Lighting used in photographs and it's affect on internet purchases...

I've read that different types of lighting can affect what grade a coin appears to have. I'm sure it could be used to affect eye appeal as well. That is not too cool for internet purchases...

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

 

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Not only that but with photoshop one can easily create impact and thus fool the purchaser into seeing depth which is not there.

Loved your film by the way.

 

No matter what the method of image acquisition, the technology and the user have to interpret (edit) the raw data prior to sharing it on the net. There is no way around that fact. Regardless, if you have a return privilege (something I urge all folks to require on non-bullion purchases) then you should be fine.

 

Return Policy... good and important point.

For instance. This is a completed action on Heritage but looking at the reverse I think I'm seeing WIZ marks? Anyone agree?

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...&lotNo=11841

http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?...&id=10987310

 

what is the best way one can take photos of coins so as to not misrepresent them?

 

Buy the proper equipment, take many thousands of shots and work like heck to make the images accurate.

 

No. Those are not from the coin being manipulated. The Maine commem is well known for its extensive die polishing and the reverse is especially remarkable for the amount and severity of the die polish. This is what they look like.

 

Wow- If offered unslabbed, I would pass that up thinking it was previously cleaned. Really important to research these very carefully.

 

That would be the wise decision and is also something I urge folks to do. That is, I tell folks not to buy ahead of their knowledge base.

 

Actually, with a decent camera, a copy stand and multiple types of light you can experiment with photos until you get shots that are the most representative of the coin in question. For example, when I shoot a slab I actually use a sheet of wax or parchment paper to diffuse the flash on my camera to reduce glare, while increasing lighting and the images are close to what the coins look like. For coins outside of the slab I use florescent axial lighting for toned coins and diffused axial lighting with incandescent bulbs for white coins. Backgrounds can also change the way a coin appears, silver looks best on black, gold can go on black or white, red copper can be on a multitude of colors but red seems to be the best and brown copper actually really pops on pink card stock.

 

Eye appeal sells coins. I've bought coins that were sold with very sub-par pics, photographed and edited them as well as I could without misrepresenting them, and turned a profit on every one. Good packaging is a critical part of good business.

 

+1

 

I've become better at sizing up pics since I've taken my own for the purposes of selling. A few of my buyers commented that a coin I sold them did not look like the pictures, so I learned to take shots in a few different conditions, roomlight, sunlight, etc.

I also got a complaint that a coin was too small! - which can happen with ancients. Not many people realize just how small a 10mm coin is. So I took shots of the coin in my hand, in full sunlight, and on a copy stand, with diffuse incandescent lighting. That seemed to eliminate any confusion as to the size and visual appeal of the pieces.

 

Buy yourself an SLR with macro facility and photograph the coin in natural light. I'm no coin collector, but I do have a degree in photography.