Ring Flash Photos - CBH's

LVGT

My wife just bought a ring flash, so I decided to test it out on a few coins. It may not be the best source of lighting for coins, but I think it does a pretty good job and man is it simple.

Here are a couple shots. What do you think?

lcoopie

Those look pretty good

Tonedlover

I agree! Is it really just as simple as pointing and shooting?

LVGT

I put the camera on a tripod (I don't have a copy stand), focused and shot.

mingot

I really dislike the way the ring lighting shows the coin, sorry

BuffQuarter

Might as well put them on a scanner. Same difference.

adamlaneus

Very flat lighting. It captures very little luster and sort of looks unnatural.


Here's a dirt cheap way to make a ring flash less flat:

Get some electrical tape and tape up much of the flashhead so that you only have a few spots where light can get through. Then it'll look more like typical illumination.

LVGT

I think I will try that out.

adamlaneus

You basically want to tape up so much of the flash that it's firing at practically full power to illuminate the coin. You want the smallest slits possible for illumination. I think, anyway. Experiment.

ldhair

They are the best I have seen using a ring flash. I agree that very little luster shows.

rmpsrpms

You shouldn't have given up your technique so soon. People hear "ring light" or "ring flash" and their knees jerk. Actually, ring illuminators can be really good for technical grading since they illuminate everything fully, except narrow shadows around the devices. But they do kill any luster that's there by reducing local contrast.

keyman64

I have a ring light as well. When I tried to use it for coin photography, I did not like the results.