No! Not Another Copy Stand In Progress

Yep! I am building a heavy duty copy stand using cold rolled steel and I thought some readers might like to see the work in progress. I am using a piece of 1" cold rolled steel for the vertical and the other parts are also being machined from cold rolled steel. Please click on the following link to see the parts: http://www.flickr.com/ As I indicated the vertical rod is a 1" piece of shafting material I picked up at the local foundry. It is very heavy and very sturdy.

You will also see the bottom flange that has been machined. It will be bolted to the copy stand surface. I have two set screws in this piece to make it even more sturdy. In another photograph you will see the sliding sleeve that will be used to raise and lower the camera. I can feel no "play" in the sleeve at all. It is machined to 0003. tolerance. I think that is the way I am supposed to write 3/thousandths.

I will have a vertical arm attached to this piece and it will be used to hold the camera. I will be replacing the hex-head bolt with the thumb bolt. I am considering a few different ways to attach the camera but I think I have pretty much settled on one device. I will share photos of the finished product. Thank you for viewing and if you have questions, I will be happy to answer.. God Bless.. Jerry..

I Finished My Latest Copy Stand

Well I have finished my latest copy stand with the exception of painting the head. I plan to spray the head with flat black paint. I am sharing the unit with my readers with the intent of turning someone else on to building a copy stand. I used a simple point and shoot camera so my photos could have been better but I think you will get the idea. I used an old Beseler enlarger and stripped away the head and other non-essential parts.

I constructed the new head using wood and aluminum. I am pleased at how strong the unit is. I was also able to fabricate the head in such a way as to keep it parallel to the copy stand base and of course this is very important. Please take a look at my photos and I think you will get a good idea as to how I constructed the unit: http://www.flickr.com/ I will be happy to answer any and all questions about the copy stand. Thank you for looking and God Bless.. Jerry..

Photos Created Using The Sterilite Light Tent

I am sharing a couple of photos made using my Sterilite light tent. The more I use the unit the happier I am. The light distribution is wonderful and I am using two 60 watt GE incandescent bulbs. I will add that these are the first photos made using my new photo copy stand I made from and old Beseler enlarger.

The copy stand is working really well and I feel really good about it. Back to the coin photo. The Sterilite plastic light tent I wrote about in an earlier article is even better than I thought. I have run the gamut of coin photos and the light distribution really makes for good photos. I will remind you that I bought my container from a Dollar Store for either $2 or $2.50.

I saw the same container at WalMart for $2.17. If interested in creating the unit please refer back to my earlier article where I provide a step by step process for creating the tent. See the photos on the left and let me know what you think. We have a Coin Photography group and I know some of the members are beginning to use the unit. If you need more information about the unit you can write me and I will be happy to respond.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Retain Coin Character Without Over Working

I am using a Leton Widow's Mite to illustrate how the character of a coin can be maintained without over working in post processing. I could have removed most of the bright spots on the coin and I could have "processed" the coin until I had created the image of a pristine coin. However, I chose to allow the visual integrity of the coin to remain manifest.

After all we are dealing with a coin that is over 2000 years old. I really enjoy the lights and darks and I also like the less than perfect "age spots".. I see the character of a coin that "speaks" to me from 2000 years ago as opposed to a highly post-processed coin edited in PhotoShop.

I know this is a highly subjective issue and you may of may not agree with me. I have discovered that the coin most often dictates to me the degree of editing that should be done just as the degree of encrustation "tells" me how much I should clean the coin. As an artist I have always attempted to teach others that esthetics is a purely personal thing and that we should never let another would be "scholar" try to determine our tastes.

I hope you have enjoyed and I hope to hear from you. I love to listen to other's opinions.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Creating Copy Stand From Old Enlarger

Well, I am at it again. I recalled I had an old enlarger in the attic of my art studio and my nephew crawled into the attic and recovered it for me. It is a pretty day so I have been working on my rear deck. You can see my art studio in the background. I have the world's most cluttered studio I think! The enlarger should make a great copy stand so I am sharing with you.

The unit is an old Beseler 67CP I have had for eons. As you can see from the photo above I have stripped away the head and other non-essential items such as the lens, bellows and other metal devices. You can see the items on the table top. I encountered more small screws and bolts than I would have thought. As I disassembled the unit, I was constantly aware of how much better things were made back then than now. I am about 12 bolts and screws short of having enough to open a small hardware store.

I will most likely wait until Monday to proceed. I need to drill and tap two holes in the front of where you can imagine the camera will be mounted. I plan to fabricate a device that will mount on the front and hold the camera. The unit is very sturdy and I think it will make a fine copy stand. I have no idea where one would find and old copy stand such as this one but I think it would be worth keeping one's eyes open for one.

I plan to test drive the copy stand sometime next week so I will let you know how it works out. One quick note. I just happened to have the Beseler and if it had been any other make I would have attempted to do the same. In other words if you are interested don't think the Beseler is the only enlarger that will make a good copy stand.. Please ask all the questions you like and please post.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Photos Using $2 Sterilite Light Tent

I have been shooting more photos using my $2 Sterilite orange juice container. I am sharing a couple of photos and I hope the photos will prod members to give my technique a try. Please allow me to encourage you to play with your white balance settings. Also feel free to write me and ask questions.

I am pretty sure this tent will become my standard. I have not found anything that enables me to come close to the results I am getting. I have tried a "pro" model and dozens of other models of my creation and nothing comes close to measuring up to the $2 tent. However, it is my nature to continually seek new and better systems and there may be something new on the horizon. Who knows.

As you find sources for the Sterilite container please share with all our Brothers and Sisters. Please bookmark my blog and please visit periodically to see what is new.. God Bless.. Jerry..

My Best $2 Light Tent Yet

Well, now let’s take a look at the long awaited Cadillac of light tents. As you look at my cluttered photo above I am afraid you may already be disappointed but before you jump ship please hear me out. I will repeat that the upside down pitcher you see above is the best light tent I have created and I have dozens of efforts under my belt.

I am going to spell everything out as well as I can and I will provide you with names and sources. I am really sold on this puppy and I hope to see tremendous strides made by our ancient coin photographers. Our focus will be on what I will call the orange juice container you see directly under my camera. My camera is a Canon XTI and is mounted on a copy stand I designed.

I shoot all my coin pics using a Sigma 105mm Macro lens. I think a custom white balance is great but I don’t think this exercise will leave anyone out regardless of camera. Back to the orange juice container. I bought my container from one of the Dollar Stores for either $2 dollars or $2.50. I cannot stress how important this particular container is. I have used all kinds of frosted plastic and none measures up to the frosted plastic used to construct this container.

I am about to provide you will a URL and a picture of the "right" container and I will provide you with the item number. The unit comes from Sterilite and here is the URL to their home page:
http://tinyurl.com/bsu9jb Please look at item number 0482. This is the container I want you to purchase. I have used many other containers and they are unlike this element of perfection! This is a 2 quarts or 2 liter unit.

Please take a careful look at the plastic pitcher. Unfortunately I could not find anything other than the name "Sterilite" on the pitcher. I assume that all will be able to locate the pitcher. Call the company if you have to and ask for the nearest distributor. Once you have the pitcher in hand, you will be ready to proceed.

Remove the blue and gold top. The top of the pitcher will become the bottom. You will now need to cut the bottom out of the pitcher. I say this with a great deal of trepidation because I am terrified someone will end up with a nasty cut. If you are not skilled at working with your hands, please recruit a friend or neighbor to help you cut the bottom from the pitcher.

Once you have achieved this then you are ready to move on to lighting. The Canon has a very good custom white balance setting and I don’t have any idea what your camera is capable of doing with white balance. I have a Fuji that does not have the custom white balance but it does have an array of settings. If you don’t know about white balance then read your camera’s manual carefully relative to white balance.

The lights you see in the photo positioned on each side of the orange juice container are flex-arm lights and I have using common 60 watt incandescent light bulbs in each. I need to sum up by stating that I think shop lights will work well. You will need to practice with the angle of the lighting and you will need to practice with light proximity.

A note here. When setting your white balance, be sure and move the camera's lens as close as possible to the top opening. Be sure your lights are on and set the light your camera is 'reading" from inside the container. I am sure I have left out a couple of obvious things. Please feel free to write me and ask all the questions you like. We have quite a few members on our sites who are members of our Yahoo CoinPhotography group. I hope they will jump right in and start publishing their coin photography results. Thank you for reading and please bookmark my blog. God Bless.. Jerry..