How do you shoot ancient copper/bronze?

spoon

I've had miserable results taking any coin photos lately, but ancient copper/bronze has got to be the worst!

For those of you who collect ancient or medieval copper, what techniques do you use? How do you get the details of an old Roman bronze to show? I can't! They just come out as dark mystery blobs worthy of the worst eBay auction.

Aethelred

Wish I could help, but that is something I am not very good at either.

satootoko

<< <i>How do you shoot ancient copper/bronze? >>

With a rusty old shotgun?

laurentyvan

Very dark copper and bronze have the characteristics of a black hole that absorbs light; the reflectivity is almost nil.

I get my best results with one 40W bulb and one 60W bulb (GE reveal) positioned at 10:00 and 2:00 about 18" above the coin and the camera about 3" away.

Hah, I've even resorted to clipping a 2 x 2 with coin to the inside flange of the light hood of one of the gooseneck lights and imaged it that way, and it worked- a technique I've used a few times as the articulation of the gooseneck allows easy positioning in front of the camera any way I want it. With the bulb lit only an inch or so away from the coin it'll brighten almost any surface.

WillieBoyd2

AuldFartte

Overexpose it by a bit, or lighten it up a bit in photoshop or something.