A tale of two settings (lighting)

ElmerFusterpuck

Thought I'd spend this Memorial Day spending some time playing with light settings. What I ended up doing was taking some toned coin images with my LED lights set to bright white setting for one set (almost like at coin shows), and taking another set with the lights set to warm white (same temp as the old incandescent bulbs). Hoe many times have we bought coins at a show, then take them home and wondered what the hell happened?! It is truly about the lighting and not bad eyesight. So which images are the most accurate below? Well, they both are, no deception intended. This is not to be confused with the vile, despicable practice of some Ebay dealers cranking up the saturation on their images. Of course, every computer monitor and phone will show images with variations in color, so that's yet another wrinkle. It really goes to show that any mint state or toned coin is best viewed in hand, but be prepared to see it in a different light when you get home.

Bright white in column 1, warm white is in column 2:

ctf_error_coins

Second images are too yellow

DollarAfterDollar

Second images "bring out" the yellow but highlight a bit more detail. OP is correct however, Different lighting creates differing results. Add to that the difference between silver and nickel or copper and variations are created. The key then is to make notes of what works best most often.

boyernumismatics

For me, when taking pictures, it comes down to whatever light setup shows the coin the best. I find my circular LED light does very well, as well as my "Daylight" warmth CFL in my lamp.

messydesk

The OP has stumbled across the quandary we face when choosing the right light for the task. If coins are never viewed under daylight, but rather flickering sodium vapor lights (I exaggerate) of the bourse floor, what color are the coins? The best thing to do for pictures is to calibrate your monitor, then calibrate the white balance to the bulbs you are using. At least you should get consistent results, even if you do wonder what the hell happened to the color of your coins when you got them home.

crazyhounddog

I think your doing very well with your imaging my friend. That and I also love your subjects

crazyhounddog

I use two lights on bright coins to show the luster. After that you flood everything out of a bright coin. Darker coins I'll use more light to compensate and seems to work very well. That and I also use daylight bulbs. I find those work better than any other lights I've tried.
I sure do love the looks of that 1818, very nice!!

DoughDeo

Left and right are very close to my eye, on my monitor, under my lighting conditions. You're capturing the coins so well in these still images that I recognized the Morgans from your IG videos. And that's before I saw your username here.

-- @ClarityCoins

steveben

nice luster on those coins!

ricko

Lighting, angles, monitors, in hand, photo enhancement... Coin collecting is so complicated I just buy from a few trusted sources... used to just buy at shows/shops where I could see the coin. Since I am not a rainbow chaser (tarnish), I do not have problems with that.. I do like to see luster though... Cheers, RickO

ElmerFusterpuck

Thanks for the inputs! While these photos are not drastically different from each other (white balance was adjusted for each too), they do show enough to show it makes a difference. As for circulated silver coins, I found it doesn't make much difference no matter which temp light you use. As for mint state copper, I'll give that a shot next. Once upon a time I tried Reveal bulbs, but they added too much pink/red to most of my images.

@CoinsAndMoreCoins, that would be cool to see! My postings on Instagram are sometimes short videos of a selected coin, where I twirl it around to show the luster. The videos look great on mobile devices, but barely so-so on a desktop monitor. It's too bad that Ebay doesn't have a video short feature available like this.

Walkerfan

I like the second images.....better color, better detail and less shadowing.

sparky64

So, do they make LED lights that have adjustments or are you manually diffusing?

ElmerFusterpuck

@sparky64 said:
So, do they make LED lights that have adjustments or are you manually diffusing?

Yes indeed! These lights have 5 different temp settings as well as multiple brightness settings. In case anyone is interested in them, here they are (from Amazon):

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00VUTAFR8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

lkeigwin

I'm not at all a fan of LED lights. But good for you, Erik, for finding a way to make them work to your satisfaction.
Lance.