A good method for a cheap set-up?

[daverino]

I have a cheap ($100) Minolta with a macro option and no other apparatus so I have done my shots hand-held usually with the coin resting on the windowsill. The result is usually flat and uninteresting. My new method is to place the coin in a clear flip and resting the heel of my hand against the camera hold it about 2 inches from the lens in macro mode. I show two shots of a Histiaea tetrobol - the first is from my gallery and the second is by this latter method. The result is a much livelier and colorful shot which makes the coin image more 3-dimensional..

I think that the relief of the coin is much better revealed when shot thru the flip in outside light since my camera has a hard time capturing the highlights when the coin is placed against an opaque background. It is also surprisingly easy to get a good shot since the hand holding the coin is steadied by the camera and it is easy to adjust the direction of light to get the best pictures.

[moonmoth]

Actually, I think the first photos have a more pleasant feel due to the warmer light (less blue) and the better illumination of the field.   Personal preference, of course!

Bill

[Bud Stewart]

Actually, I think the first photos have a more pleasant feel due to the warmer light (less blue) and the better illumination of the field.   Personal preference, of course!

Dave, I also find your first photos more pleasant to my eye.  I also find the small scratches and particles on the flip to be distracting. 

I have very inexpensive equipment, but I found Doug Smith's "rig" to be an excellent aid.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=60738.0

[daverino]

Thanks both for the input and I see what you mean. But I have had this problem that my silver coins just don't look really silver when I use the opaque background - rather they are milky-white and one often sees this in other coin photos. I notice in Doug's set-up that the coin is suspended in the air (resting on a platform)  and this may be equivalent to letting the light come in from behind the coin. Is this what eliminates the flat appearance coin photo's often have when they are resting on an opaque surface?

One would like to photograph coins simply and with a uniform background. Also indoors in the winter!

[areich]

I find a milky glass background (a plate of glass (ground glass?) placed over a white ceramic dish) useful.

[daverino]

I find a milky glass background (a plate of glass (ground glass?) placed over a white ceramic dish) useful.

Thanks for the tip areich. It combines my desire for quick results with lack of mechanical aptitude. I set the coin on a clear plastic plate over a polyethylens container with a white kitchen towel underneath. The results are promising since the silver coin looks silver and more 3-dimensional. I think having the coin back-lit rather than set on an opaque object is the key to success.

I will have to find a way to steady the camera and also have more control over the direction of light.

[areich]

There are really cheap and small copy stands available, I do have a large one but prefer the small $40 one.
Silver is more difficult than bronze unless it is heavily toned and you have to experiment with lighting.
Of course this set-up was not an original idea of mine but something I learned from Pat (slokind).

[Bud Stewart]

I find a milky glass background (a plate of glass (ground glass?) placed over a white ceramic dish) useful.

Thanks for sharing this technique Andreas.  Very nice results Dave.  I think I'll try this on my next acquisition.  As I look at my Gallery will attest, I'm a real novice when it comes to photography.  When I finds the 'set up' that I like I'll probably re-shoot some of my coins.

[moonmoth]

Pat Lawrence uses ground glass over a white dish; I use a plastic sandwich box with a translucent lid and white paper inside.  The principle is the same as that clear plastic box and all of these methods should produce good results.  Cheap and easy!

Bill

[ras]

My advise would be to forget about the background for now and get the lighting down first. See how in the very first photo the brightest areas of the coin are washed out? That's because you overexposed the frame. Without getting into technical stuff I would suggest using a different coin. Try as a test using a nickel from your pocket change - the idea being that you won't be distracted by the ancient coin's beauty and focus instead on your *photography* practice.

Next take that same light and put a diffuser between it and your coin. The job of the diffuser is to break up the light over a wider area so you don't get those harsh shadows. A good diffuser is any material that is translucent: not so opaque that it cuts down too much of the light but not so transparent that it fails to break up the light either. Think of the milky panels that cover fluorescent lighting in office settings. Find a broken sheet of that stuff or something similar.

Now take a set of three photos. The first as you normally do where the camera figures out what it feels is the best exposure then the next force it to underexpose by a third stop and the last overexposing, again by one click up (which is normally a third stop). You may already have an exposure bracketing setting which simplifies this step. When you transfer the photos you should be looking for the brightest and darkest areas of the coin. Among the three photos which leaves the most detail around the high points, as opposed to a blur of whitewash? Are the darkest areas so blackened that there is loss of detail?

Other things to consider are shrpness and focus. Unless you can achieve very fast shutter speeds while still correctly exposing - something on the order of 1/500 sec - your image *will* lose sharpness unless it's mounted firmly. A tripod need only cost a few dollars and pretty much any modern camera should be able to have it take a picture off a timer. These two tips should be enough to get razor sharp details (assuming a not too crappy lens or that you're inside the minimum focusing distance!)

After you've gotten these down pretty good, and only then, would I worry about the aesthetics of the background. And, anyway, if you have a coin worthy of being published why not forget the fancy background altogether and leave it white? It'll save some poor sap from having to tediously lasso it out in photoshop.

Ras