Photographing Chips - Straight-on Test (5 Viewers)

[Gus]

I've been assembling chips from as many manufacturers as I can in order to do photography of chips. These might end up on a website some day soon if I get my act together, the goal being to find the basic background for each mold, its manufacturer, etc. In the meantime I had some fun shooting this morning in the basement.

These are all shot with a single flashlight, and sometimes a piece of white foam to shine the light through or to bounce off of. The camera and chip stay exactly the same, so it's just the light that changes each shot.

The basic question is - what's the best single photo to show a given chip? Perhaps not answerable! Lots of variables to work with, aesthetic considerations, etc.

The "best" possible image probably requires multiple lights, or through the magic of photoshop you can combine multiple images, selecting the "halo" backlighting from one shot and adding it to a different image. Texture can be emphasized or nearly erased. Lots of tricks of the trade (I used to shoot professionally, and thus have some very overpowered gear for the task at hand).

The below images are all just food for thought, fun to see the differences in how a chip feels based on how it is lit.

Below the groupings are detail shots, crops from what these images look at when zoomed in on. These could comfortably print 3-feet across if anyone wants cool wall art eventually of their favorite chip.

Also this was a very casual test. "Real" serious shots would require even the most basic cleaning of dust off the chips, more precise focus checks, shooting with color reference cards for proper white balancing, getting the dust off my lens, etc.

Open to any ideas around shooting chips for people in the future, no agenda or expectations from putting this out there but one of you might have an idea!

Flamingo House Mold from the PCF Classifieds via @Stackme I think

H-Molds from the PCF Classifieds via @cm1204 I think

TINA Web Molds from @justincarothers

Nevada Jacks Ceramics from @BR Pro Poker

Majestic China Clays from @Apache

River Rocks from @ChipRocker PCF Classifieds (more available here https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/river-rock-casino-white-1s-1-rack.127383/ )

Amazon's finest crinkle

Behind-the-scenes setup in the basement - these results could easily be achieved with a smartphone but hey, I've got the tools!

Detail on the Flamingo House Mold:

Detail on the H-Mold

Detail on the Jacks

 

[Cratty]

I prefer top left in all cases!

Looks great though, definitely would love to get some photos done down the road of favorite chips. Very cool.

 

[Gus]

I prefer top left in all cases!

Looks great though, definitely would love to get some photos done down the road of favorite chips. Very cool.

I put my favorite top left for each, good to know someone else agrees!

I’ll have to do an example of a composited image soon to show how much better it can get

 

[allforcharity]

There are some professional and semi-professional photographers here (not me). Some prefer setting up their chips in a little photo box with white on all sides to minimize shadows.

 

[LeGold]

Minimizing shadows is ok to a certain extent. If too much, the photo will look too flat (at least if you want to catch the mold as well).

 

[Okku]

I've had great success with taking some nice pictures of my chips on the desk at my parents house. Natural light coming from the window hitting my desk just right.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/media/users/okku.8142/

Then, I do most if not all the photography for products here at work and I use a lightbox which has lights in all four corners pretty much. Lay the chip flat and take the picture from the top. I've never had any issues doing it that way and they always turn out great.

https://spinettisgaming.com/collections/las-vegas-chips?sort_by=price-descending&page=2

 

[Colquhoun]

Bah, go 40x or go home.

 

[Gus]

I'm gonna get an electron microscope and show these FIBERS on a JUMBOTRON to end this debate once and for all!

 

[Gus]

I've had great success with taking some nice pictures of my chips on the desk at my parents house. Natural light coming from the window hitting my desk just right.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/media/users/okku.8142/

View attachment 1449737View attachment 1449738View attachment 1449739View attachment 1449740

Then, I do most if not all the photography for products here at work and I use a lightbox which has lights in all four corners pretty much. Lay the chip flat and take the picture from the top. I've never had any issues doing it that way and they always turn out great.

https://spinettisgaming.com/collections/las-vegas-chips?sort_by=price-descending&page=2

View attachment 1449732View attachment 1449733View attachment 1449734View attachment 1449735

I love the top ones with the big natural light. Sharp shadows in the molds, a non-homogenous background meaning all the colors can be seen against light and dark, a bit of reflection too!

The bottom row with the light box is perfectly safe and won't mislead. Good for archival or other neutral purposes to be sure. But I don't get that extra tactile sense that I could pick them up and turn them over in my hand like I do with the top ones where they really pop, wear & tear and all.

 

[zeta3ce]

Top left look great. Nice lighting test to see all the variations. Like the way chips looked stacked the best. Would be good to beagle to see photos of a barrel of stacked chips next to the face. Just a suggestion. But the project is very thorough. I really enjoy macro photography

 

[softchewy]

Bah, go 40x or go home.

View attachment 1449747

all those nooks and crannies really help the hooker juice stay put

 

[Gus]

Top left look great. Nice lighting test to see all the variations. Like the way chips looked stacked the best. Would be good to beagle to see photos of a barrel of stacked chips next to the face. Just a suggestion. But the project is very thorough. I really enjoy macro photography

Lots more ways to shoot and show off chips, and I completely agree that a chip next to a barrel is probably the best. Shows not only the spots but also how they look stacked up, and then you get to show table felt or whatever surface they're on.

Many more ways to be creative with that setup. I thought I'd start simple! But I've been paying attention to the best shots on PCF and taking notes for what works. My favorite is chips in use, held between fingers of a player sitting at a table with stacks of other denominations from the same set.

Don't get me started on what's possible with video... I'm planning to figure out how to record ASMR-style audio with chip closeups so you'll be able to not only see but hear these things. Video's about 10x as much work IMO than photos though. In the meantime I'm watching punchy fast-moving cooking videos with vivid sound, trying to figure out how people shoot it all.

 

[Taghkanic]

Back when I was offloading a lot of Starburst solids, I used to include (in addition to more usual rack and barrel and overhead shots) some pics like these:

 

[joeyshin]

I think straight shot with barrel behind it. I’m always wondering what chips look like stacked so just straight doesn’t do it for me.

I dunno who took these but I like how these shots look

 

[zeta3ce]

Lots more ways to shoot and show off chips, and I completely agree that a chip next to a barrel is probably the best. Shows not only the spots but also how they look stacked up, and then you get to show table felt or whatever surface they're on.

Many more ways to be creative with that setup. I thought I'd start simple! But I've been paying attention to the best shots on PCF and taking notes for what works. My favorite is chips in use, held between fingers of a player sitting at a table with stacks of other denominations from the same set.

Don't get me started on what's possible with video... I'm planning to figure out how to record ASMR-style audio with chip closeups so you'll be able to not only see but hear these things. Video's about 10x as much work IMO than photos though. In the meantime I'm watching punchy fast-moving cooking videos with vivid sound, trying to figure out how people shoot it all.

Asmr chip riffle sounds would be next level. Great work. Video is so much harder. I’m a photographer. I have done video. But nothing drains me more than hours of video editing