I like your light tent. I have two tents (one from each of my sons), but have never liked the results. Every now and then I get it out and try again.
I found that everything I did resulted in poor shots (and a lot of constructive critique from the CT gang!) My wife let me "borrow" the photo booth from her. It seemed to soften up my shots, and I can see them much more clearly. However, I am deviating from the photo-shop black background, and decided the purple velvet to keep it dark, but a bit of texture, and an uniqueness as a background to my coins...kinda trademark approach to my collection... I am still trying to find how you are getting dramatic results, and the clarity of detail and contrast... still learning...
For the longest time I used a mid-blue background as kind of a signature. But I like the contrast black gives especially to silver. It's alll in your personal preference I suppose. There is one seller on Ebay that uses a bright purple background. When I see it I feel like grinding my teeth.
I am still debating with myself...LOL, at this point, I am feeling better that I am finally getting better photos that you can actually see the detail in my coins.
I experimented with several different colors as backgrounds and finally settled on black, simply because black sucks up the surrounding colors on a screen and gives a truer representation of the coins' colors. Anything else seems to create optical illusions, at least to my eyes.
Thank you. Also, I saw that Doug actually used a black background (rolled felt?) vs. photo-shop. My wife does not like using photo-shopped backgrounds. Thoughts, guys?
I use an old black telephone gel case as my background. However, as I've said, there are times when specks of dust or even reflections show in the image so I use an editor to remove the unwanted intruders. Here is my latest shot. I did have to clean up the background a little, but, other than that, I did nothing to edit the color of the coin. OLD NEW
Another slow night in the neighborhood. Hey, I know. Why don't I show you my latest re-shoot? I suspect the angle of the shot was intended to hide some of the imperfections. OLD NEW CLAUDIUS II (GOTHICUS) Antoninianus OBVERSE: DIVO CLAVDIO, radiate head right REVERSE: CONSECRATIO, eagle standing facing with head right or left. Struck at Rome, 270 AD 3.4g, 22mm RIC 266
Here is one I haven't looked at in a long while: OLD NEW VICTORINUS Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG, radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right REVERSE: SALV-S AVG, Salus standing right, holding snake she feeds out of patera in her right hand Struck at Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), 269/270 AD 3.2g, 20mm RIC 67
Not much change here: OLD NEW TETRICUS I Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP C TETRICVS P F AVG, radiate draped bust right REVERSE: SPES PVBLICA, Spes advancing left holding flower and raising hem of skirt Struck at Treveri, 272-274 AD 3.9g, 19.1mm RIC 136
Another I haven't looked at in a while: OLD NEW AURELIAN Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right REVERSE: ORIENS AVG, Sol standing left with hand raised, foot on one of two bound captives, XXIP in ex. Struck at Serdica, 274 AD 3.4g, 23mm RIC 63f, Venera 1008, C 145
Someone mentioned that Ghoul Lighting is not favored. Shah Khusro I Aryan Mint Struck AD 552 I reshot this coin in the spirit of Bing's thread...thanks Bing! OLD New
I think there's a little too much light on Aurelian's face in that shot. My experience is that light coming directly at a face tends to wash out the features. Coming from 10 or 11 o'clock (from the back of the head) actually makes the facial features more distinct, as long as it's angled correctly.
Agreed if the light came from the crown of the head or behind the ear it might show more facial details.