just a topic for my coin photos. Opinions appreciated.

johnhenry9009 · April 20, 2024 7:51PM

As stated by the title, I need opinions in regard to my ability to take photos. Such as what I should improve on (e.g. Lighting, Distance, angle of camera) I'll add the spec's of my set-up later so I do apologize for that. Now back to the photos, I did what I could to make the photos match the coins without editing them. But they just don't look right to me and I don't know why?. So here are the photos I took with my current set-up. Part 1

Here is the Buffalos TrueView

johnhenry9009 · April 20, 2024 7:53PM

Part. 2

1960NYGiants · April 20, 2024 8:01PM

They look out of focus to me. Could be the micro focus ability of your setup or a washing out affect of the light source.

Mr_Spud · April 20, 2024 8:17PM

They aren’t bad photos, probably just need to tweak the lighting to see improvement. Shooting through slabs is tough. The focusing might be focusing on the slabs and not the coins surface. You can try the oil drops trick to make the slab invisible maybe.

johnhenry9009 · April 20, 2024 10:11PM

Thank y'all for the responses😊. I suspected that it was a problem with focusing/lighting. The background info about that ("that" being the photos lack of focus) is because I don't have a stand for it and as a result I free hand my photos. When it comes to the lighting. I do mess with them (I use two lights) as the position of the lights for a bigger coin (such as a Morgan Dollar) likely won't work with smaller coins (e.g. a Cent or Dime). Oh, and @Mr_Spud what is the oil drop trick?

Bodin · April 20, 2024 11:47PM

What kind of lights? You are on the right track!

johnhenry9009 · April 21, 2024 12:38AM

@Bodin The two lights I use are GE 13.5w, 1600 lumens, Dimmable, Crystal Clear A21 medium base LEDs. Both are in metal light reflectors similar to the ones used for baby chickens.
Link to the bulbs,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094GKHBZN
and a link to a similar reflector.
https://www.amazon.com/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MToyMTU0MjM1MTA0MDQ4MTExOjE3MTM2ODM5OTA6c3BfYXRmOjIwMDA0MTg3NDM5MDI5ODo6MDo6&url=/VIVOSUN-Detachable-Aluminum-Reflector-Included/dp/B07H8G6PKX/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MtdkJwQOIHM_B2If5n5eDTzYVQj5IIclolI830CiKrPFIAFTYISod655Z96WdsjaK5qndji8dwcVIC7jEHCsz6FL8l_eJ9bfq3Rg0CHemknGChfyQlNv0ymMFvwKbFpWMVv4vGfdWnkUbraN90lSgfxQvo9fJZ_SYz7ZBcInH_wQFXfz10U-hvwY2_Q0l1uLqe6CPwm2vD74WzRTNaIPmQi4ZQf6y-aqy5rsxGruNJhLk5J5LPKwsmiCaHTosafh398GrHtldKEEmidC3kvC2cvvisBu0EUqXmx8HU0xi4o.oivYEx-w7TJLzwoJQHy5nZU3_MwiZtPa4e5iJSlikZ4&dib_tag=se&keywords=clamp-on+lights&qid=1713683990&sr=8-4-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Mr_Spud · April 21, 2024 9:35AM

@johnhenry9009 said:

Oh, and @Mr_Spud what is the oil drop trick?

It’s a way to make slab scuffs and even glare invisible to the camera lens. You put a couple of drops of oil on the slab right over where the coin is and it makes the slab invisible. Some use mineral oil, some use WD-40, I use optically clear compass oil that slowly evaporates so it’s easier to wipe off and then just let any residue evaporate.

Heres one of the threads about it with pictures
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1094423/mineral-oil-for-coin-slab-photos-before-n-after

Morgan13 · April 21, 2024 9:52AM

Their not the worst images I've ever seen but if your seeking perfection some kind of stand will help you out.
I have a small inexpensive table stand. I can take images through the slabs not a problem by diffusing the lights to eliminate glare.
I still don't think I take perfect images but I have got myself to tye point they are acceptable to me.
Good luck and don't give up.
Purchased mine from ebay. Kaiser copy stand. Decent quality for the money.

DelawareDoons · April 21, 2024 10:05AM

Decent. Especially for freehand. Buy a nice copy stand, it makes a HUGE difference and combined with tethering to a laptop makes it about 10x easier to shoot too.

ChrisH821 · April 21, 2024 4:06PM

Better than 90% of eBay sellers.
Get yourself a stand, or at least a tripod that can straddle the corner of a desk and shoot straight down, this is what I use but I'm also no professional. Software for remote shooting is a must and makes like a lot easier. Check your camera manufacturer's website.

spyglassdesign · April 21, 2024 4:23PM

You definitely need some kind of stand, custom or premade. The main issue I see is lighting and clarity. Your Morgans look pretty darn good though! A little editing of contrast with photoshop or similar will help a lot IMO... once you fix the focus, that may solve most of your issues though. They really are great pictures for freehand!!! And, as mentioned by others, better than most on the likes of eBay and similar.

I use this with my Camera (Canon t8i)... you didn't mention what kind of camera you use. If you are using a phone, you can retrofit a bracket, or find a mount for the phone or camera. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094N6W6SP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s02?ie=UTF8&th=1 (EDIT I forgot this mount actually has a phone mount included!) If you use a camera that can connect to a PC, you may be able to use something like the Canon software to zoom in and check zoom and take the pictures from your pc directly? As I said, I don't know what kind of camera you are using.

I also use 2 LED adjustable lights, generally at 2 and 10 give or take, depending on the coin... some need slightly different locations. A lot of people here like to use different types of lights... I find the inexpensive LED's to work just fine for me.

All in all, you are in a great place, with just a little improvement your images can really pop.

johnhenry9009 · June 1, 2024 6:33PM

Thank you @spyglassdesign for the link and I do apologize for dropping the ball when it came to the camera I use (I use a Panasonic DMC-TS3). So, the stand should work, I'll post some photos of the results once I get it and set it up.

messydesk · June 1, 2024 6:57PM

Considering your equipment, they're quite good. The camera's lens being on the corner of the camera is actually keeping the camera out of the way of the lights, but the relatively short focal length means you're going to get glare easier and probably have a short working distance, both of which mean a low light angle and dark areas on lustrous coins. Lights are fine, but I'd use a narrower reflector. For the buffalo nickel, I imagine the truth is somewhere between your picture and the TV. See if the camera lets you increase the exposure a bit. Polish the slab to remove scratches and/or smear a tiny amount of oil on the scratched area to make it disappear for the photo.

AUandAG · June 1, 2024 8:02PM

I just use whatever the wife has in the kitchen oil cabinet. NOT olive oil. Canola, etc, will work great to get rid of slab picture problems. Just wipes off with a kleenex, etc.

bob

johnhenry9009 · June 2, 2024 7:37PM

I won't have the stand until tomorrow but I wanted to test my photographing and mess with some settings and these are the results. this first photo is purely and wholly a glamour shot. I just took the photo to show the colors of the toning but the coin does not have anywhere near the reflectivity and contrast shown in fact the whole coin has a faint white fog over it (which can slightly be seen on the obverse in front of liberty in the 2nd photo).

Another thing I did was mess with the photos size (not the greatest thing to do) after which I found that the 1st photo is slightly hazy compared to the 2nd photo. So, I checked the file size and found that I didn't reduces it (the first photo is about 10MB while the 2nd is 5MB which is still very large to me) and do to the fact the photos are slightly compressed more by this wonderful site it makes the blurriness more noticeable (and I don't want this to come off as something I dislike, as I genuinely appreciate not having my whole screen taken up by a single large photo). I do apologize for this long winded post 😅,opinions are appreciated and thank y'all for the comments,
1.

2.

spyglassdesign · June 2, 2024 11:32PM

@johnhenry9009 looking good!

johnhenry9009 · June 5, 2024 4:36PM

I got the stand in the mail a few days ago and did some testing. Here are some of the photos I took use the stand and I will add more after I edit them in to duel photos. As always opinions are appreciated

johnhenry9009 · June 5, 2024 6:09PM

Here are some more raw coin photos The first two photos are GSAs

johnhenry9009 · June 9, 2024 4:13PM

I am still getting used to the new setup😅 . Here are the photos so far.

spyglassdesign · June 9, 2024 10:51PM

@johnhenry9009 fabulous. Sharpness and focus looks good. Lighting looks good. I'd expect that's what I'd get if I got any of them in hand! Looking really good!

johnhenry9009 · June 10, 2024 2:14AM

Thank you @spyglassdesign and here some more photos.

johnhenry9009 · June 19, 2024 5:06PM

How do these photos look? (Still getting used to the new set up )

spyglassdesign · June 19, 2024 10:59PM

@johnhenry9009 only thing I can think of at the moment is to try to light up the buff a bit more maybe, if you can. Feels a little dull compared to the others imo. Might be able to just tinker with the camera settings a little for the buff. The rest look great imo.

One thing I like to do at this point is copy just the coin onto a white background for consistency using a photo editor.

ajaan · June 20, 2024 4:28AM

The photos look good. The real question is how do the photos compare to the coins in hand.

johnhenry9009 · July 2, 2024 5:30PM

Here is another one and I did my best to show the toning which is most accurate in the 1st photo, as I did increase the brightness for the obverse in 2nd photo by a little to much so the toning less dark then it really is.

johnhenry9009 · July 3, 2024 3:25PM

emeraldATV · July 3, 2024 4:12PM

@1960NYGiants said:
They look out of focus to me. Could be the micro focus ability of your setup or a washing out affect of the light source.

Maybe it's just me.
Cut out the coin and place in a darker back round. Don't worry about the prongs.
A short cut of focus , a temp fix, would be the size presented. Just a ted off.
Every coin has it's own, show off way, to photograph its true details.

DCW · July 4, 2024 5:17AM

Overall, they look pretty good. But, they're coming across a bit dark in my end. Play with the lighting a little or tweak the exposure?

johnhenry9009 · July 5, 2024 11:08PM

If you use a computer and would like a closer view of the photos you can hover over the image and then "right click" and ether click on "Open image in new tab " or go down and click on "Magnify Image"
Here are some more photos and I was (almost) able to get the buff to look as it does in hand but there is some shade at 11 -1 on the Obv. (I think that is from me only being able to use two lights instead of three due to limited free space) but the color of the toning is close to what it is in hand. I believe that I also made three of the four coin photos too small when I put them in the photoshop I use for the layering with the buff, Cail. Frac, and the 21 Morgan being victims of it.

For the Cail. frac. this is more then likely the best photo I can do for now. But somethings could have made it look better: Like using oil to cover up the very noticeable scratches on the Rev. which are on the holder and not the coin. Another thing that is hard to get is the almost PL surface it has. I could have not reduce as much. So, it is not as much of a strain on the eyes. But, hey, you live and you learn.

On to this one, I'd say this is the only coin I got the proportions at least half way decent, It's still not great but it's better. I almost have morgan dollars to the level (In terms of lighting) where very little of the coin is dark or has a hidden mark. Oh and this Morgan is in a Gen. 3 NGC holder and it looks more like a 65 to me

Lastly this one was hard to photograph as to has what I'd call semi-PL fields and for $40 I couldn't pass on it. But back on subject the slight blueish hue is from my camera (being a blue Panasonic DMC-TS3), Sadly what can't really be seen (except at 1:30-2:00 and 9:00-9:30) on the Obv. is that it has some heavy finger prints which are toning (I wouldn't be surprised if it's unattractive toning) but time will tell as I don't plan on cracking it out.

erwindoc · July 6, 2024 4:04AM

Images are definitely improving! Way better than anything I can do!

johnhenry9009 · July 6, 2024 8:13AM

johnhenry9009 · July 6, 2024 1:12PM

Here are some more

OAKSTAR · July 6, 2024 1:41PM

You might want to talk to @in2Coins

CRHer700 · July 6, 2024 1:58PM

@OAKSTAR said:
You might want to talk to @in2Coins

How in the world did he get such close ups?

OAKSTAR · July 6, 2024 2:59PM

You're asking the wrong guy @CRHer700. You need to ask @in2Coins. Looks like some type of Scanning Electron Microscope.

robec · July 6, 2024 3:21PM

@OAKSTAR said:
You're asking the wrong guy @CRHer700. You need to ask @in2Coins. Looks like some type of Scanning Electron Microscope.

Those photos look like the results of the microscope coin photo systems @rmpsrpms puts together.

in2Coins · July 6, 2024 3:28PM

@OAKSTAR said:
You're asking the wrong guy @CRHer700. You need to ask @in2Coins. Looks like some type of Scanning Electron Microscope.

I don’t want to hijack the OP’s great photography work post but the pics are stacked with just a high mag lens. I have put together some rigs that I use for these photos.

@OAKSTAR thanks for the compliment! ✌🏻

johnhenry9009 · July 6, 2024 5:31PM

@in2Coins
I don't mind if this topic is "hijacked," but when it comes to your photography (and answering questions about it), I believe it deserves its own topic, as it would most likely just get lost if it were posted in this relatively out of the way topic, and I am sure more than a few fellow members (such as myself) are interested in how you take your photos and edit them and would like to know how you do it, as your close-ups and full coin photos are stunning.

johnhenry9009 · July 6, 2024 7:57PM

GotTheBug · July 7, 2024 6:27AM

OP's photos are better than a good many of the most well-known dealers out there, on eBay and the internet in general.

in2Coins · July 7, 2024 12:10PM

@johnhenry9009 said:
@in2Coins
I don't mind if this topic is "hijacked," but when it comes to your photography (and answering questions about it), I believe it deserves its own topic, as it would most likely just get lost if it were posted in this relatively out of the way topic, and I am sure more than a few fellow members (such as myself) are interested in how you take your photos and edit them and would like to know how you do it, as your close-ups and full coin photos are stunning.

I 100% agree on other member’s comments about your coin photography being better than most eBay sellers. As messydesk stated considering your equipment, your photos are quite good! Also, I would definitely listen to his suggestions….I DO!

Regarding your photos, I find some of them a bit out of focus. I think that some of it is due to the coin not being completely flat/parallel to the holder and surface. Not sure if you can adjust your camera’s f-stop. If you can, try it between f11 to f14. You might also have to tinker with your ISO and exposure as messydesk stated.

If you ever decide on upgrading your gear, I highly recommend getting a mirrorless camera as opposed to DSLR. Absolutely nothing wrong with a DSLR with mirror lock capability. They are now dated, parts are getting harder to find. I’ve own a few (full frame and crop) but sold them a few years back when the pricing was still strong.

With mirrorless camera technology advancements, 2 features are absolutely made for coin photography.
1) Being a “mirrorless” camera is self explanatory. No more vibrations cause by the mirror (if your DSLR is not equipped with mirror lock)
2) “FOCUS PEAKING”. This feature helps you see if your subject is in focus by illuminating the focussed areas. What you see below is areas that are in focus is/are highlighted in yellow (you can change the color) before you take the shot vs un-aided areas. This feature coupled with “manual focusing” is definitely the way to go with slabbed coins.

I only own a few slabbed coins to take photos of and below is one of them. I messed around with the lights position to minimize the glare. I also had to diffuse the lights some. It sure takes patience! Here are some quick shots.

Just like you, I’m still learning and trying to improve. This board has some great photographers to learn from. I’ve definitely improved a lot from reading their posts and practicing what they have suggested. Lighting is still in my opinion the most important part.

johnhenry9009 · July 7, 2024 2:50PM

Thanks for the response @in2Coins, I did some tinkering to see if that would help fix the blurriness, when it comes to my camera's settings, I don't really want to mess with them unless I need/want to (I like to procrastinate 🤣) but I think I solved a different problem I was having. As my DSLR is a blue one (that I got for 25 bucks at a garage sale) you can see the refection of it in a fairly unreflective coin (such as in the Peace dollar below)

and the blueish hue is even more noticeable in a Proof or Proof like coin as shown in the below raw Morgan dollar (which I think could be PL)

But as stated before I believe I was able to solve this by using some good ol' black electrical tape to cover up most of the visible blue on the front of the DSLR. Here is the result.

to finish up my reply, I understand that if I were to mess with the brightness/ISO or exposure it would help me out but I personally dislike any postproduction that may make my coin better than it is in person. (this is for my own setup)
And here's a new photo of the PCGS Rattler 1921 Morgan (the Obverse is slightly blurry but i'll need to get some Mineral oil or car headlight cleaner for the slab)

johnhenry9009 · July 8, 2024 12:28AM

johnhenry9009 · July 10, 2024 4:33PM

(Edit to say these photos are trash )

johnhenry9009 · July 11, 2024 4:33PM

here are some updated photos

johnhenry9009 · July 13, 2024 4:22PM

johnhenry9009 · July 13, 2024 4:33PM

non-edited photos

johnhenry9009 · July 14, 2024 5:06PM

Mr_Spud · July 14, 2024 5:19PM

The pictures keep getting better and better as I just scanned through this entire thread 👍🏼

johnhenry9009 · July 14, 2024 7:45PM

Thank you @Mr_Spud
here are some more photos, I used some Mineral spirits on these two.

And on the obverse of this one I tried the same thing but the "oil" wouldn't stay together so I put some on it and then wiped it off after which I took the photo.

The rest of these did not have any oil put on them as they're raw. But this one (v) is just flat out too bright

v This one's great IMHO as it looks like the this in hand

Same for this one (I should have increase to the exposure and slightly tweaked the brightness)

And lastly these and I am sorry for the WALL OF PHOTOS

just a topic for my coin photos. Opinions appreciated.

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