Holy Photography Breakthroughs, Batman!!

coinpictures

Sometimes you stumble across things by accident.

I've been complaining quite a bit as of late about the difficulty I've been having when attempting to photograph proof and PL coins. I've just not been able to make any progress at all, and have been very unhappy with the results.

Today I received a lovely German 3M cameo proof from Ron Guth (quite a few of the loveliest proofs in my collection have come courtesy of Ron). For reference, it's an NGC PF63 CAMEO.

So I'm trying all sorts of angles and distances with my Ott Light. After about 20 shots the best I was able to get was the following:




Not real happy with it. It's murky and only partially showcases the cameo, yet I cannot lighten up the photo after the fact since then all the surface anomalies come through.

So I reset my camera from an angle to a straight-on shot. Still no major difference.

But then, for whatever reason, I placed the Ott Light down facing AWAY from the coin. As I bring my hand up to grab the lamp, the light is reflected off my hand into the camera viewfinder... whoa! contrast! It's washed out, but the contrast is definitely there.

So I pull the images into Photoshop, crop them, and do a single Auto-Color (Ctrl + Shift + b). What I got was the following:




Talk about a world of difference!

For giggles, I thought I'd reimage one of the Swiss 5 Francs that I got from Bluemoon that was PL, just to see what kind of a difference it would make:

Old pictures:




New method:




This new method REALLY emphasizes different characteristics of the coin. I'm not sure it's a step up in ALL cases, nor am I sure what the results be on less flashy/lustrous coins, but I think I'll experiment some more and reimage some of my proofs...

rwyarmch

Very nice images!

Light reflected off the slanted ceiling in my living room seems to have a similar effect with very reflective coins. Here's an example using a much more subdued subject with all but 20 watts reflected off the ceiling. (I then had to press TWO buttons in Roxio PhotoSuite to adjust the exposure.)

Cruzi

Used a similar method on my 1885 Swiss piece a little while back.

Warning, big pics that are not exactly flattering.

1885 reverse

1885 obverse

Really do love them.

spoon

Didn't one of the Lightsiders post a FAQ for shooting proofs once upon a time? Something involving direct shots with a modified lampshade between the lightsources and the coin?

dcamp78

Very nice pics and very nice coins.

Thanks for the photo tip also!

coinpictures

<< <i>Didn't one of the Lightsiders post a FAQ for shooting proofs once upon a time? Something involving direct shots with a modified lampshade between the lightsources and the coin? >>



I'd tried shooting THROUGH a lampshade, t-shirt, white paper, etc. before, with less than stellar results. This was the first time the light source was actually pointed AWAY from the coin, and only reflected (indirect) light on the coin.

The room was completely dark otherwise, no ambient light, so the only light reaching the coin was the reflected light from the Ott.

Gazza

<< <i>The room was completely dark otherwise, no ambient light, so the only light reaching the coin was the reflected light from the Ott. >>



I'll have to give that a try. I find that my copy stand has too much light and everything looks flat with no depth to it.

coinpictures

Of course I go get about 20 of my slabs from my safety deposit box to take home and reimage, and my Ott bulb goes "KERPHLOOEY!"

Nice.