Hadrian denarius REST HISPANIA

[fredweb]

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/frederic.weber/Hadrien-denier-restitutori-.gif

Denarius(Ag 3,56 gr.), Rome, 136,

HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P

RESTITVTORI HISPANIAE

RIC 326, Cohen 1270 (5 Fr.), RSC 1270a, BMC 884, Hill 727, Van Meter 49/2. Rare.

ex : Triton I (Classica Numismatic Group, Freeman & Sear, Numismatica Ars Classica), 2-3 décembre 1997, New York, n°1443

Collection Frederic Weber
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/frederic.weber/index%20des%20monnaies.htm

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/frederic.weber/baniere-site-monnaie.gif (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/frederic.weber/index%20des%20monnaies.htm)

[Kim Stallings]

Fred -

What an absolutely amazing photo with near perfect lighting.

Care to share some of your photography tricks?

Kim

[fredweb]

yes !
Material is

Camera is Digital reflex : Nikon D70, 6 Mpixels
Lens is : Micro Nikkor 105mm f2.8 (special for macro, but very sweet for portraits too.)
Flash is Nikon SB 800, external, controled by the integrated flash of the D70, and placed at the same distance (then coin-camera) usually towards the eye of the emperor (at about 2-3 hours), with a diffusion filter on the flash. You can try other positions because of that's change a lot on the final result, but usually that position is the best.
Tripod Manfrotto : heavy and stable.
Pictures are taken in RAW (brut) and converted later in Jpeg with a logiciel. That can afford to do on the computer a more precise white balance and some big exposition corrections not possible with jpeg files.


Aperture used is f16. Speed is given by the camera.

[Kim Stallings]

Fred -

The D70 is a beautiful SLR digital camera, if I wasn't heavily invested in Canon EOS lens I would consider buying one. I have a 6mp Canon Digital Rebel (Canon 300D in Europe) with an eye towards the new Canon 20D when it comes down a bit in price.

The Micro Nikkor 105mm f2.8 lens is very similiar to the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro that I use. It's an amazing lens and I agree it works well for portraits too. I would rather photograph coins though than people, coins don't tell you that you made them look bad!

I am also using a Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring Light to photograph coins, an idea I got from my dentist. For certain types of coins it works great, for others, not so great. My dentist says it's wonderful for teeth... :p

The only real difference that I see is you are using a diffusion filter on your external flash, which one may I ask? And you are no doubt a more talented photographer than me!

My goal is to produce photos as good as yours one day. I will, you'll see.

Thanks for the tips and sorry to doubt you on the Constantius II coin the other day.

Merci!

Kim

[fredweb]

Dear Kim,

You have all you need : The Canon is a very good camera, and the lens, one of the bests! I thought that Macro Ring Light are the best for macrophotography, but didn't made enough shadows because of the uniform lightning, which done that's not very accurate for coins... And then I've look your pictures : shadows are here ! But I think that you can made some adjustements of the flash. The Lightning must be more direct to don't have so large shadows. As diffusion filter, I think you can use tracing paper. My diffusion filter is sold with the Nikon SB800, and is in semi transparent plastic.
You also can use integrated flash and a second classic "cobra" flash, with cable, close from the lens (5 to 10 cm), at the same distance than lens/coin, and try differents positions (without the macro ring one)... to find the best way.
A second difference is the type of file used. I had talken about RAW, because of the great possibilities of that kind of files (post treatment, exposure compensation, White balance wich is very important !)... on the computer you can see the result and try a lot of adjustements.
I also use white background, but this done usually an underexposed picture, with RAW, I correct this with the computer. Try different background... With digital you can do all you want. If you have a more large picture and other questions, you can mail me : HERE (frederic.weber@wanadoo.fr) . It would be a pleasure if I can help you.

"Merci" for your compliments.

Fred