Guest Stujoe Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 There's my problem. My digital is a Canon powershot A200, kind of a cheepie. My good camera is a Nikon, but it's a SLR. Of course it's more likely the user <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I used to have a Fuji 2000-something that I gave to my wife when I got the new one a year or two ago. It gave ok pictures but I was never able to get the look I wanted. I blame it all on the camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuldFartte Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Wish I could figure out a way to get rid of the hot spots and still make it look lifelike and show lustre. Try diffusing the light by placing white material of some kind over the lights ... an old T-shirt, a sheet of printer paper ... something that still lets all the light thru, but the hot spots won't be there anymore. Just watch it if the lights are really hot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Thanks for the tip! It did soften it up a bit. I will have to play around with that too. T-shirt: Nothing: BTW: I wish I could take as good of pics as yours are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burks Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Wow Stujoe. Those are some nice pictures! I'll have to try that technique using three lamps. That might be my problem with having super white pictures. If you haven't seen my coin grading challenge pictures.....please do. It will make you feel better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggit Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Nice pics Stujoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Wow Stujoe. Those are some nice pictures! Thanks! I think I am getting better with them and the best thing is, I am not needing to take a hundred pictures of each coin to get results! I'll have to try that technique using three lamps. That might be my problem with having super white pictures. If you haven't seen my coin grading challenge pictures.....please do. It will make you feel better! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That last Barber pic has a bit of glare off the 2x2 but it is not too bad in that regard. I have that problem too. With an extra light, you might be able to angle them so it doesn't reflect and still have enough light to illuminate well. AuldeFartte's diffusion technique could work for you too. The other thing is: Are you doing it freehand or using a stand? If freehand, make sure you stabilize your hands/arms real good while holding the camers to give them a stable base. That really helps me with focusing and sharpness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuldFartte Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Now, THAT is really cool, Stu ... and thanks for the nice compliment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akdrv Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Cool croc! I could never get good pictures without taking coins out of 2x2s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Now, THAT is really cool, Stu ... and thanks for the nice compliment <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You have probably seen this from one of the pCGS posters but others might not have: http://www.coingallery.org/VirtualGallery.html He has some serious talent in photo maipulation! This is one of my favorites! http://www.coingallery.org/TooledMorgan.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captaincoffee Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 To remove the hot spots and still have good lighting you need a diffuser for the lightsource. Ever notice in the photo studio, the flash doesn't point at you? It shoots backwards onto a sheet or umbrella thingy. Try using a brighter light source, but then not letting it light the coin directly. Paper is actually a pretty good diffuser too, but you need a bright light to put enough lumens through it. Then you could point directly at the coin from a few different angles. With all that said, I don't bother myself. Too much work unless you really need an outstanding picture for something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Cool croc! I could never get good pictures without taking coins out of 2x2s. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It makes a huge difference when you take them out but I hate taking the coins out and then putting them back in just to take a photo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Too much work unless you really need an outstanding picture for something. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks for the tips! My problem is that I always want an outstanding picture and I get ticked off when I don't get one. It is a sickness. Coin Photo OCD, I guess. That's probably why I am disappointed in about every coin pic I take. I want it to look exactly like I see it in my hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syzygy Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 For anyone who is interested, this is my setup. The metal bar going up with the holes in it is where I mount my camera facing straight down. Looks like my black lamp needs a dusting. Stu, first of all, your pics look great! I like the set up. Once you use a copy stand you never want to go back to juggling tripods. On using multiple lights...I do that sometimes, usually two (including the illuminated light table) and have used three. Like others have said, the more diffuse, the better. Well, as long as you can get enough light. I experienced some problems mixing bulbs. Sometimes a mix of incandescent and high-intensity lamps gives me some weird color distortion. Now, I use matched temperature bulbs (they are all the same daylight spectrum bulbs). Just for further discussion on the subject, here are four shots using two lamps, without (always the first) and with (always the second) the light table illuminated as the third lamp. Supersized Supersized Supersized Supersized Which look better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 They both look good to me. Just a slightly different tone to the first ones of each set. They are incredibly well lit too! I am going to show my ignorance, though. What is a ' light table'? Is that something to do with the copy stand? I would love to get a real copy stand but haven't sprung the money for one. I have seen great results using them, though. Mine is kind of a cheap man's copy stand made mostly with parts I had laying around in the basement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syzygy Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 They both look good to me. Just a slightly different tone to the first ones of each set. They are incredibly well lit too! I am going to show my ignorance, though. What is a ' light table'? Is that something to do with the copy stand? I would love to get a real copy stand but haven't sprung the money for one. I have seen great results using them, though. Mine is kind of a cheap man's copy stand made mostly with parts I had laying around in the basement. The light table (and my set up) is pictured here Coin photography Kit It helps, I think. In the referenced pics, the one's with the light table are closer to the coin-in-hand. You can gain a reduction in dark spots, but you can also lose some detail sometimes. I have seen several home-brew set ups like yours - hey if they work - great! If I had the mechanical skills, I would have tried it myself, but things that don't have keyboards are scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 That looks like a really nice stand. I will have to bookmark that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syzygy Posted October 26, 2005 Report Share Posted October 26, 2005 That looks like a really nice stand. I will have to bookmark that one. It's ok, but it is not as sturdy as I would like. But the cost is relatively low compared to others I looked into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigd349 Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 By far, the hardest coins to photograph are proof coins ( imo ). Do you take many pictures of them or not to many. Buy the way, real nice pictures. I have taken a number of pictures of proof coins, mainly eagles, and I dont think I do a half bad job. Here is a picture and you guys tell me what you think. By the way I have a Fuji 7000s camera that I take my pictures with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffibunny Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 That's excellent for a proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigd349 Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 Now the all more important question is how did you post your BIG beatiful pictures in here with your posts and all I got was these little thumbnails. How did you guy do it, if you don't mind me asking? Thanks Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 They have their own attachment places... You can use free image services such as www.imageshack.us and www.photobucket.com and upload your pictures there. From there, you just get the url and paste it here using [ img ] url [ / img ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordie582 Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 Shooting overhead - how do you get rid of the reflection of your camera in the picture of a really proof or shiny coin? I haven't succeded yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syzygy Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 By far, the hardest coins to photograph are proof coins ( imo ). Do you take many pictures of them or not to many. Buy the way, real nice pictures. I have taken a number of pictures of proof coins, mainly eagles, and I dont think I do a half bad job. Here is a picture and you guys tell me what you think. By the way I have a Fuji 7000s camera that I take my pictures with. Your pics are fine! I agree, proofs are very tough. The mirrors make it very difficult to get anything close to even lighting over the whole coin. If your side lighting is at the wrong angle, you will catch every single nasty surface deformation or bit of tarnish or whatever. I end up taking a lot of different shots, which of course is a great thing about digital cameras. Here are a couple that are about as good as I can do right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2coins Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 You fellas are takeing some out standing photos!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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