my first decent coin pic, need some pointers

GP

well i got a tripod for Christmas, so I was able to take my first decent pic of a coin! I took a few, just messing around, used a wrapped present from under the try to raise the coin, so thats why the gold background. I better measure that box, cause i think the height was about right!

So now i need to know, whats a good background color? I am thinking black, or maybe white, or maybe I dunno! what do you find works good?

Also any other ideas on how to improve this? I am very happy with how it came out, considering none of my other pics were ever decent, and I didnt spend much time messing around with it, but I am sure it can be improved!

well here it is! This is how it came from the camera, I just cropped it, but made no other alterations to the image.

mbbiker

looks nice, i can really tell there is nice cartweel luster on it.

smprfi

Looks good.

BillJones

Nice job! You will find that lustrous coins are much harder to photgraph well than circulated pieces and brown copper.

If you have a photo processing software program, you might fool with the contrast option. It's sort of trial and error, and so long as you keep the original photo, you can go back start over!

Merry Christmas!!

beorn

santa brought me a digital camera with a tripod too,hope i can do as well as you seem to be doing

mbbiker

i've never tried taking pictures of a coin but it looks like it could be a little clearer? I don't know what type of camera you have but the pic. looks a little pixelated.

GP

well it is only a 1.5mp camera, i should break out my 3mp camera, but it eats batteries like nobodies business!

I definately need to work on the positioning, and lighting a little, and the gold background sure didnt help. Hmmm maybe I can get the coin closer to the camera, then crop and resize to make it a tighter look. Will have to try that! thanks

FC57Coins

Nice picture GP - try playing around with lighting and different angles - I've found that indirect lighting works real well most of the time.

Frank

BillJones

With lighting angles and "candlepower" count. Sometimes less is more. A really bright lustrous coin can give off an aura that can cause the picture to be fuzzy or overexposed. Since it's only camera and computer memory that can be recovered you can do many experiments inexpensively.

Remember a coin has contours, not colors so position the lamps at an angle, not overhead.

GP

well I tried some more, came out worse i think. camera couldnt focus well when I got any closer to the coin. Will have to try some more when i have some more time. or maybe break out my better camera.

Thenewguy

The sharpness of the picture from that close has more to do with how good the macro function of your camera is then the pixel count of the camera. The pictures of the coins that the link at the bottom of my post takes you were taken without a tripod and with a camera with less then a megapixel. In fact the camera only takes decent pictures from about 6 inches or closer, any farther and they look like crap. There is a picture of the setup I used to hold and light the coins(pretty high tech huh) and you can see how lousy the picture is from that distance.
TNG