Lighting Poll Results and Poll #2

rmpsrpms

Thanks to everyone for the turnout on the last poll. I have looked over the poll results and the various suggestions and I've modified my setup and taken another picture to integrate them all together and hopefully show an improved result. But first some discussion...

Last poll top picks were:

H: 26.5%. Heavily diffused sources. From the responses I think this won because it was the most evenly lit, though some commented it was too dark
J: 18.3%. Same as H but with 3rd light added, brightening the photo and adding a little luster
G: 16.3%. Lightly diffused sources. This has more luster but several of you commented on it being too dark and noticed hot spotting
B: 10.2%. Point sources. This has the most luster, but most shadows and least even lighting (more hot spots)

One thing I didn't mention was the height of the sources. The heavily diffused sources are at ~125mm from the coin, while the point and lightly diffused sources were at about 175mm. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but the higher the source the "smaller" it is. Small sources create more shadows.

So given all the inputs I modified the setup a bit:
- built new diffusors that reduce the hot-spotting but are not as heavily diffused as the H and J photos
- lowered the sources to 125mm like in H and J
- mixed the source clock positions for most even lighting. The best I could find was 10:30 and 3:00

I'll show the poll winners, and then the new photo at the bottom (it's called "K"). And of course a new poll to see if you all think the result is improved!

B. dual point sources at 9:00 and 3:00 near vertical at 175mm height


G. dual lightly-diffused sources at 10:00 and 2:00 near vertical at 175mm height


H. dual heavily-diffused sources at 10:00 and 2:00 at 125mm height


J. dual heavily-diffused sources at 10 and 2 at 125mm height with lower-angle point source at 12:00


K. dual medium-diffused sources at 10 and 3 at 125mm height

ChrisRx

I went with k

DuPapa

<< <i>I went with k >>



me too... k wins

SeattleSlammer

I like B...despite a little shadow, it seems to have the most texture to the fields which makes a coin pic pop IMO...

rmpsrpms, you ain't messin' around! All of them are quite nice actually. I think you have too many options!

ChrisRx

B @ G have too much glare.

H has the face look less defined... kind of "mushy"

J has more definition than H but I like the color better on H

K is "just right"

Bear

J seems the most accurate picture. It shows the marks and differences on the surface.

rmpsrpms

I personally also like the more lustrous and detailed look of "B" but in reality the high contrast in the lustrous regions actually hides real detail. Here's a bigger picture of "K" that shows more of the surface detail. The 536x356 pixel images are not big enough to see the real surface detail. That's actually 1/8 the original size of 4288x2848. Here is the "K" photo at 1072x712 (still 1/4 original size):

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rmpsrpms

And here is "B" at 1072 x 712 resolution for comparison:

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ricko

Still too much shadow...keep trying. Cheers, RickO

rmpsrpms

<< <i>Still too much shadow...keep trying. Cheers, RickO >>



Well, some shadow is needed to emphasize design elements. A "good" photo runs the gamut from dark shadow to full exposure. Are you saying too much of the coin is too dark, or the shadows are too dark? Here is a quick example of what can be done to brighten the image. Is this more what you're looking for?:

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kimber45ACP

K