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Coin photography
photographing coins is a fascinating, challenging, and satisfying aspect of collecting beautifully toned, lustrous CAC coins, which represent nearly 100% of my collection. I recently bought camera equipment (Canon D90 plus Sigma 100 macro lens) and Mark Goodman’s most excellent book (the latter on eBay…). My next challenge is lighting. If anyone has recommendations on what lights work best for you, I am all ears (and eyes). Halogen vs LED vs Ott Lite? Kelvin at 3000 or 5000? Etc. And, your 3 best lighting tips or tricks (other than not touching halogen lamps with bare fingers😫) thanks much in advance.
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I cannot be of any help as most; well all the good images lol; have been done by Mark he is amazing. He just imaged a dozen coins for me this past weekend, he is a magician. I continue to work and I'm getting better but still light years away from his skill level.
My favorite lighting is halogen. It is preferred by many professional coin photographers. It is bright, has a quick warm-up and consistent color. Floods are particularly good for most coin images.
The downside is that halogen bulbs are hot. Use extra care. Also, halogen bulbs are hard to come by in some States like California.
To be fair, other photographers have managed nicely with other bulbs. LED's, Ott lights, even CFL's. Getting temperature and tint right for the kind of bulb you choose isn't difficult with white balance settings. Then it's just a matter of a lot of practice. Trial and error.
Mark Goodman has an article on lights and testing he's done. Google it.
Lance Keigwin.
I may be of some help. I've been a professional photographer for many years. I switched from tungsten light to LEDs a few years ago. They are 3000K but my setup requires I change that to 2700K in post. The most I use are three lights, all with diffusion material. Here is a sample.
Incandescents.
These are $10 Ikea LED lights, a copy stand, Canon 5d3 and a 100mm macro lens. Coin is an MS68★CAC
Absolutely beautiful!!!!!
You can use most any lighting you want. The key is to do a custom white balance with your final lighting. What I do is use 2-3 OTT lights shining down on diffusion material which then lights the coins. It creates enough of a hot spot to show luster but enough gentleness to show color and detail.
All these comments and photos are terrific. Thank you for sharing and offering advice and examples. So, it seems that there is no consensus on the best lighting and some of these dazzling images proves the point. I have been using 2 Ott lights but I am not happy with the results. Before I buy a third, I tried 3 cheap LED lamps (probably $10 too!) and adjusted the white balance. But I’m still not satisfied. Halogens are rare these days, but one company in NC called Sunnex makes industrial grade 20w halogen lamps with gooseneck style 20-27 inch arms that provide “effective spot lighting.” They look super good but are expensive. I am still a long way from getting colorful sharp images. I don’t want to need to “photoshop” the RAW image….uggg…!
meant to ask: what exactly is diffusion material?
My setup is a microscope stand with a Cannon EOS SLR camera body with an enlarger lens separated by a baffle system. I use the microscope controls to focus. The pic shows 2 halogen lights but I now use up to 4 of these lights. The camera is tethered to my Macbook pro laptop where I use Affinity Photo for my "group photos" of both sides and the label.
Good question! A lot of things can be used as diffusion material. The basic idea is you are softening the light. You're putting something translucent between the light source and the subject. Think of it like a cloudy day. The clouds are diffusing the sunshine. If you look at your shadow on a sunny day it has a hard edge to it. If there's a cloud between you and the sun then your shadow is much softened and the edge is less distinct. That's what diffusion is getting you. It's one reason why fall colors look better and more vibrant on cloudy days than on sunny ones.
You can use cheap materials such as coffee filters, paper towels, and such as a diffuser but they will have varying degrees of effectiveness and will alter your white balance. I use diffusion material manufactured for the purpose. Basically a sheet of translucent plastic. If you search a place like B&H Photo or Adorama for "diffusion material" you'll find more than you'll ever want. A small 11x17 sheet is plenty, though. Just cut to size.
DaBrin: I am very grateful for your sharing your photo of the photo studio & your methods. So, where do I buy those halogen lamps? That needs to be my next essential step. I will have some more technique questions, but let’s start with the equipment basics. I fear those lamps are totally out of existence due to the LED revolution.
TurtleCat: that’s the single best explanation of diffusion I have ever heard or read. You must be a science Professor! I bought my camera equipment at B&H so I will return there for the diffusion material! I will try them with my 2 OTT lights and work on the white balance. But I confess I like halogen. They just may not be available anymore….
it’s so much easier to buy CAC coins than to learn coin photography. I wish CAC would professionally photograph every stickered coin and offer the photographs as part of the stickering process.
@CACNUTCOLLECTOR I am happy to help! I’m actually a software developer but I’ve had fun with photography for many years. Coin photography is quite a challenge but when you get a good image it is very rewarding.
For diffusion material, a really good thing to think of is the sun (no diffusion and straight sun shining on things) vs diffusing (clouds which block the sun). If you have direct sunlight its brighter, but you tend to have more contrast, shadows, overblown highlights, and unevenness on the coin. If you have clouds, the sun's harsh light is filtered and applies more evenly, but its darker.
As far as what to use, just anything that cuts down on harsh glare. I've used different types of paper, plastic sheets, coin roll tube caps, and other things. The goal is just to try and get the photo to look like the coin in hand.
Thanks for the nice words. I purchased the halogen gooseneck lamps a long time ago at Pier One Imports, but they don't sell them any more. Can you use the LED lights and then adjust the white level on your camera? There's some really good tips in this forum interchange: https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=87392
There's also a good numismatic photography book that, unfortunately, is getting really hard to find: https://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-Photography-2nd-Mark-Goodman/dp/193399004X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TYBUL6FUXKMC&keywords=numismatic+photography&qid=1639176657&s=books&sprefix=numismatic+ph%2Caps%2C171&sr=1-1
What is the best diffusion 'material' for coin images and how to set them up? Say I am using LED's or Par30 halogens, would the diffusion material change with the types of lights? I have never used diffusion bc I don't see how this is done easily and with the same placement every time for consistency. Hence, anyone have pics of their set up using diffusion? That would be helpful....
Best, HT
I got something like this: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/163159-REG/Rosco_102302502124_E_Colour_250_1_2_White.html
Then I got a hole for the lens to poke through and rigged up a support mechanism to keep it flat. Then I place my lights above it. I cut an area to have about 4-6 inches of material from the lens.
I would show a picture but my copy stand is currently disassembled.
I have Mark Goodman’s excellent book. It’s unclear to me whether he now uses halogen or LED (his book was last published in 2009, when we didn’t fear viral pandemics and halogens simultaneously.). Halogen seems to be preferred by many on this string but one needs to troll eBay for used halogen gooseneck lamps, and then find speciality stores to buy halogen bulbs. They are certainly diminishing and the question is, does it matter? White balancing does seem to allow adjustment fairly well, but the cheap LEDs I am using may not throw enough light. In his book, Mark argues for flooding the coin with light because it increases shutter speed, which in turn produces sharper images. This probably requires upgrading my cheap LED lamps, but that pushes me back to halogen, which I know toss a ton of light. I haven’t gotten to the diffusion issue yet, but I will order that sample from B&H. Appreciate the recommendations Now just a matter of trial and error and error and error 🕰
LED is perfectly fine. The only reason for flooding the coin with light would be to increase shutter speed to reduce the risk of camera shake during the shot and (for some lighting) to remove the problem of the light source’s cycle times. Cameras are far better now than in 2008.
I have the same book and it is good but techniques have improved along with the camera tech. Sensors alone are far superior in every way from those CCD based ones used at the time. I thing magical about the light source if you’re properly setup.