April 15 – tax day in the US. So for today’s post, I thought I’d show a photo that’s a close up of different kinds of foreign currency.

Coin Collection

These are coins I’ve collected over the years while traveling on business. Countries represented in this set of coins include Mexico (Pesos), the United Kingdom (Pounds), the European Union (Euros), and Thailand (Baht).

To take the picture, I set the coins on a plain green poster board, randomly arranged them, and placed the camera on a tripod overlooking the coins. Since a flash would have caused a reflection off of the coins, I took this using available light (25 seconds at f/32, ISO 200). I used a true macro lens, Canon’s 60 mm macro – which provides true 1:1 reproduction.

The ‘moral’ of today’s post is that you can use just about anything for an interesting macro picture. These were just loose coins collected over years of travel, but they make an interesting story of different cultures mixing – and for me they carry memories of many overseas trips – and at least some money that won’t be going to the tax man today…