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Coin Photography - Finally Mastered, but Why?
renomedphys
Posts: 3,502 ✭✭✭✭✭
As sort of a lark, I decided one day that it would be a good idea to learn how to do a better job photographing my coins. I am a Lincoln Collector. My registry set is titled "Eat Your Wheaties" and can be found Here
Now, I have purchased at great expense, a Nikon D300, a very nice tripod that serves as a copy stand, a Telephoto Macro Lens, and two $300 flash units. Please bear in mind that I am a recovering Cameraholic, and have always been keenly interested in the art of Photography.
After great experimentation it has become clear to me that you can take three different exposures of a coin and get three images that one might mistake as belonging to three separate coins. The true mastery lies in the ability to capture the coin's appearance at its most appealing aspect without misrepresenting the color, luster, brightness, or detriments. Take a look at my set pictures and it should be clear that it is a work in progress.
BUT IN THE END, some basic truths float to the surface. One, the more luster a coin posesses, the more beautifully it will photograph. Two, no matter how beautiful a prom queen's a$$ is, if you get close enough, there will be a pimple (that was a metaphor). Three, you can't make an ugly coin beautiful no matter how you hold the light. And fourth, and most importantly, as detached as we all from each other, why should anyone believe anybody else's photograph to be an accurate representation of how a coin will appear in hand?
On the other hand, I could always sell my services.
Now, I have purchased at great expense, a Nikon D300, a very nice tripod that serves as a copy stand, a Telephoto Macro Lens, and two $300 flash units. Please bear in mind that I am a recovering Cameraholic, and have always been keenly interested in the art of Photography.
After great experimentation it has become clear to me that you can take three different exposures of a coin and get three images that one might mistake as belonging to three separate coins. The true mastery lies in the ability to capture the coin's appearance at its most appealing aspect without misrepresenting the color, luster, brightness, or detriments. Take a look at my set pictures and it should be clear that it is a work in progress.
BUT IN THE END, some basic truths float to the surface. One, the more luster a coin posesses, the more beautifully it will photograph. Two, no matter how beautiful a prom queen's a$$ is, if you get close enough, there will be a pimple (that was a metaphor). Three, you can't make an ugly coin beautiful no matter how you hold the light. And fourth, and most importantly, as detached as we all from each other, why should anyone believe anybody else's photograph to be an accurate representation of how a coin will appear in hand?
On the other hand, I could always sell my services.
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<< <i>The true mastery lies in the ability to capture the coin's appearance at its most appealing aspect without misrepresenting the color, luster, brightness, or detriments ... and most importantly, as detached as we all from each other, why should anyone believe anybody else's photograph to be an accurate representation of how a coin will appear in hand? >>
It's scary how much your post reminds me of me. I am in the midst of embarking on the same journey and some time in the next few months I hope to start generating some high quality images of my own. We share the same standards, goals and doubts, as you have expressed so well in your post.
How do we know how close somebody else's photo comes to the real thing? The question reminds me (just a little) of an old joke. Three men are arguing over "what is the greatest invention ever?" This first fellow says it's the radio, as it throws sound over long distances. The second guy says it's television, because it throws sound and pictures over long distances. But the third guy says "no, you're both wrong, it's the thermos bottle. "Why?" they both ask, and he answers, "because it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold. "Well," they reply, "what's so great about that?" And he says, "how does it know?"
I am not kidding,
G99G
I collect 20-slab, blue plastic PCGS coin boxes. To me, every empty box is like a beating heart
People come up sometimes, and ask me, G99G, are you kidding? And I answer them no, I am NOT KIDDING.
Every empty box?
C'mon!
As for the why believe anyone else's picture as truthful question, I don't believe many do here. I think most people think of the pics posted here as the best a coin has to offer. That is why you often see the 'it's impossible to grade from pics' comments.
Nice pics BTW and you've got a nice set there,
Mark
I personally fel that it would be dishonest to misrepresent a coin to a potential buyer. If the label says red, and the coin is dark, well, it SHOULD be evident in the photos. Not to mention, you should be able to see scratches, spots, and other little nasties. I think we've all been burned trusting not high-enough res eBay images and getting a coin littered with pin-pr!cks. I just want to take photos of my coins that represent them in the fullest, most honest, and most enjoyable way. I pine away when I cannot get an image right. It nags me until I do. Personally, I would like to be able to pull up an image of each of my coins from any PC and enjoy my set as though I were holding it in my hands.
Empty Nest Collection
Matt’s Mattes
I often take two or three pics of one coin to show the different 'faces' of the coin. For instance, see my CSNS NewPs thread and the whole-slab pics of the seated dollar and then the 'tilted pics'. When looking straight at the coin, the whole slab pics show what you see. However when you tilt the coin the true color of the coin (as is shown, kinda
By this same arguement, I have multiple images of all my proof cameo liberty nickels to show their mirrors and their cameos. These two aspects simply cannot be captured with one image (with the exception of Mark Goodman's photos, wow!) and thus require two photos for me to capture their attributes.
Also, please turn on your PM's. It makes it much easier for conversations sometimes.
Mark
Back to the point, I totally agree. Two to three pics are definitely required for any but the flattest coins, especially if there is some aspect of the coin that only shines when held to the light just so. I find that full red gems usully work just fine with one shot. It's the in-betweens that require further "examination." I would never pay a hefty premium for a toned coin without the full benefit of multiple lighting angle photos. I do, however, like to post my "best" shots on the registry, and am constantly updating those as my photography skills improve.
By the way, who is this Mark Goodman fellow, anyway. I'd love to see some of his shots.
-Matt
Empty Nest Collection
Matt’s Mattes
PMs are private messages, if you go to the profile box under the navigation bar (in the top right of the page) you can go to 'turn on Private messages'. Then a little lock will appear near your lightbulb in the top right of each of your posts. You can then send messages back and forth to other forum members.
Mark Goodman is probably the best coin photographer, if not he is certainly in the top 5 or so. He has a book coming out soon and has a very, VERY helpful website. His name on here is mgoodm3 and he is always willing to answer a question. I'd say that he is the main reason for most of the great photography on this forum. (This has got to be one of my favorite photos of his.)
i'm sure it would be quite a video camera but to have lightning that rotates to catch a coin viewed from different light angles would be killer..."mastered"
anyone upto tha challenge?
awesome imaging by tha way
Basically, just an improvement in ambient light handling, and in my opinion, a better representation of true color. The 1916-d continues to thwart me. I am pretty pleased with how the 1916-s and the 1912-s came out. Several others are major improvements as well. Now to get the 1930-1958 coins up.
Thanks for you nice comments.
Empty Nest Collection
Matt’s Mattes
Terrific images of your cool set.
WS
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay
When I do take pictures for others, I've used this method: Send the coins to me insured and send a return label with the package and that's the way they'll come back to you. That way I don't have to hassle with paying and then getting paid back. As for cost... I pretty much started a pricing for a friend and I thought it fair, of course looking at others picture prices I think it cheap now! My cost was 1 silver dime per photo. It's fun and I do it on my spare time and now I have junk silver to trade, and some coins I just hold onto like lower grade MS Morgan or Peace which are a bit of premium above silver still. So, it works out good for me.
Anyhow, if you'd like to see some of my work, take a look at my registry sets, I can't post a link right now, but I'm Coindude and you can find my SMS sets, pretty much all cameo coins. I do use another method sometimes to get better pictures of my cameos.... but that's a long discussion and ... well, it took so long to perfect I think I'll just keep it to me for now.
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All coins are true to life... make sure to click on the thumbnails for larger pix!