Welcome to Lee's Coin Collecting Tips - Photography Page!
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Basic Photography Tips
Are you satisfied with how your photographs of coins and currency look? Even if you are, here are some basic tips that will help when photographing coins and bills.
- Focus - This absolutely is the key. Your photos should be "tack-sharp". That is to say all of the coin/bill photos should be in sharp focus.
- Background - I use red, brown, black, and white. Felt or velvet is an excellent choice. Just make sure that whatever you use isn't slick or glossy, as it will reflect and even distort light.
- Lighting - Utilize the flash on your camera or phone. I like using fill flash; that is having the flash fire for every photo. If you have an adjustable flash unit, try bouncing the flash off a white card to get glare-free coin photos. Using existing light can result in coins looking tan/gold.
- Distance - Get as close as you can without having your flash washout the coin or bill. If your camera/phone has close-up, aka macro, setting/lens, experiment with it.
I was actually experimenting today with a new 50-w Studio Fill Light (~ $15 direct from China). It works great with my white background, but not so much with the black. It's great for non-silver and silver coins.
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