Wednesday, January 28, 2009

New Milk Carton Photo Light Tent


Please take a look at the photo above and see what you think. I used a 1-quart milk carton for a “light tent.” I trimmed the top of the carton away and I cut an opening in the bottom to allow the milk carton to slip over the coin. I used two Soft Light GE off the shelf “normal” light bulbs for my light sources. I placed one light on each side.

I used something different but one can use the aluminum shop lights from Wal-Mart to hold and reflect the light. I think the lights are $6.95 each. I like the shop lights with clamps and that enables me to place the light wherever I like. I placed the lights within a foot of the milk carton. One can move the light around and play with the direction of the light.

I plan to spend more time now learning the proper way to light the coin. I have a custom white balance on my camera and that enables me to adjust my camera to the light I am using. If you are using a point and shoot camera you should find that you have several options for setting your white balance. If you do not have a custom white balance setting then try the incandescent setting you will find on your point and shoot.

If the incandescent bulbs do not work for you then switch to 25-watt fluorescents. You should have one white balance setting on your camera that will meet your needs. If you go through my blog you will find many coin photo efforts. I am continuing to work with my setup and I have plans to try axial lighting as an option. In fact, I was working with axial lighting just yesterday.

About the coin. I have many “pretty” coins but I selected a coin with lots of character. I think these coins are more fun to shoot. You may of may not agree. I shot this photo with a Canon XTI and I used a Sigma 105mm Macro lens. I shot in aperture priority and I used the copy stand friends of mine and I made. I used Irfanview to stitch the photo together. I shot the coin on a gray background and I did a post-processing black fill using PhotoShop.

I am open to good constructive criticism and I should mention that my good friends at CoinPhotography are helping me to understand much I did not know. Thank you for reading and I hope this causes you to get the camera out and start snapping your coins. . God Bless.. Jerry..

No comments: