Photographing slabbed coins

comma

I'm just wondering if the majority (or not) of the high quality coin pics around are taken of coins in slabs or naked coins?
I have a bunch of recent acquisitions I would like to practice my coin photography skills on, but I noticed a lot of the plastic has small abnormalities...
Just curious what the procedure would be here.
Sorry if this is an over-asked question, couldn't find any topics related when I searched.

blu62vette

<< <i>I'm just wondering if the majority (or not) of the high quality coin pics around are taken of coins in slabs or naked coins?
I have a bunch of recent acquisitions I would like to practice my coin photography skills on, but I noticed a lot of the plastic has small abnormalities...
Just curious what the procedure would be here.
Sorry if this is an over-asked question, couldn't find any topics related when I searched. >>



I would say 97% of what I shoot is slabbed. just takes practice and then you will no longer notice the slab. Plastx is your friend for cleaning slabs. Do a plastx search.

comma

Even if the slab is slightly scratched is there a workaround?
I am a graphic designer, so post-processing them wouldn't be a problem, but I just don't know what the accepted "norm" is. haha.
I will look up plastx. Any other household alternatives to cleaning slabs?

ctf_error_coins

Scratches are a huge problem.

Plastix is a polishing agent that I hear works wonders, I have yet to try it, but intend to.

blu62vette

Plastx

messydesk

Almost everything I shoot is slabbed. They can be a nuisance at times, but you can buff out the scratches with Plastx and a soft cloth. I haven't figured out how to buff out bulges in NGC slabs, though.

comma

<< <i>Plastx >>



Thanks for that link. Very helpful

TomB

All my shots are of slabbed coins, too, and I generally try to limit surface improvement to the use of a soft cotton cloth.

mgoodm3

I use plastx also.

The only other work around is to make the light come in from a different angle/direction where the scratches are less visible.

lkeigwin

Virtually all my images are of slabbed coins. I polish each slab before imaging. If the camera reports still more scuffs, I repolish until they are gone.

You will find that you need many images to overcome focus problems on marginal slabs. It is always doable, just a bit of work.
Lance.

Meltdown

I'm a complete self taught novice at shooting my own coins. I do have a decent camera and macro lens
but shooting through slabs confound me. I cannot quite figure out how to avoid the light glare and still capture
the look of the coin... particularly anything toned with color.

comma

After experimenting for a few hours, focusing isn't hard, but capturing tone is incredibly hard! I'm using a dslr and macro lens.
I have a daylight florescent bulb (only one in one lamp).
Do a lot of your setups have multiple light sources?
Thanks for all the input so far.
I can tell this is going to have quite a big learning curve!

pursuitofliberty

zach,

Might be worthwhile to buy Numismatic Photography, written by our own esteemed member Mark Goodman

Slab anaomolies can be tricky, but lighting is probably the hardest trick after you have a reasonable camera

messydesk

<< <i>I have a daylight florescent bulb (only one in one lamp).
Do a lot of your setups have multiple light sources? >>


I always use two lights. With one light you'll get part of the coin bright and part dark. You're also likely to blow out highlights or lose all detail in shadows (or both).