Please critique my photos.

1630Boston · February 20, 2018 2:24PM

I don't have a macro lens and didn't buy any photo software.................................yet.
All comments appreciated.

Yes I know the images are reversed with the black background, but I ran into a problem.:

ctf_error_coins · February 20, 2018 2:35PM

Too dark and bad light, pretend you are lighting a portrait.

1630Boston · February 20, 2018 2:39PM

Thanks for your input, I know I have a lot of work to do.

JBK · February 20, 2018 2:50PM

A 100 times better than what I take, that's for sure.

1630Boston · February 20, 2018 2:59PM

Thanks all

DoughDeo · February 20, 2018 3:09PM

Let there be light!

I like the circular crop look. Just make sure you get the whole coin. I'd rather see a lot of background than lose a little coin.

messydesk · February 20, 2018 3:15PM

Your lights are too low.

bolivarshagnasty · February 20, 2018 3:27PM

What did you use to circle crop? As others have said, increase your light on the subject.

mvs7 · February 20, 2018 3:34PM

The lighting question will probably answer itself once you get a macro lens. The big problem with normal lenses is that they have to be too close to the subject to allow you adequate lighting. Once you have the macro lens, you'll be able to put more space between the camera and coin, then you can get some Jansjo lamps (see below) from Ikea. I use from 2 (for say XF gold) up to 4 (for larger silver coins) of them (with some packing material rubber-banded over the ends for diffusion) when taking pics.

Good luck! You will likely be happy with every incremental improvement, and you are already doing pretty good with what you've got.

P.S. read the Numismatic Photography book by Mark Goodman. It's the bible.

DIMEMAN · February 20, 2018 3:38PM

Little dark like others have said....and I like the black background better than white.

RogerB · February 20, 2018 4:12PM

Here's your coin just a little lighter.

If you follow EOC's suggestion appearance and detail will be much improved.

1630Boston · February 20, 2018 5:15PM

Thanks again everyone
@bolivarshagnasty in this case I used Photoscape to crop circle and them imported it into Gimp.
Lighting I had three led lamp [about $3 each] with parchment paper to diffuse the light.
I think @mvs7 is correct about the macro lens but before I invest in a lens I might invest in a camera with 'live view' ?
Thanks for lightening my coins @RogerB

RogerB · February 20, 2018 6:21PM

Just a thought - a coin is a very small bas relief --- a low relief portrait of someone or something. A high quality rendition will be sensitive to that and so should the lighting. By flooding the coin's face with 3 diffuse lights you lose all depth and perspective. Just as with a portrait photo, begin with one light source and alter that until you have a good rendition of the face back to the hairline. Then, carefully add or move light to bring out detail in the hair, feathers and date. At first, this will be slow work. But with practice you will gain experience and make gradual improvement. You will also learn how to alter lighting to help emphasize specific aspects of the design. Mostly - have fun!

ricko · February 21, 2018 9:05AM

You are off to a great start... sure, a tad dark..... I still see a lot of detail. Best of luck on your photographic journey... Cheers, RickO

asheland · February 21, 2018 11:23AM

Indeed a great start!

1630Boston · February 21, 2018 11:26AM

Thanks, not sure how far I will go

BryceM · February 21, 2018 11:39AM

It's easy to focus on what to improve. Don't forget what you're doing right....

Sharp focus is the first thing that many neglect. Your photos look pretty good here. A solid platform and minimization of vibrations is key. A good lens is key. Using a remote shutter release helps. More light also helps as it allows you to use fast shutter speeds.

The only issue I see here is light. There's not enough and it isn't positioned ideally. To help figure this out, get Goodman's book and digest it. Then, take a few of your favorite coins and move them around until you have an optimal look. Then pay attention to the light source and the angle between it and your eye.

Think of your eye as the camera and re-position things so the mechanical eye (camera) has roughly the same relationship to the coin and light source as your eye did. Usually the best photo will be with high angle lighting. The light source should be very close to your eye or the lens. The macro moves everything away from the coin, allowing better positioning of the light source. If you knew how very close you were to fantastic photos it would surprise you.

Peace_dollar88 · February 21, 2018 11:46AM

I need to work on my photography. I think you are on to something good. for some reason I prefer the white background.

johnny9434 · February 21, 2018 12:25PM

i do like the grades

BryceM · February 21, 2018 5:35PM

Here's a photo of a typical 38-D that I took. I can see several ways to improve on the image, but it's not terrible. I like to see the design details sharply with a clear ability to understand the quality of strike. I want to be able to appreciate the luster and there should be clear contrast between design details. When I look at your photos above, the lack of contrast is the biggest issue I see. The details sort of mush all together. This is just a matter of positioning the light better. The same goes for showing the luster. Some of this is coin and material dependent, but MS buff nickels generally have reflective surfaces and decent relief (even when poorly struck). It's an easy-enough coin to allow you to show contrast and luster at the same time.

I try to set up the light, shutter speed, and ISO so that 1-2% of the total surface of the coin is dark and 1-2 percent is over-exposed. For silver or nickel this seems to be a good combination. This image is a touch on the dark side for my taste. Copper is sometimes harder as some coins just aren't that reflective and it's more difficult to bring out the contrast.

1630Boston · February 22, 2018 3:45AM

Thanks @BryceM , I truly appreciate your advice

Azurescens · February 22, 2018 4:32AM

I use a 5000k 17.5 watt LED with 1600 lumens. Great for solo shots not so great for spreads. Works great when you can get above the coin. I tried two at an angle across each other and it was much worse than a head-on single shot. You get too many tiny shadows that remove luster. It's great for a 4x4 area but outside that range it starts to overexpose the center and wash out the sides.

There might not be much of a height to designs on a coin, but when going with more than one light, those little shadows spring to life and start to fill in fine details while you try and figure out why the heck is there shadow with so much light.

Using white reflectors (the inserts in circ sets work great) and black blockers will be of great benefit. On super bright coins, I'll photograph them on the gray foam ap/mex coins come with. Other times black foam. When I need these, if still over-exposed, I make an isosceles triangle and get the coin to the center and slide it more and more forward until desired shot comes into focus.

Then again, if you don't care about macro and if people can zoom in or not, you can move above the coin slowly up and down on full zoom until you get desired effect.

This needed more black blockers. Or maybe light gray.

These are the shadows I speak of when one is angled.

Same coin and light but from above.

Blockers for a more honest shot, but not an exact representation of in-hand. Had I used a white blocker in front and medium gray on the sides it would be exactly what the thing looks like.

Azurescens · February 22, 2018 4:38AM

The last shot is overexposed and underexposed. I could have remedied that. It brought out the sneeze marks and blocked out some luster. The issues you see wouldn't be seen in hand.

Never use yellow light or sunlight. A full spectrum "sunlight" bulb makes for better pictures than real sunlight. Yellow and sunlight kill anything that's not brilliant gold. Nickels especially.

Yellow light with proper blockers on a nickel makes them yellow but full spectrum >1000 lumens make them look like nickles. Silver will turn green and brilliant toning will show as yellow if you get too close no matter what you do.

Edit to add: Make good use of the white inserts to circ sets. Sometimes the glossy side is better other times the back is better.

Getting pictures through a slab, don't angle the coin, angle your photo device until slab scratches disappear. It's completely possible to do this without making the photo look angular. Turning the light works better.

Really most adjustments after light are blockers/reflectors, your position v coin position, and amount of zoom. I really like zooming in max then pulling back, moving down while zooming out, etc until sweet spot.

This coin is bright purple but looks like junk without blockers. I'd have used a creamy white front with light gray sides if I wanted to show the full purple; as close to the coin as possible, with no full zoom.

1630Boston · February 22, 2018 5:09AM

Interesting, thanks for the input

BryceM · February 22, 2018 7:35AM

Color differences between light sources can be largely eliminated by properly setting your camera’s white balance. It’s almost mandatory to achieve a true representation of the coin.

mannie gray · February 22, 2018 12:16PM

Buffalo nickels are tough to image ( tougher than other coins......for me anyway) although I admit I am mechanically and technically challenged.
Especially VF)XF Buffs....when I try to image them they all look AG/G.
I'd be better off paying someone to image coins for me, probably.

1630Boston · February 22, 2018 6:00PM

OK I read a lot of Mark Goodmans articles, still trying to buy the actual book, still do not have a Macro lens but worked with the type of lighting,
no need to respond if you do not want to, just trying to apply the advice that I have received from the experts here.

SORRY about the size of the PICS...............still learning
OLD=

NEW=

messydesk · February 22, 2018 6:07PM

Your lighting is still low. I don't know what your setup looks like, but let's assume for the moment that you are coming close to filling the screen with the image you are taking on a device with a 15 megapixel sensor (phone, camera, whatever). You have plenty of room to back up from the coin and still get a decent picture, even if you're only filling a 600x600 pixel area. Try putting the camera farther from the coin, and hug the camera with the lights, at least until you see a glare. This will help light the interior part of the coin better. If it's not super sharp, at least you'll see the effect of moving the lights up.

1630Boston · February 22, 2018 6:13PM

Thanks @messydesk
I have been trying to fill the whole screen without a macro lens. Does not work well with the lighting.
I appreciate the advice immensely

Azurescens · February 23, 2018 12:14AM

It's the color and strength of your light, then. In my experience anyway.

1630Boston · February 25, 2018 8:00AM

Any better ??

1630Boston · February 25, 2018 12:16PM

Last one for now ??

messydesk · February 26, 2018 8:41AM

Much better! Now we can start nitpicking things like overexposed areas (below the chin, back of the neck, highlights in the hair), but the important part of this exercise is that you see what a difference working distance and light position can make.

1630Boston · February 26, 2018 9:11AM

Yes I do see what you have said, thanks @messydesk

Please critique my photos.

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