OK, let me lead off by saying my photos are horrible. Now, I ordered a coin on e-bay that had really nice looking surfaces (I thought): When I got the coin, I found a lot of the surface was covered in something that looks a lot like rust...granular and somewhat rough: Is this photoshopped or what? I do have return privileges.
I don't think it's photo shopped as you say, but it is a deceptive image. When light is bounced from differing directions, you can get the image to look better than it actually is in hand. I have no idea what you paid, but, if it were me, I would send it back and suck up the shipping charges. Just MHO.
Yeah, not expensive, $8 with $3 shipping, but I just don't like the way the coin looks. BTW, in-hand it doesn't look like my images either. Certain areas are kind of mossy.
With $11 into the coin, I probably wouldn't bother with a return, but I also wouldn't bother leaving feedback.
Your images aren't in focus and the lighting is odd. Were you shooting on a white background? If so, white balancing or a neutral light is needed. I can't say whether the seller's images are deceptive until I see better images from you, but as things stand I don't find the seller's images deceptive. Other than being desaturated, which is rather the opposite of "juicing", I don't see anything amiss with seller's images. It looks like the seller was just trying to provide images of the coin which provided the clearest view of the devices and legends (in this case oblique lighting), and he/she succeeded in that. I have many coins which look like dogs in one light and beauty pageant winners in other lighting conditions. Sometimes I have to take dozens of pictures of each side of a coin before I'm satisfied (the goal being to have pleasing images). "Accurate" images-- all of them are accurate for what the coin looked like in those conditions with those camera settings, and all of those coins look great in-hand. I consider an image deceptive only if it has had improvements such as digital removal of defects.
TIF is right. Deceptive was much too stong of a word, and, if I were to be selling a coin, I would show the best image possible. The price you paid is good, and is probably not worth sending it back. Keep it.
I don't think the seller's photo is deceptive at all. When I click on it to zoom in, I can see all the areas of roughness and flatness that your photo exhibits. If you don't like it, certainly return it, but this is basically what any $11 ant of Probus will look like.
Are we getting to the point that any seller using black and white images can be accused of being deceptive? The coin is better served when you eliminate the color. Some big dealers still use black and white but most of our eyes are now trained to expect color. In any event, I see this as an $11 coin and you should not expect the seller to refund you postage in this case so you can lose about $5 and have nothing or lose $11 and have the coin (and a lesson in selecting coins).
wait, the first picture is the sellers pic? if so, yeah, totally legit. if the second pic is the sellers pic, then it is a bit out of focus so it could be...or more likely that the seller isn't a fantastic photographer. if the second pic is yours, no offense ...i'm not a fantastic photographer either. coin collecting is one of my hobbies, coin photography really isn't. pics like that on ebay are kind of a gamble, sometimes you can pretty much tell there is a sweet coin in that slightly blurry pic, and sometimes you get burned a bit. for 11 bucks, i'd be pretty happy if that showed up in the mail.
I appreciate everyone's contribution, but especially for @Bing, I am reminded of the line from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy where we are reminded that if you go to the elves seeking advice, you will be told yes and no. The first thing I said was that my pictures were awful. I then attempted to explain my objections to the coin saying that a lot of the surface was covered in what had an appearance of rust or moss. That's the closest I can come to describing it. The first photo that was in the e-bay listing, I can now see, was in black and white and appeared to me (not being an expert) to be massaged in a photo program to smooth out the roughness. My photos were not REALLY in focus (you should see the ones I didn't use!!!) but I was just attempting to show the roughness. $11 is not a great sum, but I am just not happy with the coin. Now for a final question...let's say I want to sell this coin, if I used the original e-bay photos, would that be a legitimate way to sell it?
Some coins are difficult to photograph accurately - bronze coins with dark patinas or dark silvering especially. Often the coins in the photo are shinier and brighter than what I receive. What looks like a nice silvery coin in the photo, turns out to be darkly toned when I receive it. And sometimes the coin is better in the hand than in the photo. I think we can give coin dealers some latitude here - I often ask dealers whether their coin is lighter/darker/the same colour in the hand, as in the photo.
I made the tiny photo here for my first photo page back when many people had dial-up modems and appreciated small images. It shows the same coin lit by the same light propped on the same stand but one was wiggled just a bit differently than the other so the glares from the silver moved to different places. Which image looks more like the coin? They both look like the coin when it was wiggled that way. Most of us hold a coin in hand and see both of these images just because we fidget a bit. A more accurate coin photo might be a moving picture or, at least an animate GIF. IMHO everyone who collects coins needs to learn coin photography NOT because the want the photos but because the skills of reading photos will arm them to participate well in the game of online/catalog buying. When we go to a show or show and actually see/handle a coin we can 'read' detail and surfaces with some accuracy but reading photos is a different skill. I still maintain that dealers are better off selling from photos that make the coins just a bit less attractive than most people will see the coin to be 'in hand'. That way they have fewer people unhappy with what they receive and be more likely buy more coins.
