trying to learn. I agree I didn't like the highlights on this last one. I bounced the lights off each side of an enclosed box but the box is silver lined. I wish it was white so it was softer.

I wondered about a diffuser. I should try that next. Diffuser against covering the lights to soften.

I shot in manual so the black background wasn't messing up my exposure, but I'll try a grey card shot next time too. Added benefit that it would give me a neutral to grab white balance off of too if need be?

Insider2

I hold a translucent sheet of thin plastic in front of the light.

I'm waiting for the experts to answer your question as I don't claim to be anything but a good critic. LOL.

ctf_error_coins

Use direct light for coins, do not diffuse.

SiriusBlack

@ErrorsOnCoins Ok. Do you angle the light so it's not flat hitting the obverse/reverse from the top? I had two LED strips on the top, but instead of pointing them straight down onto the coin I angled each one to the side so that the light mainly bounced off the silver lined side panels. Essentially I got harsh side lighting from each side and maybe a little bit hit from the top still. I realized one of my errors to late. I tried to leave the exposure alone and not adjust but after a while I started getting finicky with it. That was probably a mistake because as I thought about it later, while the coins themselves were different, Silver, Clad, Copper, Dull Tarnished etc, the lighting and camera position remained the same so once I had proper exposure, I shouldn't have been adjusting per coin. If my later coins weren't right, then the first ones weren't right either I just didn't realize it. Would that be correct?

I should add, I was using a shooting cube that was inclosed on all sides with black outside, silver inside. Lights were LED panels inside mounted in the top that I could adjust angle a little bit. Window hole in the top that I had camera lens poking through. I would just open the front lens window to replace each coin and position, then close the front again for the photo.

ctf_error_coins

I do angle the two lights. I use them at different heights for different coins /slabs.

I also angle the coin depending on what aspect of the coin that I want to emphasize.

I do not use a tent. I do sometimes bounce light back in with white paper.

Light the heads as if you were lighting a portrait.

SiriusBlack

I guess my one size fits all box idea was the wrong way to go about it! I didn't even think about shooting it like a 3d object which of course it is, but it's so small I just figured it wouldn't matter.

Paradisefound

@ErrorsOnCoins is one of the best in the field; good thing his advise is complimentary for CU member.....he is that good

Namvet69

Get a grey scale sheet of paper. They come in all sizes. This is the standard background color for all sorts of images. The bounce is just right. Peace Roy

RBB617

Lots of great information here. The posts reminded me a lot of the comments I'd get from my dad (part-time professional photographer) when I'd send him photos of my sons when they were young.

RBB617

By the way - great work @SiriusBlack and very helpful tips from @Insider2 and @ErrorsOnCoins

ricko

I like your pictures... but then, I am the forum's most reluctant photographer (high class way of saying I am terrible)....Cheers, RickO

messydesk

@SiriusBlack said:
This one is a much brighter coin. Better?

Your light is at too low of an angle. You're lighting the edges of the design, but not the surfaces of the coin.

As for the circulated coins being too dark, when you look at the coins, you use as much light as necessary to view them.

Don't use unrealistic brightness, but don't be afraid to use more light.

RogerB

A coin usually has a portrait on it. Light it in the same manner you would light any normal portrait. Circulated coins are like people; uncirculated coins are like polished marble or metal.

davidk

I'd be interested in seeing a picture of the camera and lighting setup for those who are able to get high quality shots...also lens specs, etc.

SiriusBlack

@messydesk Thanks you. I keep looking at others coin photos to figure out where they put their lights. I think the box/tent was the wrong way to go since I can’t control light placement very much.

@RogerB that looks a lot better! It’s a little brighter or contrasty than the coin looks in hand, but not so much that I would say it’s unrealistic. I did very little editing in Lightroom because I thought that I would be making them look untrue but maybe I need to go back and re-edit! I can’t fix the bad light angle but I might be able to do some improvement.

@davidk me too! I took a photo of how I did this but it’s just a black box with a camera poking into the top! For camera, I used a Canon 80D with the 100mm f2.8L IS macro. I would have preferred a full frame 5D body, but with this box, I needed the extra reach of the cropped sensor. I couldn’t get the camera any lower. With out a box I could though so that’s my next attempt!

SiriusBlack

@Namvet69 Do you mean most people use a grey backgrounds and then cut the coins out in post and put them on other colors or designs?

ctf_error_coins

That's a cool box.

I have never really liked "soft" light for 95% of what I shoot including coins. I like highlights and shadows.

RogerB

RE: "@RogerB that looks a lot better! It’s a little brighter or contrasty than the coin looks in hand, but not so much that I would say it’s unrealistic. I did very little editing in Lightroom because I thought that I would be making them look untrue but maybe I need to go back and re-edit! I can’t fix the bad light angle but I might be able to do some improvement."

Just like in bridal portraiture, technical accuracy does not always produce the best photograph.

Your original was opened in Photoshop, lightened, then midtone shifted a little toward darker, and finally the obverse black point was shifted from 000 to 006. This was all intended to present visual balance close to that assumed for the original and to better present the toning colors.

ctf_error_coins

Yes. coins need post-production.

There is a huge difference in adjusting the levels than to photoshopping out a scratch. The latter is unacceptable.

SiriusBlack

I’m going to have to give it a whirl and see what I can do

NGS428

@ErrorsOnCoins said:
Use direct light for coins, do not diffuse.

Please explain this statement more. Do you recommend no diffusion for any coin metal type, strike, in a slab or raw and for any light source type?

Gluggo

I myself am learning how to take pics. This one the lighting is a bit yellow but I liked how it turned out. As fare as the technical I am a total beginner. Don't know a thing about technical issues.

ctf_error_coins

Gluggo, you lit the back of the head and the bottom of the owl. You need to change your light position.

Light the face from the top and the owl's head from the top, not bottom.

ctf_error_coins

@NGS428 said:

@ErrorsOnCoins said:
Use direct light for coins, do not diffuse.

Please explain this statement more. Do you recommend no diffusion for any coin metal type, strike, in a slab or raw and for any light source type?

I (personally) hate diffused light on 98% of my subjects and 100% of my coins.

I use backlight, sidelight, highlights, and shadows.

Diffused light will give you a flat subject while highlights and shadows show the depth of the coin.

robec

With some lights diffusion is necessary. I use some sort of diffusion on 100% of my coin photos using Jansjo LED lights.

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Gluggo

error on coins got it I can do that. I was just playing yesterday but will play around some more thanks for the tip!

robec

@Gluggo said:
error on coins got it I can do that. I was just playing yesterday but will play around some more thanks for the tip!

What lighting are you using? Your white balance needs to be adjusted so it looks more silver than gold.

Gluggo

Here is one with the whiter color,

messydesk

Saying that diffusion is good or bad is meaningless if we don't know what kind of light it is you're diffusing. Very hard light will need diffusion for proof coins and other reflective, high-contrast coins. A light that's diffused by its construction, such as an LED bulb, will not need additional diffusion.

NGS428

@messydesk said:
Saying that diffusion is good or bad is meaningless if we don't know what kind of light it is you're diffusing. Very hard light will need diffusion for proof coins and other reflective, high-contrast coins. A light that's diffused by its construction, such as an LED bulb, will not need additional diffusion.

Agreed. Although some LED light sources like the popular IKEA Jansjo will typically need diffusion.

Gluggo

Working on my lighting any comments on how to improove.