The importance of lighting with coin photography.

DelawareDoons

Pretty crazy difference.

TurtleCat

In almost every aspect of photography, good lighting can make a dramatic difference both for good and ill.

bearcave

I have a coin that looked good with the pictures the seller took, not the same when in hand.

WAYNEAS

I spend a lot of time trying to get the lighting right to show the beauty of the coin that I am photographing. What works one day seems not to work the next day. Pictures taken with my Apple Iphone 7.


Wayne

jafo50

Lighting is pretty much the key to good coin photos and of course a decent camera.

@DelawareDoons What type of lighting are you using and how are the lights positioned?

Kurisu

@DelawareDoons said:
Pretty crazy difference.

Looks like you already have a nice set up with a decent camera...nothing will change your life like cross-polarizing your light, if possible. It will nearly eliminate reflections.

Polarizing at the lens by itself (with a polarizing filter) doesn't do much at all for metal surfaces...but, if you can put polarizing filters at the correct angles on your light(s) you will notice dramatically better lighting.
You can buy it in sheets you can cut to tape or mount in front of the lights, it will cut down your exposure a bit.
https://www.edmundoptics.com/p/85quot-x-5quot-linear-polarizing-laminated-film/6140?gclid=CjwKCAjwjuqDBhAGEiwAdX2cjyMvYBxpXab4wtPXOudnfyXt7c7cy8QXOOYK0ujVuBh9kpCqIomHSRoCxv0QAvD_BwE

I don't know the people in charge of doing the photography for PCGS Trueviews but I'm guessing that they have some form of cross polarized lighting setup for it maybe with axial lighting as well.

crazyhounddog

As long as your pics look like your coin, it’s fine. No matter what lighting you use, setting your white balance makes the lighting show true. It must be done.

ctf_error_coins

Photography is the single most important aspect of online coin sales.

Mr_Spud

Same coin, different lighting. I’ve shown these before, but the images in the original post in this thread reminded me of them so I thought it was appropriate to show them again. The actual coin, in hand, looks like both images depending on what the angle is in terms of the light source. It’s like that with both toned coins as well as ones with mirrors and some Morgan’s have both. 🌞

DelawareDoons

@Mr_Spud said:
Same coin, different lighting. I’ve shown these before, but the images in the original post in this thread reminded me of them so I thought it was appropriate to show them again. The actual coin, in hand, looks like both images depending on what the angle is in terms of the light source. It’s like that with both toned coins as well as ones with mirrors and some Morgan’s have both. 🌞

The coin in my post is semi-prooflike to prooflike, so yeah, a lot of the color is lost in the mirrors, just like yours. Cool coin! Tough date in PL/DMPL.

Connecticoin

@crazyhounddog said:
As long as your pics look like your coin, it’s fine. No matter what lighting you use, setting your white balance makes the lighting show true. It must be done.

This. Proper white balance is essential for the color of the coin to be even close to what it looks like in-hand.