Best possible pictures..

[Maxorin]

To be honest with you, I just took a shot at the color. Other adjustments can be made. Basically, I just wanted to give you an idea what can be accomplished with an editing program. Of course, with coin in hand, you can adjust to a specific color, sharpness and intensity with the actual coin to look at and compare.

BJ Neff

But when you have for example 400 coins and need two, three pictures of each, thats a pretty massive time-consuming job to edit each one and compare agains the coin to match.. Lifes to short

[wavysteps]

Yes it is time consuming. I know for I have done well over 600 coins for wavy step and trail die files, plus have shot numerous other coins for various reasons.

Have you tried fooling around with the "white Balance" setting on your camera?

BJ Neff

[Maxorin]

Yes it is time consuming. I know for I have done well over 600 coins for wavy step and trail die files, plus have shot numerous other coins for various reasons.

Have you tried fooling around with the "white Balance" setting on your camera?

BJ Neff

Come to think of it, forget my comment of it beeing time-consuming, because to scan a coin at high dpi also takes alot of time.

Just am a little surprised because I assumed that a camera would pick up a objekts natural look and shine without problems or massive editing. And it does, on flowers and bugs and other small things. But when I put a coin in front of it, something changes. It seems odd to me that a new, good camera
cant handle this without having to edit. What I`m after, is a way to simply lay out the coins I need pictures of, take the pictures, and end up with a nice consistent look. With all the advances in technology I assumed that this was a piece of cake, no problem. But it seems to be much more difficult than I imagined.

My problem is that I have a massive collection just laying around waiting to be taken pictures of. Some time ago I began this massive job, made about 200 pictures as a start and posted them on a website, but after a while I decided the quality wasn`t good enough, so erased everything and have to start over. Dont wont to do that again! what a waste of time. So I`m spending less and less time with the coins, and more and more struggeling with the equipment. Still loving the coins, beginning to really hate taking the pictures


I`ll have to keep working at this, and learn more about photgraphy it seems.
I`ve tried different settings on the camera, but ends up with different unnatural looks.

[wavysteps]

One day it will all come together for you for the photography end. It just takes finding the right lighting and camera settings and when that happens, shooting pictures becomes a lot easier. One thing that I do suggest is not to become frustrated at your results; try not to capture the fineness of color, however, try to capture the true nature of the error. I might be wrong, but I think that clarity, sharpness and proper presentation of the subject being photographed is more important than the color. However, that is my opinion.

BJ Neff

[Maxorin]

One day it will all come together for you for the photography end. It just takes finding the right lighting and camera settings and when that happens, shooting pictures becomes a lot easier. One thing that I do suggest is not to become frustrated at your results; try not to capture the fineness of color, however, try to capture the true nature of the error. I might be wrong, but I think that clarity, sharpness and proper presentation of the subject being photographed is more important than the color. However, that is my opinion.

BJ Neff

Yes you are right, guess I have to work a lot more on this picture-stuff.
Hope I one day find the perfect recepie.

And you`re right about those things beeing more important than color. But i would love to be able to take pictures that capture it all; color, clarity, sharpness, shades, everything that is my goal.

I may have to high expectations for the camera I use. Maybe I need to take it up a couple of steps, and try some high-tech, state of the art professional stuff.

Maybe I should start at the other end also, find pictures that have the look I`m after, and find out what equipment was used. Because I see breathtaking pictures every day and think "theres the quality I`m looking for."

Anyway, thank you for your replys.

[jeankay]

Photographing coins

Hi,
I do not get on this site as often as I would like, but thought I should share what I have discovered.
First, I have a new Canon power shot, SD850IS Digital Elph. It claims to have 8.0 mega pixels and 4x optical zoom, with an image stabilizer and face detection.
Most of this means nothing to me because I picked it out by going to a large camera store and had the clerk take pictures of different coins I had with me to see which camera would fit my needs as best with the money my husband was willing to spend.
I cannot even begin to think I will ever understand everything this camera can do. The little instruction book keeps referring back to the big book and vice-versa. It may as well be in a foreign language that doesn't exist.

What I do know is after hundreds and hundreds of pictures, I found that yellow lighting, as is in most light bulbs, is pretty much okay for copper coins. A whiter light is better for silvery coins. I use a regular goose neck desk lamp with a power save light bulb that gives the yellowish tinge.

The other lamp I happen to have is an adjustable Ott-Lite. It has a bulb that gives daylight lighting. The OttLite is pricey, but there are others out there on the internet that have the same bulb quality that might be more affordable.
I never shine the light directly at the coin as it will give a flash back look.
Speaking of flash... I never use the camera's flash for the photography.

Have you noticed that your camera has what I call a pre-click? The idea is to use a neutral background... a medium shade of gray... that you can point the camera at to pre-set the contrast with this pre-click, as most cameras these days are capable of doing, and then move the camera back to your object for the final click of the button. Sometimes this does help the camera adjust its color balance and capture objects that are not natural. The pre-click is also used to eliminate redeye. (Yes I know this isn't a very technical explanation, but it is the best I can do).

Because my camera is limited as to the distance you can be from the coin to focus properly you need to be very steady with the camera. After I am satisfied with the picture in the camera's window I will transfer it to my computer and take another look with Paint Shop Pro, which is where I can magnify and crop. Sometimes the picture isn't as clear as I would like, but to have that I would need to spend close to 1,000 usd to get the very best.

Just wanted to share my experience in my camera 'expertise'... yeh, right.
Just plain luck most of the time.

jeankay

[mustbebob]

I have been taking close-up photos of coins for many years, and trial and error was an inevitable process for me. Out of the thousands of photos I have taken for coppercoins, I always see where there was room for improvement.
I do agree somewhat with Jeankay's statement about lighting, and I have used that process before. However, I can get good color on both copper and silver coins with diffused light, rather than yellow or white. I have a dual goose neck fiber optic light box, but to keep the glare and colors more natural, I diffuse the light through a white coin tube. It works great.
I have seen some terrific pics posted on this forum as well, and I love the fact people are sharing their knowledge. A little patience, and maybe a good idea or two can sure make a difference int he quality of your pics.

[Maxorin]

Hi,
I do not get on this site as often as I would like, but thought I should share what I have discovered.
First, I have a new Canon power shot, SD850IS Digital Elph. It claims to have 8.0 mega pixels and 4x optical zoom, with an image stabilizer and face detection.
Most of this means nothing to me because I picked it out by going to a large camera store and had the clerk take pictures of different coins I had with me to see which camera would fit my needs as best with the money my husband was willing to spend.
I cannot even begin to think I will ever understand everything this camera can do. The little instruction book keeps referring back to the big book and vice-versa. It may as well be in a foreign language that doesn't exist.

What I do know is after hundreds and hundreds of pictures, I found that yellow lighting, as is in most light bulbs, is pretty much okay for copper coins. A whiter light is better for silvery coins. I use a regular goose neck desk lamp with a power save light bulb that gives the yellowish tinge.

The other lamp I happen to have is an adjustable Ott-Lite. It has a bulb that gives daylight lighting. The OttLite is pricey, but there are others out there on the internet that have the same bulb quality that might be more affordable.
I never shine the light directly at the coin as it will give a flash back look.
Speaking of flash... I never use the camera's flash for the photography.

Have you noticed that your camera has what I call a pre-click? The idea is to use a neutral background... a medium shade of gray... that you can point the camera at to pre-set the contrast with this pre-click, as most cameras these days are capable of doing, and then move the camera back to your object for the final click of the button. Sometimes this does help the camera adjust its color balance and capture objects that are not natural. The pre-click is also used to eliminate redeye. (Yes I know this isn't a very technical explanation, but it is the best I can do).

Because my camera is limited as to the distance you can be from the coin to focus properly you need to be very steady with the camera. After I am satisfied with the picture in the camera's window I will transfer it to my computer and take another look with Paint Shop Pro, which is where I can magnify and crop. Sometimes the picture isn't as clear as I would like, but to have that I would need to spend close to 1,000 usd to get the very best.

Just wanted to share my experience in my camera 'expertise'... yeh, right.
Just plain luck most of the time.

jeankay

Good to hear in a way that I`m not the only one having some difficulty with instruction books for cameras anyway. It just seems like we have too many choices, had my camera for about a month now, and still there are things I`m not exactly sure of how works

Noticed this "pre-click" function not to long ago, seems very useful, in the process of learning it (hopefully)

Lighting is a chapter of it`s own. I have found that the color of the light can be adjusted with some of the option on the camera, but it`s better to have a good, smooth lightingsource with different bulbs you can use to begin with.

Here`s a trick I found (dont clame to have invented it )that makes the coin almost look like it`s floating above what it`s resting on, especially if you use a white background (sheet of paper etc.)

- Take a small table or anything that you can use that has a flat top, and
the top can be lifted open. (hinges or something like that in one end) Or make your own tilted surface.

hm, this was a bit hard to explain i notice now but I`ll give it a try.

- Put something under where you can open it, for example, I use a pack of smokes. But anything will do, just put something under there so the top tilts slightly towards you. (but not so much that the coin slides off, be carefull).

- Place one lamp in front of the tilted top and one behind, so they point toward each other. The best to use, is lamps that stand on the floor and have an end you can "twist" and move around. And, the absolute best is the ones you can adjust seemlessly from almost no light to very bright. Ordinary on/off works good, but i think the adjustable ones are to prefeer. Align the lightbulbs/lamps so that they are at the same height as the flat tilted top (the lamp at the back will then be a little bit higher than the one in the front of course), then adjust both lamps up 2-3 inches, so when you put a coin on the flat tilted top, both light shines down/towards it with an tilted angle. The lights should meet excatly where the coin is.

- Now when you place your camera right above the coin for a nice close-up shot, the light from both lamps should flow freely between the camera and the coin, without any shadow from you or the camera.

Try to adjust the lights to the point where there is no shadow from the coin itself on either side of the coin. The lights "cancel" each other out in a way.
You can also get a nice "sparkle" effect on high-points on the coin by adjusting the lights to shine a little brighter. (not sure if this has something to do with the type of bulb used).

Still working a little on this, but it looks to me like the tilted surface and light from two sides can give some nice results. Especiallly with adjustable lights, it looks promising. Have done the same with a flat surface, for some reason it dont look as good.

Hope this made a little sense It may be something, it may be nothing, I tried anyway.

[jeankay]

Okay, I think I will check out lighting this weekend when I can get close to a large town. I bet there are some little lights I can use on my desk that will give me more options with angles and such. If I find something terrific I will get back here and share my discovery. In the meantime, I will keep taking picture after picture until one of them is just right. Isn't digital photography great for this? No film to buy and develop and waiting for pictures... teehee. And I thought I would dislike it a lot. ;o)
jeankay