Taking Coin Pictures(Three Examples/Techniques)

Jarl

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In response to TN member, 'asmerri' I thought to explain a little on how I take my pics. On this bit, I'm going to focus on the coin pics. This may be old yarn for some of you and I am not explaining this as a professional, because I am not. I'm just a person that tries to get it right by trial and error and following the methods of many people well before me.

My equipment is simple: Canon EOS Rebel XS with stock 24-55mm lens. Generally I shoot in manual, auto focus and stabilize 'on'. Lens for close ups is usually set at 50mm...because any lower might look a little too skewed because you're getting into wide angle...everything starts to distort. Try not to make your coin shots look like you are shooting through a peep hole in an apartment door. I use an external flash hot shoe mount(Nissin SC-01) and an FT 1700 Promaster flash. The camera, lens and flash were purchased at Walmart years ago. The external hot shoe mount at a camera shop(around $45 at the time). But it allows you to control your flash angle for many effective and practical reasons.

The pics here are of a 1937 Merc that I found at a park last week. Yay me! Lol. Anyway, from top left-right to bottom:

Top left: Taken with built in 'pop-up' flash. Simple, fast...and if carefully done...good enough. It's a little glittery and blasted with highlights for my liking though. The 'average Joe' style of shot. Oops...some hairs found their way into the photo...sorry.

Top right: Taken with external flash with homemade soft box attached to flash. Flash was placed just above the coin. The shadows are soft, there is form in the image. The figure almost appears to be alive. Really though, I didn't make the soft box to take coin pics originally, it just got into my hand because I wanted more even illumination for my photos one day and liked the result.

Lower: Taken using 'reverse axial lighting'. I used the soft box/flash again, but this time placed the coin in a box that holds a piece of glass at a 45 degree angle over the subject(the coin in this instance). Do a Google search on this technique...it works great, but takes a little construction and trials. I think this is the preferred method of some professionals. My set up was very crude but worked good enough. What it does is this: the incidence lighting illuminates the subject from one angle(from the side in this case) and also hits the glass which is at 45 degrees between the camera and subject. The light is bounced down at the coin and then is reflected back at the camera through the glass. This captures the initial image of the coin but also eliminates the shadows...so what you get is a flatly frontally lighted image of your subject. Whew! Did you catch that?? Just look it up and try it. In my opinion, it is great for cataloging but not if you want to enjoy the 'beauty' and 'form' of the coin's artistry. I think the previous method does a better job at that.

If you want to spend the money to acquire the 'axial effect' more or less, then purchase a 'ring flash'. These can be expensive, but produce direct, flat and nearly shadowless light. Just look it up, you'll find tons of examples and different brands on the market.

There you have it...three methods or techniques. Feel free to ask me to explain anything you didn't understand or something that wasn't clear or left out.

Thanks for looking.
 

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Jarl

Jarl

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WANT TO TRY: Tesoro and White's someday
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Other notes I should have mentioned: None of these pics were taken with the 'close up' feature(as I said before...all in manual). Also, I do post process using Windows Photo Gallery, but not very much if at all. I always crop but other than that, I might tweak the contrast and brightness up or down or the color temp, tint or saturation a little. It really depends on what I want to emphasize, but only if the photo needs it. The flash and camera generally do not reproduce an image as your naked eye views it...it takes some time to see this, but it's true both with analog and digital photography.

Additional tech note: The lower 'axial lighting' photo, I actually propped the coin up off of the white card it was sitting on in the other photos. Since the photo was taken using a 'white' back ground, shadows were hard to eliminate from being cast on the card. So, I took a large jewelry bead(about 1/4" wide) and placed the coin on top of that. This helped to offset any hard shadow further out of view. Using the soft box also helped to dissolve the cast shadow. Yet another thing I did was took a 1/2 wide strip of white card, about 4" long and curled it like a 'C' and placed it very close to the coin. This is a bounce card...to fill in the cast shadows. I know it sounds like a lot to do, it is. But it works quite well...and with one flash.
 

Msbeepbeep

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Those are awesome pics of the Merc! Last one looks like it is floating in the air. I like the first one shows more detail on the coin. I am sure this will help some of the people on here. Thank you for your time, effort, skills and all the info.

I have an iPad which I can barely operate, still haven't figured how to transfer the pics in it to my T Net posts, so I have a loooong way to go yet.
 

lookindown

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I like the first one...third pic makes the coin look like white plastic...all three are far better than anything I can take.
 

Frankn

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I like the top left image. What you want in a coin image is CONTRAST. It brings out the details. I must confess, I cheat with Elements's help. Frank...-

coins_0003 T 5 peso_edited-2.jpg
Old Canon 10D (6MP), 100MM len, full auto, Light stand lit from both sides, Fined tuned in Elements.
 

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piper247

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As a fellow photographer, I can appreciate your 3 examples and the effort it took to get them. I too have worked with various flash and softboxes etc.
I agree, the top left gives the most detail, but I didn't care for the yellow cast so using Photoshop CS5 I did a little redo on your pic, hope you don't mind.
Untitled-1.jpg
hope you like it.
 

lookindown

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As a fellow photographer, I can appreciate your 3 examples and the effort it took to get them. I too have worked with various flash and softboxes etc.
I agree, the top left gives the most detail, but I didn't care for the yellow cast so using Photoshop CS5 I did a little redo on your pic, hope you don't mind.
View attachment 1021434
hope you like it.
That background really made a difference...I like it.
 

CoilyGirl

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Great tips,thank you and I too love the gray background on the Merc.
 

CASPER-2

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I LIKE USING NATURAL LIGHT WHEN POSSIBLE - (DEPENDING ON THE SUBJECT MATTER - SOME FINDS I DONT CARE HOW THEY COME OUT - OTHERS I DO)
THIS PIC I TOOK FOR A MAGAZINE ARTICLE I WROTE - TO JUST SHOW A SAMPLE OF SILVER COINS FOUND - PUT THEM IN A CANDY DISH AND TOOK OUTSIDE



 

CASPER-2

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I LIKE TO TAKE JEWELRY PICS IN SUN TO SHOW ITS TRUE COLOR - FINDS FROM WATER HUNT IN COZUMEL

 

CASPER-2

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THIS ONE I TOOK IN DOORS - BUT TOOK NEAR WINDOW WITH NATURAL LIGHT COMING IN - I USED FLASH TO FILL IN
I HAVE A BETTER ONE OF THIS SHOT - THAT IS A LITTLE SHARPER - JUST CANT FIND WHERE I STORED IT
(FINDS ARE FROM 4 DAYS WATER HUNTING IN FLA. WATERS - MY BEST TRIP FOR GOLD EVER)

 

CASPER-2

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DIAMONDS ARE GREAT TO PHOTOGRAPH IN SUNLIGHT - TAKES MOVING AROUND TO GET THE BURST JUST RIGHT
(FOUND IN FLA.WATERS)
 

CASPER-2

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SHOT INDOORS WITH FLASH - SHOOTING IN YOUR HAND CAN SOMETIMES HELP WITH FLASH REFLECTION
(FINDS - SAMPLE FROM WW I TRAINING CAMP I HIT)
 

DigginDownUnder

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You could get a similar result to the third photo by using a tripod and a long exposure with no direct light. Just have to make sure the white balance is good.
 

ole miss rebel

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I've been selling coins, jewelry, etc. on ebay for years. Oneday I stumbled upon a method
that can't be beat. I happened to put my jeweler's loupe in front of my digital camera lens
and WOW, what detail. And especially detailed once you use the "zoom" feature when looking
at the ebay picture. I use natural light near a window, no flash. It is THE BEST method for showing
details on jewelry, ie. markings and karats, almost microscopic views. Try it you'll like it!
 

Last edited:

ole miss rebel

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I've been selling coins, jewelry, etc. on ebay for years. Oneday I stumbled upon a method
that can't be beat. I happened to put my jeweler's loop in front of my digital camera lens
and WOW, what detail. And especially detailed once you use the "zoom" feature when looking
at the ebay picture. I use natural light near a window, no flash. It is THE BEST method for showing
details on jewelry, ie. markings and karats, almost microscopic views. Try it you'll like it!
 

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