Coin Photos

[106wallyworld]

Trying to photo coins through the plastic on a 2X2 is hard to do. The auto-focus on the digiital camera will pick up any wrinkle, imperfection or raised area and will not focus all the way down to the coin. However, close-up is the only way to get good photos of coins. I assume you have Close-up set on both the Scene setting and the manual setting. My Nikon has a flower symbol to symbolize close-up, not sure what yours is. What I do is use the little tripod (that probably came with your camera) and I fold the legs together and hold it in my fist. This allows me to angle the camera in any direction if I need to. Sometimes a slightly angled shot will show features more readily than one that is straight on. I also angle the light source to cast some shadow, this gives more definition to the coin surface, sort of 3D versus 2D. If your coins are in the flips then your background color is white by default. Make sure the light source is correctly set or the pics will come out in false color. If your camera has an Auto balance or White Balance go to the Pre White Balance preset feature and set it by using a white piece of paper as a background. This works best when using natural light. Direct sunlight is not good so make sure the light is filtered somehow. The cheap (free) plastic bags in your supermarket's Produce section can be cut and taped to a cardboard frame and work well in filtering the light. I know it's alot of work but the ultimate solution to better pics is to take the coins out of the flips. I have found that silver coins generally do not work well on a dark background. The dark color tends to make the coins appear brighter and white which washes out details. Try a lightt blue, light red or light green background for truer colors. I photograph thousands of ancient coins a year and have learned alot thru trial and error. I hope some of these tips help. I did look at your coin pics and they are okay but I'm sure you want them a bit better. Better pics equal better prices. One last thought.....Google has a FREE photo program download called Picasa that is quite good in terms of color adjustment and image sharpening, check it out when you get a chance.

[poppa501]

Trying to photo coins through the plastic on a 2X2 is hard to do. The auto-focus on the digiital camera will pick up any wrinkle, imperfection or raised area and will not focus all the way down to the coin. However, close-up is the only way to get good photos of coins. I assume you have Close-up set on both the Scene setting and the manual setting. My Nikon has a flower symbol to symbolize close-up, not sure what yours is. What I do is use the little tripod (that probably came with your camera) and I fold the legs together and hold it in my fist. This allows me to angle the camera in any direction if I need to. Sometimes a slightly angled shot will show features more readily than one that is straight on. I also angle the light source to cast some shadow, this gives more definition to the coin surface, sort of 3D versus 2D. If your coins are in the flips then your background color is white by default. Make sure the light source is correctly set or the pics will come out in false color. If your camera has an Auto balance or White Balance go to the Pre White Balance preset feature and set it by using a white piece of paper as a background. This works best when using natural light. Direct sunlight is not good so make sure the light is filtered somehow. The cheap (free) plastic bags in your supermarket's Produce section can be cut and taped to a cardboard frame and work well in filtering the light. I know it's alot of work but the ultimate solution to better pics is to take the coins out of the flips. I have found that silver coins generally do not work well on a dark background. The dark color tends to make the coins appear brighter and white which washes out details. Try a lightt blue, light red or light green background for truer colors. I photograph thousands of ancient coins a year and have learned alot thru trial and error. I hope some of these tips help. I did look at your coin pics and they are okay but I'm sure you want them a bit better. Better pics equal better prices. One last thought.....Google has a FREE photo program download called Picasa that is quite good in terms of color adjustment and image sharpening, check it out when you get a chance.

Thanks for the info. Will check out Picasa and try some of your suggestions. I use my camera in the manual mode. I can change virtually everything. Still experimenting. I usually get in about 4-6 inches from coin. Use one 60 watt true color light on an arm. No flash fstop at 4.0-5.6 ISO400--Shutter speed will vary between 1/150 up to 1/8 sec. depending on coin and light angle. I have a tripod, but don't use it as I am working on a desktop with the coin propped up at an angle. I use a brace to steady and use the 2 second delay so I get no shutter shake. Copper seems to be the hardest to get right to me. Really shiny uncs or proofs seem to come out dull or with bright spots due to reflections. Can't seem to capture the gloss just right. So when selling and I say a coin is unc. it looks like a dull red coin. Not nearly as nice as coin in hand. Silver not as much of a problem, but still not captured correctly. Any suggestions on the above mentioned settings? Will definitely keep experimenting.
Thanks again for the help--Poppa

[olddiecast]

Another thing which helped me which may be of use is use a cheap gorrillapod (a small flexible armed tripod) which enabled me to get the right distance from the coin and reduced the chance of camera shake.

[poppa501]

Where are my manners? Welcome 106WallyWorld.
oldiecast--see you've been around for a while but not much forum activity. Gorillapod huh? Never heard of it. Will have to check it out. Is that a generic term or for a specific manuf.?
Thanks to all who have replied. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you. You can usually find me on the "Kitchen Table" forum. Can only get better from here on!--Poppa

[olddiecast]

Hi Poppa,

The gorillapod, I think I am right in saying, is made by Joby but of course there are loads of similar things flooding out of Asia. I used to be a seasoned regular in the forums until I stayed on the darkside. I am back to stay now along with my inane ramblings. I have several questions regarding US coins which I intend posting shortly.

Alan

[kengillam]

Have you tried using a polarising filter to cut out the glare.

[poppa501]

Have you tried using a polarising filter to cut out the glare.

By cracky I just got one of those! Haven't tried it yet, but will soon. Thanks Ken.
Poppa

[106wallyworld]

Poppa - If you're getting that much glare to begin with you might try cutting down to 40 watts. Are you using incandescent or fluorescent? A trick I used to use w/ incandescent was to tape a piece of Wax Paper over the lamp light bottom in sort of a concave bowl shape making sure the wax paper doesn't touch the bulb. NO need to start a fire!!! This sort of filters the harshness of incandescent light. I'm sure you have the light setting set to the proper type of light. Try setting the Scene to Close Up and turn on the manual Close Up. Put image sharpening, image adjustment and A-ISO Sensitivity to Auto. If the color or brightness is a bit off don't worry you can always tinker w/ that in the Photo program you use. Experiment and have fun - good thing about digital cameras is you can always delete the lousy ones! :- )