How Do You Stack Up Against The Pros? Numismatic Photography

Lets see some examples of your pictures compared to that of PCGS Trueviews!

This could be quite interesting
The Indian and Buffalo were taken prior to having my Macro lens.

I sold this raw and the new buyer sent it to PCGS, where it had trueviews taken and it became the new Plate Coin for the grade.

I remember the face being that dull purple color, so I'm not sure where the orange glow came from.




This was a NGC coin when I photographed it, now in PCGS plastic, same grade.


Nice older Indian with some color!



Lets see your examples!

 

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No I need to, or should I expect to?

 

Here is the only one I have stumbled across on PCGS CoinFacts. It's of a 1956-D Roosevelt that I sold raw on eBay. I photographed this back in 2015, not long after I started to learn how to photograph coins.

 

I usually like my pictures better, but that bias is because I take the picture I like the best. I'll give TV the advantage when color needs to be seen outside the holder, and this is especially the case with toned, brown copper proofs, but sometimes they squander that advantage and produce something a bit over-the-top like this:



when the coin looks more like this:

 

When did you start working for PCGS?!

 

HaHa!

 

I like his better than PCGS's. His show the luster better in most of them.

 

Indeed, and through the plastic too. Exceptional work.

 

He's better at this than Phil; @robec can faithfully portray the coin when inside the slab. PCGS gets to shoot them raw.

As far as I'm concerned, Bob is the best among us.

 

Wow!! Thanks you for the nice comments. There are several CT members in this thread that are second to none.

 

Bob, I - and many others here - can duplicate your technical prowess. We can achieve sharply-focused images, we can keep highlights from being blown out, shadows from obscuring detail, color as it is in the real world, contrast appropriate for the surfaces. What few can do is a more subtle thing, a talent which - unlike the skills I described above - cannot be taught.

It's a difficult feature to describe, but you know it when you see it. It's the difference between, "Gee, this is a beautiful coin, portrayed at its' best" and, "Gee, this is what the coin is." It goes beyond capturing the "in-hand look" and captures the coin's essence.

Rereading that, I smell a distinctive tone of psychobabble, but all the same it's there and palpable to me. I can achieve it, not always, but I know when I did. You, on the other hand, don't ever seem to fail to capture it. Coin after coin, whatever grade, whatever metal, regardless of luster, everything you post is the unadorned truth. There are others we see this from - Todd Pollock comes to mind - but it speaks to something which cannot be taught. I suspect Phil has the same touch, but he is in great part limited by the requirements of his employer's needs and the volume of his workload.

You can teach the skill to get there, but only a talent knows when they're there and can duplicate it at will.

You know.

Every set of images you posted above is measurably better than the equivalent TrueView. It does the onlooker good to study them carefully and try to note the differences which make that a reality, because it's the difference between "really, really good" and "not improvable."

 

You hit the nail squarely on the head. When I started getting back into collecting coins, I came across @robec's images on a regular basis. Each and every time I saw his images, I thought to myself "I want to be able to do that someday". I'm still working at it and every once in a while, I get an image that I am thrilled about. You have been my measuring stick for this side of the hobby. Thank you so much.

 

I agree with Dave and Justin regarding Bob's abilities in capturing the soul of a coin. The amazing thing to me (already stated by Dave) is that he is able to do this through the plastic, and his shots are actually sharper than the TV's to compare to. This is quite an accomplishment!

 

I am humbled and left speechless by the responses posted in this thread. I always hope any photos I post will receive a positive reaction, but I never expected anything close to the remarks left here.


In fairness to Phil, while he does have the advantage of photographing the coins outside of the slabs, he also has the disadvantage of having only a few minutes to work with each coin. If I had to photograph up to 300 coins per day, 5 days a week, my head would explode


I apologize BigTee44. I feel like I have hijacked your thread. It certainly wasn’t my intention to do so.

 

^^^ Class act.

 

There's only one guy who does a better job than Bob. I think he's known for his famous rainbow toners and an eBay store called "edynamicsomething"

Excellent pictures, gentlemen. You're all talented (...or you have a professional camera and expensive equipment ;-)

 

I actually only have one coin for which posting here is possible, the PCGS' images of it are from CoinFacts rather than TrueView (although Phil probably shot them both). My own are still not up to par although I'm closing in on it. The slab just robs me of contrast.

 

That blasted plastic can make imaging some coins very difficult. Phil has it easy compared to some of us. Although, I think Bob has a magic machine that alters the laws of physics to allow him to photograph those coins.

 

Idle question, @robec: what is your lens of choice, or do you vary focal length by subject? Just because I admit you're better at this than me right now doesn't mean I don't think I can get there.

That's the beauty of a photographer-rich environment such as we have here - resources to facilitate improvement for shooters of any skill level.