Yup, it's another rephotographed coins thread. I've actually been wanting to re-shoot the first group of coins I ever bought for some time now and finally got around to doing so last week. Some of them I had never taken pictures of before, and for others these are the first 'good' pictures I've taken of them. Frankly, I suspect I haven't done them any favours by photographing them accurately, LOL. I use a 2008 model 12-megapixel Fujifilm point-and-click, shooting my coins by the window in natural daylight (preferably in non-direct sunlight or with some cloud cover). I have no tripod or stand for the camera, but really do think I should get one. With an old photo editing program (circa 2004 copy of Paintshop Pro), I then crop and fill a uniform background and sometimes do very small changes to brightness or saturation to achieve as close an in-hand look as I can. I'm not terribly fussy and am usually satisfied with the results, though rough surfaces turning out even rougher than they appear in hand is a constant struggle. I'm not sure what the fix is for that. Oh, actually, I do know the fix - don't buy coins with awful surfaces. Now, if only I'll listen to myself ...
I got a small copy stand like this one, I wish I had found it about 3 years ago! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Small-CS-...631?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27f8d1cd0f
Thanks for the tip, Pish. That looks like what I need and I really stop procrastinating over getting one.
i use an old 12 megapix point and shoot as well. i try to take pics of my coins now in multiple lighting conditions, shots inside with flash, outside in full daylight. i'll take 7-8 pics of each side and then edit in gimp to get it looking as best as i can. it seems like i can predict which lighting will look best, sometimes natural light looks better, sometimes it doesn't. here's a free online photo-editor that TIF directed me toward, i use it when i'm away from home. you can do most of you basic stuff on here... http://apps.pixlr.com/editor/
