Printing Steem coins and playing around with product photography

Creating a physical steem coin

So as some of you may know, i am currently working on 3d printing some steemit coins. The idea is that i want to make a physical representation of steemit that i can give away to friends and strangers alike, in order to spread awareness of the platform. For now, i have printed the coin using an SLA printer (a printer using stereolithography ), which allows for a highly detailed object to be made. This is quite an essential difference from the more commonly used FFF printers (Fused Filament Fabrication, which prints using a melting string of plastic), which tends to print objects of a somewhat lower quality. I might do a post on the main methods of 3D printing in the future, in order to explain this in more detail. For now, this is what i have come up with.

While both methods are useful for different use cases, I chose to make use of an SLA printer, as i wish to cast the final coin in some type of resin. As you can see, the printed coin has some very fine lines. These are the layers the object is printed in. The smaller these are, the less work i have to do sanding them down before i make a mold of the object. These would be much more obvious had i used a FFF printer.

Product photography

Anyway, the post was not meant to be about 3D printing. What it is meant to be about is product photography. I realized that when i am finally done with the coins, i would like to do some nice shots of them in order to show them off. In general, i would like to get better at both photography/ and videography in order to make greater content for Steemit, so i am willing to grab any opportunity to learn.

Therefore i chose to start experimenting with product photography. There is a ton to learn, but we all have to start somewhere. For now, i am using a Canon 60D, with the standard kit lens. I do hope to buy a better lens soon, but for now, i am more than happy with simply playing around with photography.

I also found this really cool “Ikea Hack”, for making a tiny setting for product photography, and decided to check it out myself. For now, this is what i ended up with.

By no means is it perfect, but i do see potential, and i definitely found the process both fun and rewarding. As i see it as a fun and useful hobby, i will definitely continue to improve myself. I am looking forward to geek out over new lenses and better gear, but that is all a bit longer down the line. For now, i will just enjoy playing around with the hobby.

If anyone has any tips or tricks about lenses, photography, tools or gear, it would be greatly appreciated. I have already gotten a ton of info from @rubencress, who you should definitely check out.

That is all for now, have a great day people!
Cheers!

Ikea hack: https://petapixel.com/2016/08/09/turn-8-ikea-table-product-photography-booth/