Conder Tokens photographed using diffused axial lighting

Moonwinx

Here are photos taken today. An object was placed to prevent direct diffused light from reaching the upper rim directly.

This is a very effective technique for auction listing photos, and lends itself to photographing a large number of tokens.

In my view, there is no way other than direct axial lighting to best emphasize natural toning on a coin,
but place a small object to prevent direct light from the light source from striking the upper rim, or perhaps any part of the coin. ; )

pendragon1998

Very nice. I saw these earlier in the day and I had to come back and compliment them. Good photos!

Axial lighting does get it done when the getting ain't easy. It's also an excellent technique to use on fully brilliant coins that glare on the lens. I find that on occasion, however, a little spill-over light can make for a different, sometimes more interesting, photo. Definitely depends on the coins. I like your imaging. What's your light source?



Some of my own axial lighting efforts:

theboz11

Placing the light a bit high to allow some direct light , can prove to be an interesting effect. Try a lower watt bulb or diffuse the light more with a white cloth in front of the bulb

Moonwinx

The top photo of mine had some light spilling over the object I placed to block light from striking the upper rim directly.

I used one Ott-Lite lying on its side. The base of the lamp was on the leaf of my desk, the head of the lamp was a bit higher, on my desk. : )

For diffusion, I used one Nikon SW-12 diffuser from my Creative Lighting System.

My CLS has four SB-200 flash units but I seldom use them for coins. I have four of the diffusers. but the kit only came with one.

I ordered the other three from Helix Camera here in Chicago. The Part number is NK-4907. : )


NOTE: It is important to reset and preset white balance preset if switching from one Ott-Lite bulb to another,
since every bulb (I own four now) seems to be of a different color.
I sometimes use two Ott-Lites. I consider perfect white balance a must when photographing coins. : )

Here's another example using axial lighting and a touch of spillover light at as slight angle, but I did not block the light to the upper rim.
Sometimes, white highlights are nice, and seem natural, but large areas of all-white are perceived as glare, and I ordinarily try to minimize glare.
This image is about a year old.

Moonwinx

I got a new remote control trigger for my camera today and used it to take some multiple exposures.

I used axial lighting with one Ott-Lite, and no diffusion.

DimeAdozen

Well taken pictures...