I've been playing with my camera
Hussulo
Posts: 2,953 ✭✭✭
After reading Mark Goodmans article on coin photography http://coinimaging.com/photography.html I had another play with my camera.
Both shots were with the same camera. The first one is my old picture and the second my new one.
I must of had the camera set on the stand at a slight angle as the left hand side on both the obverse and the reverse is out of focus.
I still have a bit to learn, but what do you guys think?
Edited to fix link.
Both shots were with the same camera. The first one is my old picture and the second my new one.
I must of had the camera set on the stand at a slight angle as the left hand side on both the obverse and the reverse is out of focus.
I still have a bit to learn, but what do you guys think?
Edited to fix link.
0
Comments
It has some tiny shadow/contrast issues, I think, but is a perfectly decent picture. I like the warm gold coloration in the top (older?) picture better. I can see some jpeg artifacts (crunching) around the text in the label so it is apparent the jpeg quality on it was reduced.
Both are decent. I would like to see one with the size and detail of the lower picture, but the color and lighting of the first, if such a hybrid were possible.
The coin, of course, is lovely. I once had an AU ecu d'or but it was a little later (Francis I, 1500s), and it was raw. Great stuff.
Do you have Mark's book? I can heartily recommend it. I have not yet gotten the equipment and struggled up the learning curve with it myself, yet (still stuck in scanner mode), but I will probably give it a go before too long.
I agree with LM, you're getting very close! The slight glare from the plastic is the only issue to me, and like I say NGC holders can be troublesome.
I'm sure there are others here with a solution to that, and I hope they chime in with an answer.
As far as lighting goes, i'm sure that with work, one could produce a hybrid of the two images. It is a matter of controlling how diffuse the light is, how intense the light is, and what angle the light is coming from. Diffusion can be managed by using reflectors or plastic. I've heard of folks with cut plastic milk jug setups. Personally, I use rigid white foam boards with lights pointed at them.
The diffuse light is what gets you the smooth overall gold color.
The sharp, 'point' source of light (bare bulb) is what shows all of the surface details on the coin. The placement of this light, or lights is critical, as this is what gives you the luster cartwheel bars. The intensity of this light relative to your diffuse light source is also critical.
Mixing the two in just the right way and controlling the position of the point light source is the fussy stuff that will make or break your picture.
In your second picture, I think your light source might actually be too close to the coin. I see "light falloff" which is where the top of the coin is lit brightly and the bottom of the coin is not lit brightly. This is mainly due to the distance between the subject and the light. One side of the coin is literally twice as close to the light as the other side of the coin. Big problem. Move the light further away so that all parts of your subject are more or less the same distance from the light, within 5% or so.
Not yet, but I am certainly going to look to buy a copy.
I agree the colour of the coin does look more like pic 1. If I could capture that colour with the detail of the no2 (plus better focus) I would be very happy.
Thanks for the tips adamlaneus I will try them out and see if I can improve the image even more.
FOR SALE Items
I bought similar piece a few years ago and it is still one of my favorite pieces
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.