Photographing Coins

Alright, I can tell that those of you who replied aren't really coin collectors who do coin photography regularly. ;)

(1) NO SCANNERS. Scanner results of coins are horrid -- they look like they were flushed through a toilet a few times before being imaged. They're flat, and they have saturated highlights and pure-black shadows due to the mono-directional light source and its intensity.

(2) Diffuse light is not what you want unless the coin is absolutely dull without a hint of luster.

(3) The best lighting is 2-3 directional lights placed around the coin so as to get the luster to show up and give the highly desired cartwheel effect. The lights should be placed reasonably close (not 2", but not 2') to the coin.

(4) Macro lenses are the way to go, so long as they can get a good sharp focus.

(5) If it's a proof coin (which it doesn't sound like it is), then you'll want to use a flash pointed directly up at the ceiling as the only light source. This will give frosted devices and black fields. Having the coin slightly off-axis can make part of the field have a more white color like the US Mint uses in their illustrations.

Below are a few examples:


Thanks. I used a macro lens with diffuse lighting. (I hadn't seen your post when I took the shots.) The coin is definitely not a proof and, being made of aluminum, it's nowhere near as high a quality as "real" coins. Its "value" is more symbolic or personal in nature.

For some unknown reason, I can't get the pic to show up here. Go here and scroll down a bit to find it. I did attempt to put it on a page by itself but no good.
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top