Reimaged an old favorite

spoon

I was supposed to image more stuff for my sales page, but got distracted of course

This is an old favorite. I just love the design and the quality of the bronze gives it a really great effect in hand that no pics would do justice to.

Here's the before pic, shot normally:



And here's the new shot using the angled glass technique:



I'd stick with the first one for accuracy if I were selling it, but the new one really demonstrates how the fields glow.

Just thought I'd share

ormandh

How was your setup with this. Did you use Mark's technique? Great shots!

WWW

Very impressive results. Pretty little coin too.

spoon

Dan,
I originally got the idea from Phil (darkhorse) way back when.. before he went pro But it's the same thing as what Mark describes in his article under axial lighting. Here's a quickie snap of my setup. I just shoot freehand facing directly down over the glass.

FilthyBroke

You're setups are getting too complicated for me. I usually just lay it on a piece of cardboard and shoot. If it wants to slide when I lean it toward my light source (bic lighter), I have some packing tape to hold it down.

ormandh

That is pretty good shooting freehand! What ISO are you using? Shutter speed?

DeepSix

Ok, now I'm intrigued. Spoon, you consistently have nice images and from what I can tell of your setup, you're doing it freehand, without a copystand.

What's in the wooden frame leaning against the book? Is it just a clear pane of glass?

I suddenly have the courage to try shooting photos of coins freehand. This could be the end of my washed out scanner pics

MacCrimmon

<< <i>Ok, now I'm intrigued. Spoon, you consistently have nice images and from what I can tell of your setup, you're doing it freehand, without a copystand.

What's in the wooden frame leaning against the book? Is it just a clear pane of glass?

I suddenly have the courage to try shooting photos of coins freehand. This could be the end of my washed out scanner pics >>




Here's one reference to Darkhorse's technique (see bottom of thread for setup pix.

Angled Glass

zeebob

I used to shoot freehand in sunlight. Got some pretty good pics. But I have to say, after Mark's book and my copy stand I get better pics.

Spoon, is the image posted adjusted for contrast with a photo editor? As I recall, Mark mentioned that the axial lighting gives lots of direct glare from the slab but that the glare is uniform and can be taken out by adjustment in a photo editor.

I talked to Blu62vette (in person) and he has indicated he had limited success because of glare with the technique.

You got good results, I'm interested to know all the finer points if you would be kind enough to share. Nice images, both.

spoon

This is just one technique in the toolbox. I don't use it often, mainly just for stubborn coins or to capture color. Generally, when using this I can get great color and definition, but lose the vibrant luster.

This is my normal setup, not far from Filthy's



Using this it's just a matter of hitting the sweet spot with the angle of the light - that's where the gooseneck lamp comes in handy. I'd probably have better results if I added another lamp. I'll usually set it to 1.6x optical zoom and shoot from 4-6" away.

My camera is a cheapo Canon SD 1100 IS. I shoot using the Digital Macro mode, default (automatic) ISO and shutter speed. I also set it to Tungsten (white balance for regular light bulbs), Vivid (essentially does an Auto-contrast in the camera), Evaluative, Fine and M2 (medium file size for the camera, 2048x1536 - it seems to lose sharpness at the higher sizes).

As a rule I don't tweak any photos destined for a sales page, but the new one above got an Auto-contrast in Photoshop.

For the angled glass, yep, that's just a cheap old glass picture frame with the back taken out. What the glass does is reflect the light down directly onto the subject, as though the bulb itself were directly overhead. But reflecting it allows you to hold the camera directly overhead instead. Simple enough The effect this has, though, is that it floods the coin with light so it can sometimes wash over some defects while making others more prominent. On the plus side it really makes most colors pop. It's also a good technique sometimes for creating high contrast pics destined for black & white print.

A few pointers - For starters, make sure there is nothing opposite the light (the right side of the glass in my setup pic) that rises above the platform where the coin is - it will reflect on the glass. Also, this isn't going to give the best results for every coin, I just use it for certain stubborn ones. For slabs, because of the direct light, it does indeed create glare. Sometimes you can move things around (gently alter the angles) so that the glare is just off the coin (as you would normally do), but still retain the benefits of the procedure. Some gentle tweaking in Photoshop can usually remove the effect of glare without making it look like a Photoshopped coin.

Really, I just play around with things until it comes out right. I'll usually take 3-6 shots of each side, maybe more, and pick the best of them.

spoon

Here's what prompted me to drag out the glass:



Still not the greatest pic, but it did better at capturing the color than simply shooting it freehand. Catch is, it shows nothing of the rich luster it has.

Here's an example of what I mean by the glass being good for high contrast BW - again, not the greatest example - before, then after:

ormandh

What are you talking about? That is a great picture!! I love the toning! -dan