Thanks to Coinpictures - tried "angled glass" technique...

TwoKopeiki

I've heard about shooting through an angled glass that's used to reflect the light onto the surface of the coin, which supposed to be great for toners. Well, tonight I tried it on an interesting coin in my collection. Struck on a tapered planchet - it has an extremely weak strike from 9 to 3 o'clock throughout the entire coin, with design clearly visible only at an angle (or, apparently, if you reflect the light onto it by using angled glass). Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, coinpictures!

Here's my old method of shooting with a lense at an angle to the coin:



Here's using angled glass:



~Roman

coinpictures

Very nice! It's a little more work and postprocessing, but for some types of coins it yields great results. Now go shoot some more...

1960NYGiants

Wow, that's a big change in color. I take it the 2nd pix is closer to coin in hand?

TwoKopeiki

Well, the thing is that both pictures represent the coin. It can look either way, depending on the angle towards the light and the intensity of the light. There was no color saturation done post-processing.

cacheman

The credit for the slanted glass technique should really go to Darkhorse

TwoKopeiki

<< <i>The credit for the slanted glass technique should really go to Darkhorse >>



Nice thread, Mac. If it was Darkhorse who applied this first to shooting coins - I thank him, as well. I also learned something new about you!

<< <i>my name is really MacCrackin' >>

MacCrimmon

<< <i>

<< <i>The credit for the slanted glass technique should really go to Darkhorse >>



Nice thread, Mac. If it was Darkhorse who applied this first to shooting coins - I thank him, as well. I also learned something new about you!

<< <i>my name is really MacCrackin' >>

>>



Indeed, Darkhorse (Phil) brought this to the Forum. He was also the first, to my knowledge, which explained the tutorial on actually intentionally shooting a very slightly elliptical shot (no more than 2% from perpendicular) of the coin, and then post-processing the 'ellipse' back into a 'round' coin.

I prefer this elliptical method for toned coins, however, each coin lends itself to one or more techniques, and as Roman says, depending on the lighting and tilt, "both are realistic".

coinpictures

<< <i>The credit for the slanted glass technique should really go to Darkhorse >>



Just to clarify, given the implication in Cacheman's post, in NO WAY was I attempting to take credit for the photography method from Darkhorse. TwoKopeiki and I were simply PMing back and forth about how tricky it was to shoot toned Canadian specimen dollars, and I showed him some examples.

TwoKopeiki

This technique is amazing! It provides very soft lighting that reduces glare significantly and makes the toning "glow", as well as give subtle shadows that help feel the depth of the coin. Going to pick-up more toners, since I'm sure you guys are pretty tired of seeing that Guadalajara 8 Reales I also picked-up a dedicated macro lens (105mm Sigma), which has a higher reproduction ration of the one I'm using currently - can't wait until it comes in.

coinpictures

... and a monster has been created.

Keep the pics coming!

CIVITAS

Nice pics.

It is a pretty slick technique. Helped me shoot this one a few weeks back.

MONSTER TONING!!!!!! L@@K!!!!!!!!!!!!!LQQK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TwoKopeiki

<< <i>Nice pics.

It is a pretty slick technique. Helped me shoot this one a few weeks back.

MONSTER TONING!!!!!! L@@K!!!!!!!!!!!!!LQQK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>



I LQQKd and L0Ok3D and even l@@KD and liked what I saw, Josh!

MacCrimmon

as well as give subtle shadows that help feel the depth of the coin.

Indeed, that is one feature that it tends to highlight, depth. I'm sure there's a physics explanation, but I'll let you do the optics proof.

Have it to my by 0800 tomorrow.

IstilllikeZARcoins

Roman - any chance of a photo of your set up ?

TwoKopeiki

Sure, Marcel, I'll take one when I'm home tonight.

IstilllikeZARcoins

Must be a long day over there.

TwoKopeiki

Yesterday was a long day over here

My set-up is below. The lights are 2x 60W Reveal and I'm currently using a 28-135 Sigma Lens with Macro at 135 on Canon Rebel XT. There are a number of "nice-to-have" things I'm planning to pick-up in the future that will make this a little simpler (like something that would hold the glass in place, for example).

Please excuse the mess on the background...

IstilllikeZARcoins

Muchas Gracias Roman.