Why is it? I take a good pic of a coin. looks good on the device I used. Send it to my computer to post. It looks like any other coin coming from my pocket. No tone really blah!
This has a bright almost gold tone with a dark red finger smudge in front of Abes nose. It looks like that (close but definitive) in the pic I took but, it won't transfer.
You lost me. Does the coin in the above picture look like that when it's in your hand? What does "close but definitive" mean? How are you sending it to your computer? Unless it's slabbed or mint or proof sets, try taking pictures of coins outside any 2x2 flip or plastic holders (if you can). Also, take the pictures of the coins on a black cloth or something that will not reflect the light.
The cent pictured above dosnt look like the pic I took of it. The bright yellow/gold tone is hardly there. it is much darker also, not as focused. THe picture I took is a lot closer to the in hand look. This transferred photo isn't even close
It sounds like the problem lies in the screen on which you're looking at the image, not the image itself. The image hasn't changed in the meantime. To expand on TJ1952's words: Light is being reflected from the container back into the lens. It's hurting contrast and taking away from image quality. That's why you shoot the coin outside any container when you can. It also makes autofocusing far easier, if you're autofocusing. It also looks like white balance is off a bit. What kind of camera are you shooting with? I can offer more specific advice if I know.
The coin is in an airtite holder- in a type set I made. It is removable. At this point I am using an 8 mp cell phone camera, When work picks back up i will invest some money into a camera, stand, lense etc. Are you saying that this pic could look different on two diff computer screens? or did I miss something.
It seems that when I am able to send the pic straight from my cell phone to CT the pic is a lot better. Can data get lossed or anything weird like that, when it is compressed and transfered, from devices?
I'm thinking your phone's screen isn't giving you an accurate idea of what the camera is actually doing with the image. When you *don't* send straight from phone to CT, what's happening in the middle? Every additional postprocessing step that involves downsizing and/or compression is capable of altering the final look of the image somewhat, although the downsizing process is usually good for ultimate sharpness depending on how the software is actually doing it. Your best bet, when shooting from a phone camera, is to keep the phone's software involvement to an absolute minimum. Disable as much in-phone processing as possible - no HDR, no sizing/cropping, anything you can do far better on your computer which is a much stronger computing platform than any phone. The idea is to get the biggest, most neutral-possible picture from the camera, and do everything you do to it on the computer. Basic rules when shooting from a phone: Phone on a flat, stable surface, pointing straight down at the coin. Remotely activate the shutter, either with a timer or voice command (if available) so you don't introduce vibrations by triggering with a touch. With only 8MP at hand, you'll have to find and stay near the camera's minimum focusing distance to get an image large enough for posting. This will make lighting a bit difficult, and you'll have to do a bit of experimentation to get the interrelationships between camera capability and lighting figured out. Regarding the image posted: It shows a lot of sharpening/compression artifacts which take away from the final image quality. With the coin still in a holder, I don't really want to comment on sharpness or white balance because the container can have an effect on all that, especially if the phone is choosing that stuff automatically. If you want to experiment and play around a bit in this thread - I'll be happy to help - use a more circulated Lincoln or something larger like a Nickel or Quarter. Coins with major luster introduce problems all their own, and I'd rather work with an "easier" subject to shoot while we're figuring out camera and process. Then we take the step into coins that don't like to be imaged well.
Cool. I actually have a weekend as my "weekend" this time, and will be on CT for too long than is good for me over the next 48 hours.
This is from strictly my cell phone cropped etc. I did build a stand. Used speech to capture the pic.
You've got the technique down. I'm seeing noise and artifacting in the images, and don't know if the camera is processing them into that state, or if more light - allowing a faster exposure - will help things. Digital photography, especially using phones with tiny sensors, require lots of light. My current execrable Internet connection prevents me from downloading the phone's manual (it was identified in your images' EXIF data, although no exposure information was included) so I can't offer camera-specific settings.
I appreciate the help. I am going to move to some better lighting. Which pic is better the dropped on phone or dropped on computer. I thought the one from phone was a little bit clearer.
