Finally! I had some time to practice with my camera!

cmerlo1

I finally had some time to practice with my camera rig today on some newP's... enjoy and critique!

Toned 1963 Proof Cent:



1956 Type 1 Proof Franklin:



1923 Mercury Dime



1921-S VAM-1B3A Thornhead Morgan Dollar

mercurydimeguy

Great start, slight over-exposed on some of the coins. Try tinkering around with lighting and/or bring down exposure a bit.

DollarAfterDollar

Looks like a great start.
Plenty sharp and bright.

oih82w8

Those are better than the ones I take.

Numis

Originally posted by: mercurydimeguy
Great start, slight over-exposed on some of the coins. Try tinkering around with lighting and/or bring down exposure a bit.

I'm envious even with the suggestions for improvement, the pics look good to me.

on a side note: I love that medal you have in your avatar mercurydimeguy.

WaterSport

As far as I am concern, unless your trying to get into professional coin photography..they are just fine.

WS

DIMEMAN

You put me to shame!

ricko

Really great pictures.... Cheers, RickO

derryb

sharper detail would make them perfect. Probably limited by the camera.

cmerlo1

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

The most challenging one was the cent- picking up the maroon toning was difficult (the color in the image is actually correct).

The dime and dollar were a bit of a challenge also- neither were very photogenic to begin with but the images are accurate, though I agree they might be a tad overexposed.

Anyway, it was fun. I'm still struggling with bright white uncirculated silver. I have the Goodman book and am going to go back through it.

ctf_error_coins

Kinda flat for me. Work on your lighting.

Wabbit2313

They probably look like the real coin. Too many want to see works of art, but the coin does not really look like that in hand. Your images look great!!

SkyMan

Fun pix and coins!

mercurydimeguy

Originally posted by: cmerlo1

I'm still struggling with bright white uncirculated silver. I have the Goodman book and am going to go back through it.

You and everyone else ... but good idea to go through the book.



I would say that try backing up the lights a bit and don't beam them right at the coin, and instead lower your shutter speed to still get a well lit coin without being washed out.



There is tradeoff between detail and luster, so find your "sweet spot"



Not that the below is brilliant, but an example where you can tone down the brightness/don't overexpose. I literally just shot this coin/cropped it/posted it here, as an example.



I think you are well on your way to excellent photos. try the lighting technique adjustment to see if you get a "fuller" image.



Good luck.

BryceM

My trick for BU (non-proof) silver is to keep the lights in close, tight to the lens, and as high as practical. I like large halogen bulbs, as the size of the bulb produces a bit of built-in diffusion. The big lights also allow for short exposure times, which helps keep things sharp. On BU silver, I like to show surface field texture and strong luster bands. I'm not afraid to over-expose and under-expose small portions of the coin's surface to give a nice level of contrast.



Your proofs look great. They're very hard to shoot well. The other coins are monotone and bland looking. To shoot low-contrast coins try some different lighting techniques.



This one shows the luster pretty nicely, but the overall exposure will be too dark for some and too light for others. Some of it comes down to personal preference:





This is a decent example of showing a little contrast where there isn't much to start with on a circulated coin. I't's just a matter of playing with the lighting type and angle.

mercurydimeguy

Curious how you're making out... I bet you have made some progress. Post some updated pics.



I've been very quiet on the imaging side myself (been super busy with work), but had a chance to take a couple of images yesterday and was thinking about this thread as I imaged this new 1869 Rupia Goa. I posted this image on the World forum, but it's probably appropriate as a point of reference for this thread also...



Manual Focus, ISO 100, F6.3, 1/20th shutter speed, 2x 60W Reveal lights (with manual white balance to compensate for the overly warm Reveal light source) about 30" above coin at 10 and 2, horizontal to the plane of the coin (e.g. not pointed down at the coin but pointed horizontal to the surface of the coin), lights at 45 degree angle (again, not pointed down but horizontal) looking towards the center of the coin, about 12" out from the center of the coin, and about 4" north of the top of the coin.



Anyhow, here's the image... but post some of your newer images when you have some time.

cmerlo1

Originally posted by: mercurydimeguy
Curious how you're making out... I bet you have made some progress. Post some updated pics.

I've been very quiet on the imaging side myself (been super busy with work), but had a chance to take a couple of images yesterday and was thinking about this thread as I imaged this new 1869 Rupia Goa. I posted this image on the World forum, but it's probably appropriate as a point of reference for this thread also...

Manual Focus, ISO 100, F6.3, 1/20th shutter speed, 2x 60W Reveal lights (with manual white balance to compensate for the overly warm Reveal light source) about 30" above coin at 10 and 2, horizontal to the plane of the coin (e.g. not pointed down at the coin but pointed horizontal to the surface of the coin), lights at 45 degree angle (again, not pointed down but horizontal) looking towards the center of the coin, about 12" out from the center of the coin, and about 4" north of the top of the coin.

Anyhow, here's the image... but post some of your newer images when you have some time.

Thanks for checking in- that's a great photo. I had some time yesterday and thought I'd try some gold. This coin is in a PCGS 63 OGH slab:



I plan to reshoot the '23 merc and play with some bright white silver today if I can.