The Toned Closet Collection New Photos (Coin Outta The Vault...Part 19, Continued)

So, what I wanted to do was take new photo's. I think I nearly mastered it this time. I can put these away only to take them back out and look at them tomorrow.

Tell me what you think of the photos, I will post seller's photos, my original tries and what it looks like this time around.

First the 1913, one of the hardest coins I've ever had to photograph, the color is hard to capture, had to take quite a few shots.

Seller's Photos:





My first few tries at photos:







My photograph of the coin now:



Second the 1915, this coin not as nearly hard to photograph, lighting was extremely difficult on the obverse, but I got it to where the beautiful toning showed very well on both sides and I'm proud of my shots!

Seller's photos:







My first few tries at photos:



My photograph of the coin now:



Third the 1919, this coin has a fantastic toning pattern, vibrant colors throughout surfaces that look relatively dark. I think I knocked the photos out of the park on this one.

Seller's photos:







My first few tries at photos:



My photograph of the coin now:



I think my photo skills have come such a long way in two years, and this last batch is a little ways away from perfection.
What do you guys think?

 

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Do you have an editor or something??? If so fiddle with the exposure. Also try to De-noise them. Sometimes its a better look sometimes its not. Also I dont know if you are doing this already but try taking a picture of the whole holder. Next crop it down a little not too much. then crop it one more time to the size of the coin. IM AM BY NO MEANS AN EXPERT But this has helped me a little.

 

Of course I have an editor, how do you think I cropped the photos circularly, put them in a black background with the label?
I messed with the photos already in Photoshop to get them to look like what I have in my camera, although it was already pretty close already.
I use three lights, two halogen and a regular bulb (will have to check wattage)
Everything you are saying to do I've already done.

Edited to add: If we are talking about neatness about the circular cropping, oh yeah I totally get ya, I just threw this together as fast as I could to get it posted there, I'll mess with it later
For the most part though it is pretty good.

 

nice pictures. what software you using?

 

For initial uploading and color correction I am using Adobe Photoshop CS5, but only a free trial version, I plan to get the full version sooner or later. My trial ends in 26 days.

Now for the circular cropping and combining of photos I use a free program Photoscape.

 

Well, it seems you are progressing right along. The software is definitely working to your advantage. Perhaps the next thing that would improve the quality of the images would be the abilities of your lens and a macro set up. That's something that may come later when you can get more specifically dedicated equipment to try out, but for now I think you are getting metering and lighting down pat. The software helps presentation. The one particular area that I think is still troubling you, and particular to slabbed coins, is not being able to completely rid your images of light reflecting off the slab. This causes that slight milky/whitish cast or contrasty look to appear. With this issue comes the problem with the camera's focus being fixed on the slab above the coin and not the surface of the coin. That can be rectified but it's still one of those hazards with imaging slabs. I find it very frustrating myself too.

Good work T$.

 

The problem of which you speak is most visible on the final photos of the coin in my 1913. I've always had somewhat of a problem with that, although I am getting better at it.
The 1915 really is good as it is, and I probably won't need to redo those pictures. I love my shots of the 1919, although as those two got better I feel the 1914 is still lacking, although the photos have come a long way since my first three tries at the photos.
Thanks Krispy, I'll be sure to try to work on that a little better, see if I can't have better pictures of the 1913 soon.
:smile

 

I cant make out what the 1915 says

 

I have to say that the legends are somewhat hard to read in your latest shots of the 1915 as Dimefreak points out. While the lighting and color seem quite good, I noticed these were hard to read earlier but didn't know what was the cause of the coin looking good but the devices being hard to read, despite knowing what they actually already say.

 

Yeah I guess you are right.
I just hate having to redo photos over and over. And a lot of it is my camera, for the life of me I still can't get my computer to get exactly what is on my camera, as the pictures are always better in the camera. I can get the color just fine by adjusting the vibrance, but a lot does lack in the sharpness of the coin.
I really think that once I get a new camera, a nicer camera, the majority of my problems will be fixed. Don't get me wrong, I can't take a perfect picture with my camera, I can get darn near close though, and compared to what my photos used to look like many months ago, there is room for improvement always, and I proved that, and there still is room for improvement, but I'm still limited from the camera.

 

Beautiful coins and very nice photographs. Thanks for taking the time to photograph. edit and post images of your coins. Most of us know how much time and effort is involved with this. It's a process that continues to evolve.

Just occurred to me to try scanning some of my slabbed coins instead of photographing them.

 

Speaking of taking the time to do that stuff for my photos I do have new photographs if anybody is interested.

It is in this thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t115299/

Thanks midas1, and scans can show some very nice details but cameras, under the right conditions will show the detail of a scanner, with color and luster being accurate as well, and they can look absolutely amazing!