rmpsrpms Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 It's hard to get both color and luster to show up in a single shot. Color requires high angles and diffusion, while luster requires medium angles and pinpoint sources. Here is my latest attempt using a new lighting setup with a medium-lustrous, highly-toned, raw 53-S Lincoln. The setup uses a horizontal aluminum reflector just above the lens, with 2 LED lights shining UP to the reflector, which then both reflects and diffuses the light going to the coin. Disadvantage is that there is less light getting to the coin, so exposures are longer. But the results so far look pretty good, with reasonably even illumination, color definition, enough luster but not too much, and decent resolution of surface details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Well done! Great instruction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Nice effect. Have you explored axial lighting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Great shot and piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted June 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 Nice effect. Have you explored axial lighting? I've tried axial lighting in the past but it doesn't give a good representation of a real-world look from my experience. It's very pinpoint in nature, and thus creates too high contrast and direct reflection back to the sensor. Do you have any different experience with it? ...Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted June 29, 2011 Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 Excellent photo and great choice of background. Not quite as good but another example of bronze/copper on a black background: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted June 29, 2011 Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 I've tried axial lighting in the past but it doesn't give a good representation of a real-world look from my experience. It's very pinpoint in nature, and thus creates too high contrast and direct reflection back to the sensor. Do you have any different experience with it? ...Ray I shoot mostly with axial lighting, but I do vary the light angle to achieve the effect that I want. I think that is true with any light setup. You find the basic setup, then you start experimenting depending on the coin and desired effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted July 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 Excellent photo and great choice of background. Not quite as good but another example of bronze/copper on a black background: Actually your photo is very nice, and very sharp. What camera/lens do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted July 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 I shoot mostly with axial lighting, but I do vary the light angle to achieve the effect that I want. I think that is true with any light setup. You find the basic setup, then you start experimenting depending on the coin and desired effect. Please explain, because I think of axial lighting as having only one possible angle, 0-degrees from the viewing axis, ie straight down from the lens. Do you mean that you vary the angle of the coin to change how the light reflects off the coin surfaces? Or do you have an axial setup that allows you to adjust the light angle in some way? I generally shoot fairly wide open so am always conscious of DOF and try to shoot with the coin as flat as possible. Any tilt causes focus issues with the lens wide open. I don't want to have to stack images to get a good coin pic, and most modern coins have low enough relief that as long as the coin is flat I can get acceptable DOF at the sharpest aperture for the lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted July 1, 2011 Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 Rather than fix my light, I hand hold it moving it up and down and from side to side and tilt it at various angles to the glass. I watch the impact on the image until I get the effect I want. The coin stays flat in relation to the lens. I generally shoot at f/22 to maintain maximum depth of field and let the exposure vary as needed up to about a second. Please explain, because I think of axial lighting as having only one possible angle, 0-degrees from the viewing axis, ie straight down from the lens. Do you mean that you vary the angle of the coin to change how the light reflects off the coin surfaces? Or do you have an axial setup that allows you to adjust the light angle in some way? I generally shoot fairly wide open so am always conscious of DOF and try to shoot with the coin as flat as possible. Any tilt causes focus issues with the lens wide open. I don't want to have to stack images to get a good coin pic, and most modern coins have low enough relief that as long as the coin is flat I can get acceptable DOF at the sharpest aperture for the lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted October 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Here's a Nickel (actually, 5 Centavos) showing good color and luster simultaneously: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Bravo. In addition to color and luster, you've also captured the fine detail of the coin. An exceptional photograph. Do you care to expand on the setup for this image (types of lights, light position, f-stop, exposure, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altyn Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Amazing images! Your sharing any details of how you took them would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 I'm totally in agreement with the others. Great image. I'd love details on your setup for both lighting and camera & lense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 I have a number of coins whose toning only shows up (or shows up 10x better) when the coin is held obliquely, to both the light and the camera. That's frustrating! I've not figured out how on earth to photograph that--if there is some magic trick I'd love to know what it is. (In fact I discovered one coin of mine that I thought was just black ugly toned, has fantastic cobalt blue if you look at it about 60 degrees "off axis" and get light to reflect or rather glare off it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted November 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 Bravo. In addition to color and luster, you've also captured the fine detail of the coin. An exceptional photograph. Do you care to expand on the setup for this image (types of lights, light position, f-stop, exposure, etc). Thanks very much! I would be glad to share the description of the setup: Rodenstock Apo Rodagon D 75mm f4 M=1 set at f5.6 Modified Microscope Stand Pentax Auto Bellows Nikon D7000 in Live View, Aperture Priority Mode (not sure the shutter speed, but faster than 1/100sec) Two Jansjo LED lights at 10:30 and 1:30, 75mm above coin surface, approx 10deg off vertical, no diffusion ...Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted November 16, 2011 Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 Actually your photo is very nice, and very sharp. What camera/lens do you use? Canon 20D SLR with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens Diffused Speedlite Mounted on a Kaiser copy stand As seen here..... Recent photo with this setup..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted November 16, 2011 Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 Canon 20D SLR with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens Diffused Speedlite Mounted on a Kaiser copy stand As seen here..... Does the flash also fire? If so could you please describe it as well? Also... With that macro lens, approximately how big is the image (in inches photographed, not the pixels size)? The kit lens with my Cannon T3 ends up with 90% of the image needing to be cropped away, which of course reduces the amount of detail captured (somewhat like the valueless "digital zoom" option), so I am in the market for a macro lens of some type. Ideally the coin should fill the field of view of the camera. (Another thing on my shopping list is the cable that lets you power the camera from AC power, so I don't feel rushed taking pictures in order to preserve the battery. That's easy enough to find though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 Here's a toned Lincoln Wheat Cent. This is using a Tominon E36 86mm f/4 lens instead of the Apo-Rodagon-D. Not as crisp as the ARD but came out pretty nice...Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 Nice detail and color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 Nice photos one and all! I once saw a device illustrated where the light source is at the end of a rectangular box like channel. The camera is above and perpendicular to the channel at the opposite end where there are glass panes to deflect the light at a 45 degree angle. The coin would sit below this 45 degree pane of glass and the camera above. So the light would come down the tube, reflect off of the tilted glass and onto the coins surface. Has anyone seen or used the above and if so how did it work? I was thinking of building one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 Nice photos one and all! I once saw a device illustrated where the light source is at the end of a rectangular box like channel. The camera is above and perpendicular to the channel at the opposite end where there are glass panes to deflect the light at a 45 degree angle. The coin would sit below this 45 degree pane of glass and the camera above. So the light would come down the tube, reflect off of the tilted glass and onto the coins surface. Has anyone seen or used the above and if so how did it work? I was thinking of building one. That's known as axial lighting. Its the technique that I use for most of my coin photography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmpsrpms Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 How about this one...Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art1.2 Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 That's a beautiful image. Can you tell us about your photo setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Quite the colorful coin. But it seems you might have the same issue with "specklies" as I do. Have you set the ISO high or did you sharpen the picture after taking it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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