Photography tips?

DesertCoin · March 12, 2026 11:17PM

Here’s some stock images I’ve taken. Any advice on how to make this kind of photo better? Could be applied to anything, these were just handy.

oldglorycoins · March 12, 2026 11:53PM

Can we see more examples, that way you will get broader tips

jmlanzaf · March 13, 2026 12:49AM

There's a couple of really good threads on this topic that you could find on this forum.

cheezhed · March 13, 2026 6:17AM

White balance and lighting position are the key points.

FlyingAl · March 13, 2026 6:48AM

Were those taken with a cell phone?

messydesk · March 13, 2026 6:59AM

Describe your current setup. Lighting looks uneven, with half of the coin lighter than the other half. Focus is OK, but sharpness is not. Makes me think your gear isn't capable of rendering high contrast edges well. White balance is also off. Make sure you only have one type of light and calibrate your camera to it if possible.

Crypto · March 13, 2026 7:05AM

Give the models some drinks prior to loosen them up

DesertCoin · March 13, 2026 7:55AM

@FlyingAl said:
Were those taken with a cell phone?

Yes they were. Not a great deal of care taken on those, here’s a couple better examples:

DesertCoin · March 13, 2026 8:02AM

@messydesk said:
Describe your current setup. Lighting looks uneven, with half of the coin lighter than the other half. Focus is OK, but sharpness is not. Makes me think your gear isn't capable of rendering high contrast edges well. White balance is also off. Make sure you only have one type of light and calibrate your camera to it if possible.

I was hoping you would chime in, thank you! Current setup is a white LED light with a foggy cover to disperse the light (dark room aside from that), a cell phone camera, and my own method of removing the background without shadows to achieve a perfectly white background.

FlyingAl · March 13, 2026 9:53AM

What you have is about as good as you can get with a phone camera. You could move the lights around, but beyond that you will be limited by the limitations of your setup.

DesertCoin · March 13, 2026 4:49PM

@FlyingAl said:
What you have is about as good as you can get with a phone camera. You could move the lights around, but beyond that you will be limited by the limitations of your setup.

So would this be considered the pinnacle of cell phone coin photography? lol

FlyingAl · March 13, 2026 6:08PM

@DesertCoin said:

@FlyingAl said:
What you have is about as good as you can get with a phone camera. You could move the lights around, but beyond that you will be limited by the limitations of your setup.

So would this be considered the pinnacle of cell phone coin photography? lol

It very well could be.

messydesk · March 13, 2026 10:16PM

@DesertCoin said:

@messydesk said:
Describe your current setup. Lighting looks uneven, with half of the coin lighter than the other half. Focus is OK, but sharpness is not. Makes me think your gear isn't capable of rendering high contrast edges well. White balance is also off. Make sure you only have one type of light and calibrate your camera to it if possible.

I was hoping you would chime in, thank you! Current setup is a white LED light with a foggy cover to disperse the light (dark room aside from that), a cell phone camera, and my own method of removing the background without shadows to achieve a perfectly white background.

Add a light if you can to even it out. Proofs are going to be difficult with a cell phone camera because it doesn't handle the quick changes in dynamic range all that well. If you have a multi-lens phone, try the "telephoto" lens (which isn't really telephoto) and back up a little.

PutTogether · March 13, 2026 10:30PM

@messydesk said:
Describe your current setup. Lighting looks uneven, with half of the coin lighter than the other half. Focus is OK, but sharpness is not. Makes me think your gear isn't capable of rendering high contrast edges well. White balance is also off. Make sure you only have one type of light and calibrate your camera to it if possible.

Honest question; What is the difference between focus and sharpness?

DesertCoin · March 13, 2026 10:51PM

Ok, so a secondary opposing light source, and back out. I have a multi-lens phone; one lens for most uses and one wide view lens. I have found that the normal use lens works best on coins when zoomed to about 3.5X and cropping the photo down, as opposed to maxing it out at 5X. Is this what you're referring to? Thank you!

oldglorycoins · March 14, 2026 1:13AM

Yes, you definitely need a opposing light source

oldglorycoins · March 14, 2026 1:15AM

Also your photos look kinda fuzzy, needs too be sharper and better focused

Mr_Spud · March 14, 2026 7:41AM

I ended up going with 2 gooseneck led lights to even out the lighting for my cellphone pictures. I remove the diffusion cover and have the lights close to the camera lens on the phone and adjust the angle on the lights until the coin gets lit up evenly

Here’s some example photos

messydesk · March 14, 2026 8:18AM

@DesertCoin said:
Ok, so a secondary opposing light source, and back out. I have a multi-lens phone; one lens for most uses and one wide view lens. I have found that the normal use lens works best on coins when zoomed to about 3.5X and cropping the photo down, as opposed to maxing it out at 5X. Is this what you're referring to? Thank you!

Yes, that's what I was referring to. If you just have two lenses, then the normal one will be the one to use. Zooming with that one is equivalent to cropping, as the zooming operation is entirely digital. The only difference is that it's done before additional processing that happens behind the scenes inside your phone. Make sure your phone is completely stable, as any shake will compromise the sharpness of the image. Use the self-timer to delay the exposure for a couple seconds after you've tapped the exposure button.

DesertCoin · March 14, 2026 10:22PM

@messydesk said:

@DesertCoin said:
Ok, so a secondary opposing light source, and back out. I have a multi-lens phone; one lens for most uses and one wide view lens. I have found that the normal use lens works best on coins when zoomed to about 3.5X and cropping the photo down, as opposed to maxing it out at 5X. Is this what you're referring to? Thank you!

Yes, that's what I was referring to. If you just have two lenses, then the normal one will be the one to use. Zooming with that one is equivalent to cropping, as the zooming operation is entirely digital. The only difference is that it's done before additional processing that happens behind the scenes inside your phone. Make sure your phone is completely stable, as any shake will compromise the sharpness of the image. Use the self-timer to delay the exposure for a couple seconds after you've tapped the exposure button.

Interesting, so increasing the exposure actually helps in smartphone cameras?

messydesk · March 15, 2026 2:50PM

@DesertCoin said:

@messydesk said:

@DesertCoin said:
Ok, so a secondary opposing light source, and back out. I have a multi-lens phone; one lens for most uses and one wide view lens. I have found that the normal use lens works best on coins when zoomed to about 3.5X and cropping the photo down, as opposed to maxing it out at 5X. Is this what you're referring to? Thank you!

Yes, that's what I was referring to. If you just have two lenses, then the normal one will be the one to use. Zooming with that one is equivalent to cropping, as the zooming operation is entirely digital. The only difference is that it's done before additional processing that happens behind the scenes inside your phone. Make sure your phone is completely stable, as any shake will compromise the sharpness of the image. Use the self-timer to delay the exposure for a couple seconds after you've tapped the exposure button.

Interesting, so increasing the exposure actually helps in smartphone cameras?

Not increasing the exposure, just setting the camera delay timer so that when you tap the button on the phone, you have a couple seconds to get your finger away from the phone and let any shaking of the camera stop. You don't want to capture movement of the phone induced by tapping the exposure button.

DesertCoin · March 15, 2026 10:14PM

@messydesk said:

@DesertCoin said:

@messydesk said:

@DesertCoin said:
Ok, so a secondary opposing light source, and back out. I have a multi-lens phone; one lens for most uses and one wide view lens. I have found that the normal use lens works best on coins when zoomed to about 3.5X and cropping the photo down, as opposed to maxing it out at 5X. Is this what you're referring to? Thank you!

Yes, that's what I was referring to. If you just have two lenses, then the normal one will be the one to use. Zooming with that one is equivalent to cropping, as the zooming operation is entirely digital. The only difference is that it's done before additional processing that happens behind the scenes inside your phone. Make sure your phone is completely stable, as any shake will compromise the sharpness of the image. Use the self-timer to delay the exposure for a couple seconds after you've tapped the exposure button.

Interesting, so increasing the exposure actually helps in smartphone cameras?

Not increasing the exposure, just setting the camera delay timer so that when you tap the button on the phone, you have a couple seconds to get your finger away from the phone and let any shaking of the camera stop. You don't want to capture movement of the phone induced by tapping the exposure button.

Right, thank you for the clarification. I’ll try this out and post results once I get the new lighting.

Photography tips?

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