Professional photography options

logger7

There are several members here who do professional coin photography for members, I have no idea how they make any profit doing so. Who do people recommend?

TomB

I can only speak for my own business, but if I had to rely only on numismatic photography alone then I would not be able to keep the business as an ongoing concern. I offer numismatic photography as part of a menu of services that also includes auction representation, taking consignments and other features. None of these would likely float my business by itself, but together they form some of what I do.

There are at least four other really fine numismatic photographers that participate on these boards and they would all be excellent choices to have work done for those interested.

ctf_error_coins

I am a profesional photographer who photographs his own coins for my coin business.

I could never imagine doing it (someone else's coins) for a living ......

cameonut2011

Tom Bush (TomB)
Jeremy Katz (airplanenut)
Todd Pollock - Google BluCC - I cannot remember his moniker here.
Lance Keigwin (lkeigwin)
John B (Messydesk)

There are other great photographers, but I think they mainly do their own or for close friends.

cameonut2011

Unfortunately, given his other issues, I can no longer recommend Shane (Kryptonitecomics).

AUandAG

Todd is my go to only because he's close. He does attend most larger shows (if not all) and you can message him here on the forum to set an appointment or arrange for pics. Easy to work with. Excellent results.
I know others do it for a living as well and just putting my two cents in.
bob

Try: blu62vette for his forum name.

jtlee321

It's certainly not something to make a living on. I work as a sports photographer for my main source of income. I shoot my own coins that I sell on eBay as well as share on this forum as well as others. I enjoy photographing a gorgeous coin. I can make some profit at it, but it's not a wealth creator by far. It is far more productive and profitable than watching TV for sure.

golden

Blue62vette is great.

BryceM

Those mentioned here do great work and I'd recommend any of them. Mark Goodman would also be great and he literally wrote the book on the subject.

I shoot my own coins, but if I hired someone else to do it I'd want to know their turnaround speed, method of shipment, insurance, security measures, confidentiality, etc.

I've thought about offering photo services but there are plenty of others doing it (and doing it very well) and I'm worried that doing it for a job would take the fun out of it. There are some challenging coins to photograph and getting that perfected would take additional effort, equipment, and experimentation.

lkeigwin

Bob Campbell (robec) is another excellent choice.
Lance.

TONEDDOLLARS

Todd and bob Campbell are two I have used who are on these boards all the time, and both are excellent to work with. I also used Brandon Kelly who has somewhat disappeared from here

cameonut2011

@lkeigwin said:
Bob Campbell (robec) is another excellent choice.
Lance.

Does he offer his services to the larger collecting community? I assumed he did it for himself and a few fellow collectors he was close to; I admit that I like his style of photography.

oih82w8

The passion has to be there (and the right equipment set-up) to perform imagery. I have the interest, but not the equipment, space or time.

Azurescens

A good DSLR or tripod go a long way.. you can spot shaky hands or tired hands far away.. as to make money on them, I am not sure, as I only make money off mushroom pictures. Learning about light would be the first step. With coins, it's a whole new monster. Certain metals will only reflect certain light (blues), some will both absorb and reflect (manganese, brass), zinc is.. well.. try to balance out the reds (and good luck let me know when you figure it out).

As for who would buy photos. Dunno. Wish I could help. I'd like to see where this thread goes. I've got a compound microscope and I'm thinking of buying one that does digital images. Goes 20x down to micrometers.. I bet that would be the absolute best way to showcase aspects of coins: both perfect and imperfect.

erwindoc

TomB is a good photographer and one I have used in the past with no reservations

messydesk

I don't make a ton of money taking coin photos. It's probably safe to say that it all goes back into the hobby when I spend it on coins.

CascadeChris

I use Todd (bluvette62) & JB (messydesk) personally. For different reasons. Todd brings out true color like nobody else and he's at all major shows which is super easy to drop a stack off then go roam the floor for a couple hours. And JB can create amazing animated .gif's to show off luster or heavily polished dies or some other surface effect like nobody else I know.

ricko

The coin photographers here on this forum are incredibly good.... I recall when the first pictures were posted here... what a world of difference between then and now.... The individuals listed above are all great.. and certainly there are several who only do their own coins (and a few friends) that do as well. Coin photography certainly added a great new dimension to the forum and really enhances the time spent here. Cheers, RickO

Wabbit2313

@lkeigwin

Lance, (Ikeigwin) gets my vote. Most of us bozos can take a decent picture of the coin only, but to capture the whole slab and have it look great..... talent baby!

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Ezmoney

I use Todd at http://bluccphotos.com He's at most larger shows and can image your coins while you walk the floor. Plus he's a great guy, easy to work with and appreciates coins himself. Here's a few of the recent ones I had imaged....

Wabbit2313

@Ezmoney said:

Sweet Coins!!

JJSingleton

I use Todd at BluCC because he sets up at shows. That way I do not have to go through the hassle and worry of shipping my coins.

Ezmoney

@Wabbit2313 said:

@Ezmoney said:

Sweet Coins!!

Thank you @Wabbit2313

Walkerfan

There are many great photographers that participate here and all are very good.

From what I've seen ; I personally like the work of Justin Lee and Bob Campbell.

Walkerfan

Let's not forget our own Phil Arnold.

brg5658

If I didn't already take my own photos (and a few for friends on the side), I'd go with @lkeigwin . I believe he is the best photographer at capturing realistic images of coins.

Many of the others mentioned (robec, messydesk, etc) would also be in my top 5, but PCGS TrueViews would be quite a ways down my list of preferred photographers -- not a big fan of the glamour shots.

oih82w8

@Walkerfan said:
Let's not forget our own Phil Arnold.

Whenever I send coins in for Variety Attribution they stop by Phil's for TrueViews.

jtlee321

@Walkerfan said:
There are many great photographers that participate here and all are very good.

From what I've seen ; I personally like the work of Justin Lee and Bob Campbell.

Wow, thank you so much. I feel honored to be mentioned alongside Bob. He is an incredible photographer and his work is what inspired me to start photographing coins. You get a sense of what he has shot, represents the coin to be as true as it can be and not a fantasy representation of what it could be.

My background comes from nature photography and my mantra was to produce an image the replicated what I actually saw with my eye. Sure you can ramp up contrast and saturation, but it does not depict the reality of the scene and misrepresents my experience. I carried that over to photographing coins.

I have sold a lot of the coins I have photographed, but I still have a photo of everything. I can still go back and see exactly what it actually looked like. It's pretty nice to be able to do that.

Zoins

Great coins and photos! Love the color!

jerseycat101

I second @jtlee321. He recently did a submission of 12 peace dollars for me, and I was thrilled with his work.

Here's one of his images:

rainbowroosie

All those mentioned above do a good job. That said, I'm doing all TruViews now because you eventually will need to sell your coins. When I show pictures of my coins done by others, I get comments about how the photos are juiced. No one questions TruViews. Also, posting photos in your sets is soooooo easy. Just so you don't think I'm a company robot, they often don't get the full color on my proofs....they should "juice" them a bit.