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Best way to photo comics and slabbed comics?
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22 posts in this topic

Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

 

 

The problem is that a stronger light gives you a sharper color strike and better picture. It's just a matter of using the correct angle. Take some time and play with it until you find it.

 

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Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

 

Cheap used ones are usually available, if you want to go that way.

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Stick you comic into a plastic crate with the opening towards you. That usually diffuses the light enough to reduce glare. If you/re still getting a glare you may need something to cover the top and diffuse the light some more.

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Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

 

With an A4 scanner you can scan a slab in two halves and merge in photoshop to produce your image.

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Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

The problem is that a stronger light gives you a sharper color strike and better picture. It's just a matter of using the correct angle. Take some time and play with it until you find it.

This is what I do (thumbs u Play around with the angle. Once you get it right, even a flash should bounce off without glare. You can either prop up at a slight angle on a board or lay flat and photograph downwards at 45°.

 

I have a dslr with a flash I can bounce or use a diffuser on. Need to try that.

Play around with the flash gun and diffuser at different angles (thumbs u Try different rooms too. If bouncing off the ceiling, a white ceiling will give the best colour results.

 

If you have a tripod for your DSLR, I'd suggest trying that too, especially for slabbed comics. Photographing at angles is ok for most purposes, however if you want a nice square on pic of your CGC'd comic (e.g. for the registry), you'll need to avoid using the flash (even bounced). Avoid direct sunlight as this creates a reflection in the slab. Avoid room lighting as this creates an orangey colour.

 

I use a room with a small window that faces the sun but pick a time of day when the sun doesn't directly shine through. I prop the slab upright on a stand, facing the window, with the DSLR set up on the tripod about 2.5 feet away. A wide aperture and most importantly, an ISO of 800 or 1600 depending on the lighting. It took a while to find the optimum conditions but it was worth the effort.

 

Slight imperfections in the photograph, such as brightness and colouring, can be photoshopped.

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Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

The problem is that a stronger light gives you a sharper color strike and better picture. It's just a matter of using the correct angle. Take some time and play with it until you find it.

This is what I do (thumbs u Play around with the angle. Once you get it right, even a flash should bounce off without glare. You can either prop up at a slight angle on a board or lay flat and photograph downwards at 45°.

 

I have a dslr with a flash I can bounce or use a diffuser on. Need to try that.

Play around with the flash gun and diffuser at different angles (thumbs u Try different rooms too. If bouncing off the ceiling, a white ceiling will give the best colour results.

 

If you have a tripod for your DSLR, I'd suggest trying that too, especially for slabbed comics. Photographing at angles is ok for most purposes, however if you want a nice square on pic of your CGC'd comic (e.g. for the registry), you'll need to avoid using the flash (even bounced). Avoid direct sunlight as this creates a reflection in the slab. Avoid room lighting as this creates an orangey colour.

 

I use a room with a small window that faces the sun but pick a time of day when the sun doesn't directly shine through. I prop the slab upright on a stand, facing the window, with the DSLR set up on the tripod about 2.5 feet away. A wide aperture and most importantly, an ISO of 800 or 1600 depending on the lighting. It took a while to find the optimum conditions but it was worth the effort.

 

Slight imperfections in the photograph, such as brightness and colouring, can be photoshopped.

Plus its fun just to use your camera! I got a 60d recently and a new lens their 24mm pancake and its a blast

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Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

The problem is that a stronger light gives you a sharper color strike and better picture. It's just a matter of using the correct angle. Take some time and play with it until you find it.

This is what I do (thumbs u Play around with the angle. Once you get it right, even a flash should bounce off without glare. You can either prop up at a slight angle on a board or lay flat and photograph downwards at 45°.

 

I have a dslr with a flash I can bounce or use a diffuser on. Need to try that.

Play around with the flash gun and diffuser at different angles (thumbs u Try different rooms too. If bouncing off the ceiling, a white ceiling will give the best colour results.

 

If you have a tripod for your DSLR, I'd suggest trying that too, especially for slabbed comics. Photographing at angles is ok for most purposes, however if you want a nice square on pic of your CGC'd comic (e.g. for the registry), you'll need to avoid using the flash (even bounced). Avoid direct sunlight as this creates a reflection in the slab. Avoid room lighting as this creates an orangey colour.

 

I use a room with a small window that faces the sun but pick a time of day when the sun doesn't directly shine through. I prop the slab upright on a stand, facing the window, with the DSLR set up on the tripod about 2.5 feet away. A wide aperture and most importantly, an ISO of 800 or 1600 depending on the lighting. It took a while to find the optimum conditions but it was worth the effort.

 

Slight imperfections in the photograph, such as brightness and colouring, can be photoshopped.

Plus its fun just to use your camera! I got a 60d recently and a new lens their 24mm pancake and its a blast

Aye, that it is! And it sounds like you've got a nice camera there (thumbs u

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Other than a legal scanner, which I do not own. What is the best way to photo comics and slabs to avoid the glare?

 

Cheap used ones are usually available, if you want to go that way.

 

This. A legal size scanner can be bought for around $50 or so delivered.

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6 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

I use a flash.  @GACollectibles posted a real nice setup for using a camera.  

I've been meaning to do a better setup and then do a followup post but haven't yet so here is my original post-

On 8/30/2019 at 4:54 PM, GACollectibles said:

So here is my temp setup for taking cell phone pictures of slabs, I'm still fine tuning the process and will move it to more permanent location.

1) Basic setup is three pieces of black foamboard: one on surface, one as backdrop(spaced forward with a comic box) and one in front of the setup.

IMG_7893.jpg.368b1233a1934141faf48f9077dd9b49.jpg

2) Place comic/magazine against backdrop

IMG_7889.jpg.b111d70b441a2aea1dc78f1a2361e27b.jpg

3) Put camera up to hole in front foamboard.  This hole is oversized as I was experimenting, if you are using a camera you can cut the hole to the size of the lens

IMG_7890.jpg.f0308174d7534863f8b890d291256ae7.jpg

4) Take picture

IMG_7891.jpg.ab6a51167406837dea7ce8502ae694f8.jpg

5) Crop and post!

IMG_7891-2.jpg.69bd933a8a558c54588e71ee4a3cd3a7.jpg

This setup is temporary and not even level but allows me to set it up almost anywhere.  I should have the front piece higher and the hole more in the middle, I'll adjust that later when I'm not just setting it up on some boxes for a few quick pics.  It is recommended to use some light from the sides(if needed), I have some ceiling lights in that area that were good enough for what was doing.  This picture is slightly blurry as I was not stabilizing the cell phone enough.  It's a heck of a lot better than the glare I used to get taking pictures of slabs and on black covers like that ASM 28 is a superior image choice. 

I picked up some white sheets as well but haven't tried them yet.

I used it this setup to take pics of the following CGC mags:

Spoiler

 

19867.jpg.963d2045cd10a2dc2c6fc8d95c5e34ad.jpg

19868.jpg.84d477f51ba98f11ba37be1947f002b1.jpg

 You can see how the hole in the foamboard showed up as a vertical white spot  at top of mage, I nee to be careful of that next time

19874.jpg.ae4d4450d2a47bf77ac36e6944c90452.jpg19877.jpg.ff6461cc7f0f46f1545fd8a820890dbe.jpg19879.jpg.13d78eeee34e27c0af367808c79a0000.jpg19881.jpg.25ace9027eb7b278fbbe71b54ff7523d.jpg19890.jpg.a64f910406f17f3b8e3d4bc4b1e4be02.jpg19891.thumb.jpg.3a4d25c29f98db6ff6cd1ca8612bf8ad.jpg

 

 

 

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