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Trying to improve my pic skills, opinions please.
spinaker2000
Posts: 4,329 ✭
Two weeks ago during our major ice storm in NC, my brother-in-law suffered a major heart attack after cutting a tree off of his garage. He didn't make it. Not married, no kids, lived by himself. We secured his valuables, guns, electronics and cash, until the family can inherit his property.
Mean while I thought I would try out his camera for a few coin pics. Nothing real expensive, just a Sony Cybershot he often took to NASCAR races. There is no manual, but thought I'd give it a try. RIP Bro.
Newp from the weekend.
One I purchased from the BST a few months ago. More color than shown.
One question, can you turn off the orange light that flashes prior to the take??
Mean while I thought I would try out his camera for a few coin pics. Nothing real expensive, just a Sony Cybershot he often took to NASCAR races. There is no manual, but thought I'd give it a try. RIP Bro.
Newp from the weekend.
One I purchased from the BST a few months ago. More color than shown.
One question, can you turn off the orange light that flashes prior to the take??
0
Comments
<< <i>good focus, but needs better lighting >>
At this point Lighting needs more improvement than focus
Your pictures appear to be messed with post process.
<< <i>You need more light and less post process. You should be able to get to the point of cropping the photos and displaying them. If you have to change the look of the coin to make it look like it is in hand then you do not have enough light or the camera settings are not set correctly to begin with.
Your pictures appear to be messed with post process. >>
The only post process was sharpening to Med. More light on the next batch.
You pic looks really frosty Mercdime.
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DPOTD Jan 2005, Meet the Darksiders
Stability - the single most important part of taking crisp, well-focused photos.
Lens - hugely important. DSLR with a good macro is very helpful, but if you're using a point-n-shoot, use its features to the best of your ability.
Knowledge - Reading the manual is crucial. White balance is easy to get right if you do a little work and figure out how to set it for your camera. Autofocus is a problem if shooting in slabs. A master can make a poor violin work, but a fool will never get music from a Stradivarius.
Camera - important, but not compared to the previous things.
If you're serious about shooting coins, do yourself a favor and buy Mark Goodman's book, Numismatic Photography.
Oh, and sorry to hear about your brother. Events like that hit you pretty hard.
<< <i>Avoid sharpening. Period. >>
Ditto.
mercurydimeguy, that looks very nice. What's your beef?
Lance.
<< <i>
<< <i>Avoid sharpening. Period. >>
Ditto.
mercurydimeguy, that looks very nice. What's your beef?
Lance. >>
I use a Mac and in my browser, all images that are resized look fuzzy. They look great on my computer in any application...but fuzzy in web browser when I save as jpeg.
But I'm thinking it's just my web browser (I use a Retina display Mac)...and it is what it is.
However, I see others' posts in my web browser and they don't look fuzzy (the better quality images)...for example PCGS TrueView ones don't look fuzzy in my web browser at all, and the PCGS images automatically resize when the size of the window changes but my images stay fixed at a resolution.
Anyhow, just some advanced questions/interest to get rid of the fuzziness I see in a web browser.
Thanks for feedback...
Bryce and others have offered some excellent advice.
White balance is very important. The red flash going off prior to exposure is either auto focus or red eye reduction... You should be able to turn off both. Also be certain to turn off the flash as that will be of no service with what your doing here.
Use two or three lights and study how their position translates in what your seeing through the viewfinder of the camera.
Stability-conrol of vibration- is very important..
Practice makes progress...
Rich
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
<< <i>
<< <i>Avoid sharpening. Period. >>
Ditto. >>
As someone very familiar with photography, but that doesn't do coin photography I'm curious about the rationalization. It seems unusual that minor sharpening would be a problem. Unless the statement is more to reflect that minor sharpening is pretty negligible and larger amounts can be detrimental and the need for such would be indicative of flaws in the setup/process.
This is the photo as it comes out of my camera on the left and after my "usual" amount of sharpening on the right. The difference is subtle, but can be seen best around the lettering:
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Avoid sharpening. Period. >>
Ditto. >>
As someone very familiar with photography, but that doesn't do coin photography I'm curious about the rationalization. It seems unusual that minor sharpening would be a problem. Unless the statement is more to reflect that minor sharpening is pretty negligible and larger amounts can be detrimental and the need for such would be indicative of flaws in the setup/process. >>
I avoid using any sharpening because it artificially modifies the image. The fuzziness of JPEGs in web browsers is probably just due to the compression level - try to save them uncompressed or with as little compression as possible.
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Avoid sharpening. Period. >>
Ditto. >>
As someone very familiar with photography, but that doesn't do coin photography I'm curious about the rationalization. It seems unusual that minor sharpening would be a problem. Unless the statement is more to reflect that minor sharpening is pretty negligible and larger amounts can be detrimental and the need for such would be indicative of flaws in the setup/process. >>
I think you will find many coin people not in the category of "very familiar" with photoshop. I think most shouldnt being playng with features like this in case they dont understand what it can do when you start saving images in different sizes and formats. Also yes, most go straight to over sharpen, then load to photobucket it is just looks bad.
The color is better with more light, but the details are lacking.
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DPOTD Jan 2005, Meet the Darksiders
imo, your camera settings are off. try putting your lights at 10 and 2, just live driving but make sure they are nearly all the way above the camera. sometimes i get them right to the edge of where i can see the camera starting to block the light and find that threshold and be just short of it. sometimes that is too bright, just depends.
post your white balance settings, resolution, precise camera make/model, lighting information(specifically), iso, aperture setting, metering etc.
i get the impression from your images that you are not using a dslr.
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I figured out how to photograph every single kind of coin other than...
- dollar size coins
- proof coins
- proof like coins
Ok. Back to drawing board...
Thanks for feedback.
<< <i>One question, can you turn off the orange light that flashes prior to the take?? >>
i didn't see if this was answered or not. i think the flashing light thing is part of the automatic shutter release process whereas if you are in manual mode, this should not have a flashing light as it is WYSIWYG.
i'm not saying this part to be mean but let you know what a dslr should do. if you have a dslr and your images look like that straight from the camera, things are very wrong.
i take for granted since i hold my lights and therefore am not bound by the restrictions of mounted lights that if you cannot move them easily/freely, finding the sweet spot for any one coin will be 10x more difficult. it isn't necessary but i find it is easier for me to not have them mounted. get mark goodman's book, look through it a lot and the rest should come.
you still have yet to post your settings. can't ask people to help if they can't see what is possibly off. just sayin'.
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Here's the problem with the lighting I keep seeming to have...the hot spots at 12/6, or any other 180 degree plane. How do you not get those? I've tried every manner of diffusing the light to no avail. Is there a better way?
PL and $1 coins and Luster still elude me...
ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/30s (150mm Sigma Lens), manual white balance...
PS. My photos always come out fuzzy when I convert them from Photoshop PS to the web (1200x600 is the size I use). On my screen and at native Res they look awesome, and in Preview, but in a web browser (at least on my MacbookPro), every photo that I post here is fuzzy/blurry when in reality they are razor sharp.
Is there a technique you guys use that doesn't make your pictures blurry? Curious as to how some of the photos are so crisp while mine (Safari or Chrome) look all bury after I convert them / resize them to "jpg"
<< <i>
ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/30s (150mm Sigma Lens), manual white balance...
>>
the mode you are in COMPLETELY changes how the camera handles settings. you can make all the adjustments you want but the mode you are in may prevent any changes from being implemented.
i personally go back n forth between (M)manual and (P)priority. priority is kinda like cheat mode lol. (M)manual mode is learning mode. minor changes vastly affect the outcome of the image but can be the time burner mode as well.
if i am in (P), with no exposure delay and manual focus and my shutter release remote, i can fly through imaging coins like a total madman. i do find at times that a 3rd light would be of use, especially with toners as i only diffuse proof toners, usually only for 1 set of shots.
i have yet to get a 3rd light and/or a 3rd arm lol. it seems being in a large open DARK space really helps. being near other objects tends to create (refraction?). although some of the best images i've taken was at a coin show in a big room that had plenty of light, so go figure. but there wasn't really anything around me that would refract light back to the coin/lens, so that probably was the compensatory balance. thank goodness too because of what i was photographing that day.
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