Advice on photographing coins

[Nonmortuus 848]

As the title, I want to get a few pictures of some of my latest coins to post on here and wanted some generally advice on how to achieve a good picture.

I have a semi decent SLR with Macro but aside from using good lighting and using the macro function is there any other pearls of wisdom you can share?

[Paulus 1,942]

I find this article very useful:

link

Edited August 13, 2015 by Paulus

[azda 973]

As the title, I want to get a few pictures of some of my latest coins to post on here and wanted some generally advice on how to achieve a good picture.

I have a semi decent SLR with Macro but aside from using good lighting and using the macro function is there any other pearls of wisdom you can share?

Natural daylight, my camera is a 6 year old olympus Point and click Set at the highest Macro settings, i always try and use the Same background, either Black or white, i've no complaints about how they turn out so far, i've Even used the ipad for maundy or boxed sets.

[Nonmortuus 848]

Thank you both! All being well I will get chance to post some pics tonight.

[mhcoins 95]

a tripod's always a good idea (or a steady hand), good lighting and a half decent camera

[TomGoodheart 373]

Personally I use a three year-old 14MP Olympus point and shoot with macro. As MH says above, steadiness is essential. If you're taking photos hand held you need enough light to ensure the camera exposure is fast. Or a tripod.

The coins I photograph are generally toned. Easier to photograph than shiny ones I find and even then you often need to adjust the angle of the lighting to show the detail to best advantage. A lighting set up would probably be more flexible but I'm too lazy so just take lots of shots and choose the one I like best.

I also take photos on a surface. But unlike Azda I find a neutral colour is better. Doesn't matter what, as long as the tone is close to that of the coin. Otherwise if I use white the camera adjusts the exposure and the coin comes out too dark and vice versa if I use a black background.

Once I have the images I combine the obv and reverse and use a simple picture editor (I use Microsoft Paint) to paint in a background. Depending on whim I end up with either a black or white background.

.

Edited August 13, 2015 by TomGoodheart

[Nutsaboutcoins 105]

If the coin is on a white background you should be able to adjust the exposure on your SLR. I have read best results are from putting the coin on a light box, which totally eliminates any shadows created by the down lights, but this seems a bit OTT. I often add pictures into word documents and find white backgrounds give a cleaner look to the finished page.

[Coinery 926]

I eventually ended up opting for a white background too.

And definitely a tripod! More important than the camera!

[azda 973]

Dark background

[azda 973]

And my recent change over to a white background