Do my photos look good?

[Ray P]

Several of you have provided great descriptions of your photographic technique so I purchased a camera, stand, etc and started experimenting.  Do you see any glaring problems with my results?  I have never done anything like this and would appreciate feedback before I embark on photographing the remainder of the collection.  It is taking about 6 minutes to photograph and edit using Gimp to get these final results.

[Andrew McCabe]

Really good results. The coins' good quality silver and toning comes across well and you've evidently done the tricky job of background removal efficiently.

Welcome to Forum as I see this is your first post, but from that post presumably you've been lurking some time. Marvellous coins too.

What exact setup did you use - there have been a wide variety discussed here on Forum?

[Ray P]

Thanks Andrew,
I have been lurking for a few weeks.  Then spent several hours experimenting with camera settings and setup. Then several more hours on youtube figuring out how to use Gimp.

I purchased the following equipment used at local thrift stores or craigslist, except for the ringlight from Amazon: Sony HX300 mounted on a copy stand shooting down on to the coin that is sitting on a clear piece of glass straddling a white dish. The light is from a ringlight and it is either direct or bounced off a sheet of copy paper.

Equipment I tried but eliminated from the process for one reason or another include coin sitting on etched glass, different dishes with or without lights under them, tripod, and natural light.

Of everything I have done I probably spent the most time fiddling with white balance in the camera. I finally ended up with a camera WB setting that I take a picture of a white paper with the ringlight aimed at it - white paper sitting on the glass where the coin will be.  I am getting fairly consistent results with both silver and bronze coins.   

I could not have done it without the great advice from this group.

Thanks all.

 

[Ray P]

Here are a couple of some bronzes.

[Jay GT4]

Great results!

[ickster]

Nice even exposure. I think I need a ring light.

Looks good 

[dougsmit]

These photos range from very good to great.  I have found that a very small change in the tilt of the coin can make a significant difference and might suggest putting the Corinth Athena on a little lump of clay that will allow you to wiggle it a bit moving more light to the front of the face.  The trick is looking through the camera and adjusting the angle until you see what you want.  This is more often helpful with higher relief silver coins.   I have failed to find one type lighting that I believe works well for all coins.  On some coins the light from a ring looks more natural than on others.  I tend to shoot some coins several times and then have to decide which version is what I was seeking.  Fortunately, digital 'film' is free.

 

The light is from a ringlight and it is either direct or bounced off a sheet of copy paper.

Can you explain how you bounce a ring light off a sheet of paper? 

Manual white balance is the absolute best feature on a camera for coin photography.  You seem to be doing it expertly.  Manual 'anything' means you can choose how you want your picture to look rather than relying on something programmed in at a factory by someone who has no idea if you are shooting coins or puppies. 

I have personal preference for black background shots but you are doing the white ones well.  It might help others if you posted shots of your set-up. 

[PeterD]

Nice pictures Ray.

A ring light gives nice even lighting, but that's not always what you want. As you have found, a bit of directional lighting is often also needed. I also use a copy stand, but have two lamps attached which can be angled and moved every which way (no ring light). As Doug observed, different coins require different lighting.

As far as colour balance is concerned, I would set your camera in a 'custom' position (assuming your camera is capable) then, with the lighting you are using, set the colour balance according to the camera's instruction book (this usually involves placing a grey scale card in front of the camera and maybe taking some test pictures). That then needn't be touched, ever, unless you change the (type of) lighting.