Jon K's Last 20 Posts
| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
 Posted 05/18/2020 10:47 am
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I have no understanding of black levels and shadows, but as I get a little deeper into this, I will study up.
And the histogram is Greek to me, I need to work on that quite a bit as well.
But your help with the lights, and helping me with the RGB numbers, etc has been invaluable. I am a lot deeper into this project than I ever believed I would be.
The only thing I did to the color was to grab the blue in a couple of places and pull it up a tad. I did not touch the red or green.
I was indeed a bit overenthusiastic with the contrast, and the exposure is easily twiddled with. I was at -.7 on the EV. And turned up my exposure compensation post processing.
You can see I turned down the saturation, as per your suggestion, this moved it toward a "silvery" appearance.
I shot this at two in the AM last night and was indeed starting to get a bit heavy handed with it. I will try to be a bit more subtle next time. 
I can't say it looks exactly like the coin in hand, but it is way closer than when I started. I will continue to tinker with the plethora of buttons and sliders and histograms, move the lights subtly, and maybe come a little closer yet.
But I feel that you have pulled me up out of the muck and have enlightened me about things that I didn't even know were things at all!
Next time I approach this I will be a bit more subtle and see if it gets a little better yet.
I am not happy with the blue on the back. In hand it is quite nice, on the shot it shows a bit, and toward the right it starts looking actually brown. Would you suggest a way to bring that blue out a bit more? If there is a slider or button that might help?
Thank you so much, I have learned so much. One thing I learned is that I have learned is that I have so much more TO learn!
I will shoot a few more when it is not 2AM and see how those turn out. 
JK |
| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/18/2020 02:31 am
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I am finding a few more buttons in my camera.
Poking around in the white balance on my camera, I found a "Custom White Balance" button. I open it and there is a slider that sets the white balance at a Kelvin number.
I can look at the lights and wrote right on them there is a spec of 5700K. The adjustment in the camera is too coarse, I can have either 5600 or 5800. I choose 5800.
Presto, the white balance is a close as I have yet had it.
So I shot a couple of images. See below.
I tuned it a bit in post processing, the changes are in the image below.
What you can't see is I shot it at -.7 EV and brought it up +10 with exposure compensation in my post processing.
Thoughts?
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/16/2020 1:40 pm
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rmpsrpms was kind enough to edit one of the shots. I sent him a shot that was -.6 EV. or -2/3 of one step. 66% of one step.
My setup shows it as -.6
I have posted below, the edited shot, and a screenshot of the histogram, the RGB. Also some tuning to the WB.
The program is Olympus Workspace.
Thank you rmpsrpms!
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/15/2020 1:28 pm
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"Why is the reverse always bigger than the obverse?"
If you are asking about mp, when I run it through the CC "Image Optimizer" to resize below 300mp, I have trouble controlling what it "thinks". It changes it differently despite my best efforts to control it.
I am using the Olympus proprietary editing program called "Olympus Workspace". It seems (to me) to be quite sophisticared. I would think they would be similar, but I have not seen the DPP, so if I have to go to school, so be it.
The DPP is the Canon program, I have no understanding of it, would need to start from scratch. Even if I can get it. If so, so be it.
You have been so helpful. I am so invested in this now that figuring out a new editing program seems trivial. |
| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/15/2020 12:49 pm
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Here they are with the latest, greatest WB.
EV on "0"
Cropped only.
They have a golden cast to them that is not right, and the reverse is losing some of its color.
Plus, they are much darker than in hand.
In the next post, I am going to click down on the EV two steps, but they will be very dark indeed.
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/15/2020 12:21 pm
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I took a different approach to the WB. As the "One Touch" seemed to be leading me astray.
Looking at the Tao lights, I see that they are 5700K. Looking at the presets that are in my menu, I find that one of them is 5500K. So I went for it.
Below is the results. Seems that I am still headed in the right direction . . . .
I will post the latest coin shots a bit later.
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/15/2020 02:58 am
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Well . . . . I couldnt sleep worried about it.
And might have blindly blundered into something.
I took the extraordinary step of shooting an image of the white card to see how the white balance looked. It was that magenta color that has been haunting me. Well, I have no idea why it would think magenta . . . .
So I flipped the card over to the 18% grey side and attempted to white balance on the grey side, but the camera didn't like it. It told me to try again. That is what it has always done, so I never pursued it.
So I thought maybe there isn't enough light . . . I tweaked the EV to brighten it up a bit and sure enough, it worked as it should. I took a photo of the grey card. It looked grey.
Then I flipped over to the white side and BANG! it is the whitest white that I have seen on any of this stuff!
Ha! Maybe I have a usable white balance!!
I have posted below, the two shots. The grey card and the white card. I think we might be on to something.
A bit later I will shoot the coin, crop it, and post it.
This is the grey card below.
This is the white card.
Still not perfect, there is indeed still a sort of light pink.
But it is not #@&*% MAGENTA!
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/15/2020 12:58 am
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Crop, no problem.
Yes, I use a white card for white balance. I have no clue why it is so bad in the latest shots. I will do another white balance.
Then I should take a photo of it . . . . huh, I never considered that. 
Okie doke, all will be done as prescribled! |
| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/15/2020 12:14 am
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Hmmmmm
The same lights, in the same place.
I see the glare on the slab and maybe I knocked one of the lights, or now that you mention it, I do believe I had my desk lamp on.
Dang!
I will double check the lighting. Easy enough.
White balance is the same. I didn't touch anything.
In my previous shots, post editing, I did pull out a little bit of red, and that whitened the field pretty well. Maybe I breathed on the contrast, but very lightly.
If you have the patience, I will do a do-over. And be a bit more meticulous. It will need to be tomorrow, I have run out of gas tonight.
Thank you! |
| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/14/2020 11:46 pm
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Okie doke, I have googled EV enough so that I believe I understand what you are asking.
These are straight from the camera, not touched. Minus 2/3 EV. My camera reads it as -.7
PPP3 or 4, I am not familiar with. Can I get the download, as I am using Olympus? I can shoot in RAW, but that seemed a bit daunting, as I really know very little about it, I do believe I understand the concept.
Please let me know if I have misunderstood what you are saying above.
Thank you, I need to wash your car . . . .
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/14/2020 6:53 pm
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OK, here goes.
First, let's get this out of the way. Yes, I am personally responsible for the toilet paper shortage!!
Backed the lights up just like you suggested, and masked about 2/3 of them.
I got the background looking more white with a fresh white balance and just a tiny bit of post tweaking in PhotoShop.
Indeed looks better! Still, I can't quite get the luster that is present in hand, but not too far off.
And the reverse looks much better. This is much closer to the look of the original. The blue toning is creeping in from the left. It is a bit "bluer" in hand. In hand, the colors are quite nice.
I did lose the diffusion. Once I pushed the lights back and masked them, I lost a lot of light. Pulling the diffusers off brightened them up quite a bit.
Any further thoughts? I feel I have a way to go yet.
And again, thank you for your "above and beyond" help.
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/14/2020 2:56 pm
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Oh, and of course you ar correct on that reverse, that surround of the coin should be bright white.
I didn't change the RGB enough to turn it that magenta color. Or maybe I did, but I just brought down the red a tiny tad when I was mousing over that same white. If I recall properly. I have zero idea as to how that happened.
So . . . . . Duh
And of course, once pointed out, it just screams!
Why I didn't see it before is disturbing to me. I suppose I had some sort of tunnel vision, but that is an oversight that I would probably fire someone for!
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/14/2020 11:36 am
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Thank you so much Ray, for your tips. You have brought me a long way.
Automatic white balance, sorta. I do the "one touch" white balance. I get the lights just where I want them and "one touch" the white balance. I use white paper. The gray card gets me off in wierd directions.
Obverse and Reverse are set exactly the same. I didn't even breath on it, just flipped the coin. I tuned the focus and shot. Post editing the same, a tiny bit of exposure compensation and contrast.
The surrounding of the coin in nice white, I will mouse over that white and move the RGB just a bit to get them in the same ballpark.
Maybe I could (and was hoping to) help the magenta a bit, but if I went anywhere with anything it looked worse. So I didn't go more than a couple numbers with any of the RGB.
Again though, exactly the same setup, very minor (very!) post editing.
I suppose I could set it to "tungsten" or such. And there are a plethora of more white balance buttons . . . . .
The reverse does (really) have blue toning creeping in from the left. But not the magenta so much. But indeed there is a touch of that magenta. It is actually quite attractive.
By setting tbe lights more to 12, I would push them back a bit?
And how do you mean masking the diffusers? In what way or direction?
I am befuddled a bit. And sorry for the additional questions.
Thank you again! |
| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 05/14/2020 12:15 am
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Well, I crawled out from under my rock and tried a few more things. This time with a more attractive subject.
About the only thing that I did different was to lose the Jansjo (I was using is to try to get a luster band) and raised the Tao lights quite a bit higher.
I had them level with the camera so I could see the dang screen.
Oh, and I found a way to diffuse the light on those Taos. See photo below. Easy to make and easy to remove. A 2.5" cylinder of Opalux. All of my efforts with diffusion up to this point had been a disaster. I tried ping-pong balls, Opalux Cones, Opalux Smile Directors (to the best of my understanding) and all just washed the details right out of the coin. Not these, indeed, I feel that this diffuse light and maybe lighting them higher (also seen in the photo) has gotten me closer.
Still, I can't capture the "aura" that this coin exhibits in hand. It is spectacular. Trying to capture both the color and the luster is slippery. I feel I am closer than I have ever been.
Oh, and I am starting to understand a tiny bit about post editing and color balancing (the RGB stuff) the Ray was speaking of.
So, my last two shots below. The diffusers below that. Any suggestions?
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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| Please Critique My Setup.
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Jon K
Pillar of the Community
United States
723 Posts |
Posted 04/18/2020 10:18 pm
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First, I have not thanked CoinPhotoFan for those most excellent shots and the explanations behind them. Indeed, I used a Jansjo along with the Taotronics as you described. Funny, the results were not quite the same.
In my feeble defense (other than being an idiot) my poor old Washington is not exactly a stunning coin.
Ray, I found one of my old Jansjos that was nice and white. I feel it matches pretty well.
The Taos were overwhelming the Jansjo, so I turned them down to the lowest intensity. Better.
I pulled a little red out of it, hit the contrast a few clicks and called it.
Please, you sages, can you see what I might do differently?
Edit. There is sort of a grainy texture that is not at all present in hand. Indeed, this piece is quite bright, it has good surfaces. Any thoughts on the aspect?
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| | Forum: Coin Photography, Image Editing, and Related Software |
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