Coin Photography - Black vs. White Background

Now you are totally out of line. It's his thread that you have hijacked with your internet Karen routine; he absolutely should be telling you to step off.

 

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I think your points about background colors and gradients have been helpful. I tend to agree with you...less is more for the backgrounds. But I also now have a better understanding that there is more than just black/white that will work.

 

Fair enough Jason, but his photos look more like they are designed for magazine covers and such. I think if someone hired him and asked him for just meat & potatoes photos that would be used for grading, I'm sure he wouldn't do the fancy angles and stuff that we have seen in this thread.

 

I agree the image has an orange cast, but I don't think it's from the toning. I suspect it is the paper reflector. Look at the rims of both sets of images. The upper, black version has no color cast, while the coins below, picking up the light reflected off the paper, do.. What else changed? Did you change the color of the lights or their intensity? If so, that might account for it; lower light intensity does red shift, but I've never seen it to that extent. I have found that most often, (and it's happened to me) it's what's used to reflect light onto a subject that adds the cast. It may not be it, but its a good starting point.

 

The only thing I changed was the angle of the lights and I used a white piece of printer paper as a reflector. The same lights and intensity setting was used.

FWIW, I think the toning looks accurate in the photo. But there is an orange look to the coin itself.

 

Those backgrounds could be there to discourage poachers of photogs......unsavory scoundrels who would use such for their own gain.

 

It would be simple enough to crop out the coin though.

 

And honestly, I think that's the biggest problem I have with them. He's posting magazine covers heavily edited in a beginner thread asking about backgrounds and basic simple questions. He's showing off his advanced editing wizardry in a post where someone asked about black or white.

It just comes off as... off-putting and self-serving.

If he had just posted the couple of images where he talked about selecting the background based on the primary colors of the coins (without the logos and websites), I would have found his posts highly interesting and useful (although I personally wouldn't prefer that color style).

 

I just took it as 'show boat' flair. Heck, the guy can do up coins royally. I know this type of 'flair' annoys some, but I don't mind it. I ignore the advertising and look at the end product.........

 

I'll step off.

 

Do as you wish. Advertise all you won't. I seem to be the only one that has a problem with it.

 

I did not read more than the first few posts of this thread as it seemed to be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. But, I'm glad you found at least some use out of it all. I personally prefer black...I just like black. But, for toned coins, I have found that the colored backgrounds help to bring out specific colors in the toning and just make them jump out more. Again, that's just me...others may disagree.

For your posted coin, I prefer a background like this one (I took the liberty to simply fill the background on your original photo):



I simply eye-dropped a color that I liked in the toning and lightened it. To my eyes, this enhances the color of the toning while still allowing the eyes to see the coin without the shadows nor the brilliance overbearing the details.

 

I think the sand color background looks good with that coin...but I also think that the photo itself could have been a lot better and I have been working on my technique. I think this new photo on a black background is much better. What do you guys thing? This photo gives is a much more accurate look at the coin.

 

Sometimes you get lucky and get the shot without having to do much post processing. I love this token picture even though the top of left image has a bit too much white. The colors and textures really make this special, IMO. Sometimes just good focus and decent lighting is all you need. I think this might have even been a phone shot (in a tripod).