Still Trying to Improve My Photography of Coins, Reveal Light Bulbs

moosesr

I got some reveal light bulbs today as recommended by someone in another post and tried them on this coin. I just took the pictures with an overhead lamp with reveal light bulb. To me the coin luster doesn't show up as well as when I use a flash, but the color seems very close to the actual coin color. I have had better luck showing luster using the camera flash, covered with a white cloth. to reduce reflections. What do you think?







Here's the photos I took with a flash.





Charlie

JMOORE

Very Nice Job

JMOORE

ms70

I like the reveal pics better. I can see more detail on the coin.

airplanenut

I personally don't like Reveals as they were too much of a hassle to remove the red hue.

How many bulbs are you using? The more you use, and the more you angle, the better your luster will be... this picture was only from two bulbs, which I moved around while looking at the LCD until the luster was kick a$$

moosesr

I was only using one reveal bulb in an overhead lamp and didn't try to move it around. It was a three way bulb so I tried all three levels, but it would probably be better to be able to move it around as you suggested. What kind of bulb do you like best for your pictures?

darktone

I think the problem you are having is in the white balance not so much the lighting. The white balance is called by different names on different cameras so if you tell us what kind of camera you are using maybe someone can help you with this setting. mike

moosesr

I am using a Kodak DC290 with the white balance set on auto. It has three settings, auto, daylight, fluorscent, and tungsten.

darktone

moosesr, I am not familiar with your camera. Have you tried some of these other settings? mike

SDCollector

I use an Olympus C-4000 camera with manual white balance adjustment. It's essential for indoor macro pics, IMO. On my camera, I select manual white balance, point the lens at white paper and click the button. The white balance is then set. I also make a minor adjustment for a little more red hue. This has produced acceptable results so far, but I still see need for improvement.

I use 2 desktop lamps with 60-watt reveal bulbs. I bought the lamps (100-watt incandescants) at Office Depot for $10 each. For my coin album pics, I point the light away from the coins. I've also diffused the lights with white paper and that works too.

I've found that pointing the lights directly at the coins results in the coins looking washed-out with no luster. Indirect lighting, at an angle with manual white balance adjustment works best for me. Here's an example:

Barry

Nice pics SD. You sure those aren't Baley's?

moosesr

Have you tried some of these other settings? mike


I haven't tried any of the other settings yet, since I only recently got the Reveal bulbs, but I will try doing that next.

Charlie

airplanenut

I use regular, white light...

I have multiple lamps to get numerous angles--the more you play with multiple lamps, the more you see how many lamps are needed for a shot--sometimes I use 3, sometimes just one.

Jeremy

SDCollector

<< <i>Nice pics SD. You sure those aren't Baley's? >>


If they were, he'd have the 1859 IHC hole filled! Baley is my role model, I can only hope to have a set as nice as his.

spy88

Moose, I would suggest using the fluorescent setting even with other light sources. And stay away from the tungsten! It will turn all your pics a funny blue color!