Why Don't ONe of You Write the "Idiots Guide to Coin Photography"?

braddick

I was looking at the various offerings at Barnes & Noble and the thought occurred to me, why doesn't someone write the Idiots Guide to Coin Photography? And, if that field is too narrow for the general public how about something along the lines of Macro Photography?

I'd think, with the general popular appeal of photography coupled with the new digital world a book that got into the nuts and bolts of close-up digital photography would do well.

Seems like a project that wouldn't take forever to complete and should easily publish unless I'm reading the whole deal wrong.

What do you think?

WWW

This one is particularly useful:
Mark's Online Tutorial

p8nt

Funny you mention that. I am working on my photographs today and finding that I need to experiment a bit. I am using Mark Goodman's article and playing around. This is the effect of different exposures, if anyone else is interested. Maybe I was just naive, but I didnt know what exposures did.

mgoodm3

I'm working on one. big job.

rec78

I'll buy one ! Save me copy !

RWB

I wrote a technical book on coin photography in the 1970s, and did an update about 10 years ago. When done on the professional level, the subject can get dense very quickly. For collectors and casual users of new digital SLRs, lighting is the biggest single problem and takes quite a bit of understanding before you can routinely get the kind of photo you want. (If you have 500 coins to photograph every day, there is no time to experiment - you must know how to light and expose each item to emphasize what the cataloger wants.)

I doubt that a coin photography book would sell more than a dozen copies, and would be pirated in an instant if put on CD.

RedTiger

Yes, it is better as a website. The market is far too narrow. It might be good as a 20 page addendum to a wider coin book.

I knew a guy who often got contracts for these type of books, mainly beginner books for a new computer program. The pay was not very good, a flat rate with no royalties. However, my friend could pound these things out in 2 or 3 months.

Boom

Man, I could sure use some help. Best advice given me on digital photography and lighting was simply to take a lot of pix and to play around with the camera and lighting till eventually/ hopefully you figure it out.

I STILL can't find the Zoom on this witch.

etexmike

<< <i>I'm working on one. big job. >>



Mark already has me a copy reserved when the book is finished.

I think he is even going to sign it.

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etexmike

nwcs

Actually there are materials out there on macro product photography. They are geared mostly for jewelry but the techniques with a little modification would work fabulously for coins.

RWB

It is the "little modification" that is the really difficult part. Standard photo books on lighting and macro photography usually devote a few lines to photographing coins, and most of that is wrong.

The first thing to do is fully understand your camera and whatever lenses you have. Read and re-read the instruction manual, and burn some pixels. Boost your personal satisfaction by starting coin photography with EF and lower grade coins. These are much easier to photograph than high-grade pieces with bright surfaces. Ordinary diffuse daylight can work well for lower grade specimens - rotate the coin so that the portrait seems to be facing the light source - you are, after all, photographing a miniature sculpture.

If anyone has interest in this, send me a PM and I'll extract selected pages from the book's PDF files.

mgoodm3

I'm not doing this for money. If it comes to print, great, if not, I'll make a nice PDF version and post it to my website. It's a fun project for me.

stman

mgoodm3, any special coin image planned for the cover of your book in progress?

mgoodm3

Maybe.