Coin Closeups

[BosnMate]

I've always had troubles when trying to take closeups of coins. These were taken with indirect lighting, kitchen counter by a window, cloudy outside. After taking the pictures, which in the camera are very large files, I reduced the physical size of the picture to 5x7 but left them 180 DPI, which keeps them quite large in a computer. The silver coins were pretty shiny, so I also reduced the shine. I didn't do anything with the focus.
The first coin is a V nickle eyeball find. I was rototilling the garden, and dug the coin up. Don't ask if I hammered that spot, you know I did, and nothing else was there.


This next is a CC dollar. I bought this coin just so I could have some silver mined from the Comstock Load.

 

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[KirkS]

They're good shots. But, something is off with your auto white balance. See how the background color is different? That's because the AWB missed the mark. The obverse images are cooler then the reverse images. Do you have fluorescent lighting in your kitchen? I would change out of AWB and manually select a white balance. Pick the color temp of the predominant lighting source, and the colors will be consistent and true.

 

[BosnMate]

They're good shots. But, something is off with your auto white balance. See how the background color is different? That's because the AWB missed the mark. The obverse images are cooler then the reverse images. Do you have fluorescent lighting in your kitchen? I would change out of AWB and manually select a white balance. Pick the color temp of the predominant lighting source, and the colors will be consistent and true.

I have those modern curly que lights, which I guess is florescent, and today was the same deal, rain and the coins on the counter about the same time of day. Only this time I made sure the lights were turned off. I photographed the coin on the counter top with the light background like yesterday, and also on black felt today, to see what kind of difference it might make. The coin is different colors on each side, so it's the background color that will tell the story. The pictures have been reduced in size from 16x22 to 5x7, but left at 180 DPI. Otherwise the camera is on auto, and the first four pictures are straight from the camera.




Those pictures, except for size are right out of the camera. The next have been slightly enhanced in the computer. All else remains the same.


The first two pictures look to be the same background color, but the playing around a bit in the computer has changed the background color in those two pictures. The coins are a little sharper focus than out of the camera though. I didn't do anything to the coins on the black background, but I think I like them the best.

 

[KirkS]

Nice. When there are two light sources of different temps, the camera gets confused, and guesses which one to correct to, and as we saw in your earlier set, sometimes it guesses wrong.

By turning off the kitchen lights, the camera had one color temp to choose from, and it was a no-brainer for it to get it right. Aside for accounting for monitor color calibration, what we see in the first two sets of the new pics will be the truest color rendition, because the color balance is correct.

I also like the coins on black, it makes them pop a little off the background.

Looks like you're holding the camera, as I can see some camera shake. Today's photo's had a little slower shutter speed (1/25 sec) then yesterday's (1/40 sec), which can be difficult to do hand-held, although most wouldn't notice it. If you plan on doing coin photos regularly, you may want to get a tabletop tripod.

BTW, thanks for taking my comments yesterday as constructive and well intentioned, as that is how they were meant. Some people might have seem my comment as critical.

If you (or anyone reading this) has questions about photographing finds, or improving pics, feel free to PM me with questions. I put down a camera after many years. and picked up a metal detector.

 

[BosnMate]

Thanks for the help. I'm just learning how this camera works. I doubt I'll be photographing many coins, they were just a good target for a rainy day. Seems odd that something that is all automatic has a learning curve, but for an old coot like me, well, it does a good job, but I'm wanting to do better than a telephone snap shot, which is all automatic also.

 

[Chadeaux]

One simple solution for that problem is to build you a "lightbox" (a simple one will likely cost you nothing - I made mine from a Newegg shipping box and some old sheet/page protectors) for small items.

A sheet protector is one of those matted sleeves you place a printed page in to protect it, and the protector goes into a 3 ring binder. They're great for diffusing light and are a great tool to learn how to detailed macro photography.

 

[Old Dude]

There is some good advice in this thread guys. I had to buy my Carson City dollar too Bosn. I knew if I didn't, I'd never have one

 

[worldtalker]

I have those modern curly que lights, which I guess is florescent, and today was the same deal, rain and the coins on the counter about the same time of day. Only this time I made sure the lights were turned off. I photographed the coin on the counter top with the light background like yesterday, and also on black felt today, to see what kind of difference it might make. The coin is different colors on each side, so it's the background color that will tell the story. The pictures have been reduced in size from 16x22 to 5x7, but left at 180 DPI. Otherwise the camera is on auto, and the first four pictures are straight from the camera.
View attachment 1444516
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Those pictures, except for size are right out of the camera. The next have been slightly enhanced in the computer. All else remains the same.
View attachment 1444523
View attachment 1444526
The first two pictures look to be the same background color, but the playing around a bit in the computer has changed the background color in those two pictures. The coins are a little sharper focus than out of the camera though. I didn't do anything to the coins on the black background, but I think I like them the best.

Get rid of those curly que bulbs..not good health wise,get LED.