Coin Photography Tips
Gonfunko
Posts: 1,481 ✭✭✭
Since there seems to be a lack of educational threads lately, I thought I'd reveal some of my photography tips. Feel free to add additional tips if you want. Today's lesson will focus on getting good images of Morgan Dollars and Large Cents, two popular areas of modern collecting.
First of all, before any pictures can be taken, it is essential to get your camera configured correctly. For nearly all coin photography, you need to adjust only two settings: macro and flash. Macro enables the camera to get clear images of coins and other small objects. Turn it on, often by pressing a button displaying a tulip or flower. Flash should be off, as it will wash out and make any pictures far too bright. Flash is often denoted by a lightning bolt. Once you have your camera configured, you can begin taking pictures. Let's begin with Large Cents. The most common problem when imaging Large Cents or other copper is their dark color. Accurately capturing the true color of dark copper can be tricky, but it actually requires very little effort. To begin, set the coin you intend to image on a blue background. Whitman albums are excellent for this purpose.
Fig. 1: Whitman albums used as background for images of Large Cents. Note accurate color of coins in album.
Although it may seem surprising, light is not necessary for imaging copper, and may in fact alter the color of copper or make it appear washed out. The normal light found in a room is quite sufficient for good quality images. If your Large Cents or other dark copper coins are in a plastic slide style album, remove the slides. They will cause glare, making it more difficult to image your coins. Avoid taking pictures at an angle, as it will make the date weak, even though the rest of the coin will be crisp. Take pictures head-on, holding the camera 2-3 inches away from the coin, or more, depending on your macro capabilities. Below is a selection of images.
Figs. 2-5: Large Cent image with too much lighting, image with glare from slides, angled image showing weak date, accurate image of coin.
Moving on from Large Cents to Morgan Dollars, we are presented with a new set of problems. In some ways, Morgan Dollars are like large cents - the camera settings are the same, and light is not necessary for good pictures. Uncirculated silver is very reflective and shiny, reflecting much light, and almost lighting itself. One problem commonly encountered when photographing Morgan Dollars or other silver coins is a blue tint that appears on the image. This can be corrected with a good photo editor, but it's much easier to simply "get it right the first time". This blue tint can easily be corrected by placing the coin on (surprise!) a blue Whitman album. The blue background corrects the camera's light meter and gives the coin a much truer color. In effect, the blue cancels out the blue. The resulting image is a good reproduction of the coin itself. Lighting should not be used with Morgan Dollars or other silver, as it gives them a golden color.
Fig. 6: Morgan Dollar on Whitman album.
Figs. 7-9: Blue tinted Morgan Dollar, Morgan Dollar displaying glare from light, Accurate image of Morgan Dollar.
Hopefully this will help someone to take better pictures. Feel free to add your own coin photography tips as well.
First of all, before any pictures can be taken, it is essential to get your camera configured correctly. For nearly all coin photography, you need to adjust only two settings: macro and flash. Macro enables the camera to get clear images of coins and other small objects. Turn it on, often by pressing a button displaying a tulip or flower. Flash should be off, as it will wash out and make any pictures far too bright. Flash is often denoted by a lightning bolt. Once you have your camera configured, you can begin taking pictures. Let's begin with Large Cents. The most common problem when imaging Large Cents or other copper is their dark color. Accurately capturing the true color of dark copper can be tricky, but it actually requires very little effort. To begin, set the coin you intend to image on a blue background. Whitman albums are excellent for this purpose.
Fig. 1: Whitman albums used as background for images of Large Cents. Note accurate color of coins in album.
Although it may seem surprising, light is not necessary for imaging copper, and may in fact alter the color of copper or make it appear washed out. The normal light found in a room is quite sufficient for good quality images. If your Large Cents or other dark copper coins are in a plastic slide style album, remove the slides. They will cause glare, making it more difficult to image your coins. Avoid taking pictures at an angle, as it will make the date weak, even though the rest of the coin will be crisp. Take pictures head-on, holding the camera 2-3 inches away from the coin, or more, depending on your macro capabilities. Below is a selection of images.
Figs. 2-5: Large Cent image with too much lighting, image with glare from slides, angled image showing weak date, accurate image of coin.
Moving on from Large Cents to Morgan Dollars, we are presented with a new set of problems. In some ways, Morgan Dollars are like large cents - the camera settings are the same, and light is not necessary for good pictures. Uncirculated silver is very reflective and shiny, reflecting much light, and almost lighting itself. One problem commonly encountered when photographing Morgan Dollars or other silver coins is a blue tint that appears on the image. This can be corrected with a good photo editor, but it's much easier to simply "get it right the first time". This blue tint can easily be corrected by placing the coin on (surprise!) a blue Whitman album. The blue background corrects the camera's light meter and gives the coin a much truer color. In effect, the blue cancels out the blue. The resulting image is a good reproduction of the coin itself. Lighting should not be used with Morgan Dollars or other silver, as it gives them a golden color.
Fig. 6: Morgan Dollar on Whitman album.
Figs. 7-9: Blue tinted Morgan Dollar, Morgan Dollar displaying glare from light, Accurate image of Morgan Dollar.
Hopefully this will help someone to take better pictures. Feel free to add your own coin photography tips as well.
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Comments
Good start on what should be an interesting thread.
A couple of comments:
1) Another setting on your camera you have to set is the file size you want to end up with. In this case more megapixels is not necessarily better. On my older Ricoh 1 Megapixel camera, I set the resolution to half its full capability to get file sizes that work well for PCGS & Ebay. For reference photos that I don't intend to upload anywhere, I set my Nikon for the highest resolution possible.
2) Cameo proofs are a much different animal to photograph. In my case, I continue to experiment with the right combination of lighting and camera settings to get a good cameo photo. I am still not where I want to be, but I have not found any setup that gives good cameo contrast AND good color rendition. I either get good cameo or good color, never both. Too bad, because I have a monster '51 cameo Frankie with lots of blue color that I can't get a good picture of.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
I still need to practice some more and try and get the color a bit better, but it's not bad for a first try!