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Taking photos of gold coins


Swampy

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Hi folks,

Some of the images people post on here of their gold coins are fantastic.  

I’m rather curious as to what people are using to capture such detailed images of single coins?

A photo example would be great too! 

Many thanks,

Swampy

 

 

 

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There are probably some that also have photography as a hobby that have an expensive camera and kit. I am not one of these people so i use a compact camera in macro mode and natural light. I have one room in the house where the daylight seems to work ok and can often get a decent shot. The problem wiith taking photos of proof coins is reflection of the camera or your hand but you can solve this by taking shots at a slight angle.

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2 hours ago, Swampy said:

Hi folks,

Some of the images people post on here of their gold coins are fantastic.  

I’m rather curious as to what people are using to capture such detailed images of single coins?

A photo example would be great too! 

Many thanks,

Swampy

 

 

 

Honestly for ages I used my iphone. Its less about camera quality and more about the lighting and angles. Use natural light near a window, but not direct sunlight and never artificial light. Have the background as contrasting a colour as possible (i like to use black for silver and gold). Then just play around with angles until you get the one you want!

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You might find some helpful advise in the link above. Laurence Chard has a few good tips plus others.

I've been using a technique called axial lighting which is also covered and gives good results, though it's a bit time consuming.

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Hey Swampy, 
Great question to ask. There are many ways to get a good 'enough' picture with out blowing budgets.
There are some great tips already mentioned here. 

Here's some basic pointers to get started. 

- A clean lense will make a huge difference on your camera phone. Give it a wipe with a lense cleaner or a clean soft cotton tee shirt. It will make the colours and shadow contrast pop instead look like peeking through vaseline. 
- Good lighting will help a lot. Digital sensors and jpeg compression get maxxed to compensate for dimly lit environments. So make it as light as you can, it will give a cleaner and clearer image to work with. 
- Additional lighting will make a big difference, especially the size and distance from the subject. For a softer and just nicely illuminated coin/area then consider a light source bigger than an A4 Sheet within 30 cm of the space you are shooting. For something that looks bit more contrasty then maybe place the item on a table at one side of the room away from the window. This means you have a huge light source but will give you better shadows across your item, in a weird sciencey way it'll be smaller as its further away. Even putting an A4 sheet to collect light next to your object will help. 

- Macro lenses help for a camera to get up close to the subject so you can have a very near focus. Or you can shoot with a normal lense and crop in post on your phobe or computer. (Bare in mind on the quality of the camera will make a big difference here. If a normal pic looks average to ba then each time you crop in/reduce the pixels then you will be reducing the image qualioty further.

 

Hope this helps. 

Andy

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I'm one of those who is also into photography.  Lighting is key.  Key.  A good work environment where you can set up helps a lot, too, because sometimes it takes a while to get set right and you don't want to have to dismantle it after one coin!  I used to use a flat-bed scanner which produced some darned fine results and, honestly, you can get some good photos with phones, too.  I use a tripod with cable release to avoid any movement of the camera (also do mirror lockup), variable temperature lights, and a 200mm micro lens...yes, a micro lens.  It's macro/closeup photography but Nikon decided to call it a micro lens!  This is the reverse of an E7 5-sov piece and a close up of Victoria Gothic Crown.

 

EVII-5s.pngV-Goth.thumb.png.be73c0857ddf6e9b87b8f425e964ec7a.png

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5 hours ago, StackerNoob said:

Have the background as contrasting a colour as possible (i like to use black for silver and gold). Then just play around with angles until you get the one you want!

I shoot on a "green screen" and then can remove the background and apply whatever surround I like in post processing.  Rarely do I shoot one photo, especially when setting up and adjusting lighting intensity, temperature, angle, etc.  And then, even after I think I have the "perfect" setup: shoot, review, repeat.  Check focus each time (shoot a Piedfort and then a Lennox farthing and you'll see why!)  If you can, shoot in raw.  I have my camera connected to a  laptop with a calibrated screen so I can preview the Liveview on screen full size.  This helps for focus and orientation as well so you're not trying to do that through the viewfinder.

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