Photography help

[Archon]

I've been told that I need to get good at photography of xoins and that I'm not good enough for people to be able to help yet and I mean this in no offencive way. I only have access to a phone I don't have a good camera. Know of any tricks or apps to help when using camera +?

[Jay GT4]

Rest your phone on some books or jar, something stable that is elevated above the coin.  Don't use the zoom feature.  Turn on the MACRO setting (flower icon).  Don't get too close to the coin.  Each lens has a focal length, a distance the camera must be from the object to be in focus.  You'll have to experiment.  You can always zoom in and crop the picture after.  Better a picture from far away that is in focus than a close picture that is blurry.

[Carausius]

Make sure the coin is very-well lit. I do not recommend using the camera flash for coin photography. A good, bright light source is best - even if just sunlight.  Please crop images before posting to maximize the size of the coin in the posted photo. We want to see the coin, not excess background. As Jay said, experiment with different camera/phone settings (use macro setting if you have one) and light sources on the same coin to see what produces the best results. Good luck!

[Carausius]

Spencer, one more tip. You seem to be taking your photos with the coin angled away from the camera. You will never get a good picture that way as only the front or back edge will be focused. To get the sharpest image of the entire coin face, you should position your camera directly facing the coin, not at an angle. I hope that helps.

[areich]

What kind of phone is it? Most phone cameras are good enough for coin snapshots that are sharp enough. This here's a snapshot done quickly, NOT using macro mode and with bad lighting. Not great but ok.
I only rotated and resized it.

[Archon]

Iphone 4s

[areich]

So a name brand phone with a decent camera. Have you followed the advice regarding the distance from phone to coin? There are also small tripods available. Or you could try to get a used digital camera cheaply. It would also ideally need some kind of tripod to keep it steady.

[Lee S]

You could also try balancing the coin on your fingertip about 10-15 cm from the telephone under a lamp. This allows you to controle the angle for the best shot. The inbuilt photo editor allows you to crop and rotate as needed...
  I just took this snap as I am writing in my local bar in low light.... ( on an iPhone 5) Touch the screen on the coin and the camara will focus on it, as long as you have fairly steady hands you should get a decent photo.

Lee.

[wheatiefan]

The coin should be on a flat surface like a tabletop, not your fingertip.
The phone should rest on a stack of books or a similar homemade stand directly over the coin. NOT handheld.
You'll have to experiment with the distance to keep the coin as large as possible while still being in focus.
External lighting is better than flash. I like gooseneck LED lamps.
I don't have an iPhone but believe you can use the headphone volume controls to take the picture. That way you are not nudging the phone to press the button.

Experiment experiment experiment.
Change only one variable (light, distance, zoom, size of coin, etc) at a time until you are happy.

Best wishes.

[Lee S]

The coin should be on a flat surface like a tabletop, not your fingertip.
The phone should rest on a stack of books or a similar homemade stand directly over the coin. NOT hand held

  Ermmm.. And what exactly ( apart from the fact I did not crop the picture ) is wrong with the technique I mentioned and the picture I posted?

   Very often it IS easier to balance the coin on your fingertip because very often a phone camara will try and focus on the background rather than the coin... Especially iPhones, which happens to be the camara we are discussing.

  Also, if you are going to try and point out why someone is wrong, you should state your reasons rather than just make a blanket statement... It's only polite.

 Best wishes
Lee.

[areich]

We're not talking here about taking great pictures but about taking ok pictures to someone who has been posting extremely blurry pictures. For this, holding the coin in their hand is perfectly fine if it helps them.

[Andrew McCabe]

I think that there are quite a few alternative setups that will give good results with phone cameras, which have improved greatly. I've tried the suggestions by Lee S and by wheatiefan, and both work, as do a variety of different permutations. So long as there's enough light and the coin and camera are stable enough, and the camera is far enough away to allow focus but near enough to allow details, it's pretty easy to take a reasonable photo nowadays. The photo I took and uploaded of my C.IVNI C.F. Denarius earlier today was taken with a camera supported by nothing more stable than my wobbly hand, and against an unapproved background (not a grey card, not a distant background, but a random bit of painted wood). Still, it came out ok. Most reasonable cameras and reasonable phone cams will take reasonable pics in reasonable light so long as one takes reasonable care.

[ickster]

Most reasonable cameras and reasonable phone cams will take reasonable pics in reasonable light so long as one takes reasonable care.

That sounds reasonable 

Sorry, couldn't resist.