2nd attempt to photograph my Liberty Head Eagle

Still need a lot of photography practice, but I think I'm slightly heading in the right direction.

Before:



After:



Neither photo has had any filters or Photoshop applied to it. Both taken with the same cheap cell phone.

The difference, a box, white background, phone stand, coin not obstructed by plastic, and soft white light evenly distributed.

 

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Nice photos, and nice coin!

 

Thank you very much. I like it too. Bought it for my bullion stack at melt plus 2% a couple of months back.

 

Much better. The coin is more in focus. If you reduce the lighting a bit, it will look even better.

 

Thanks for the tip. I will keep it in mind in the next day or two when I try to photograph other coins, and maybe one day I'll revisit this one and do a better image.

I'm trying to improve little by little. I don't expect to ever have results in the level of what expert coin photographers achieve, but maybe if I work hard at it I can get 60% or 70% of the way there and at least have decent photos of all my coins that do them justice.

 

I was able to tone it down somewhat by messing with the basic lighting/contrast settings on my laptop. Definitely a coin I'll rephotograph in the future, but for now I think this is "acceptable".

 

First photo I prefer. Shows better natural color

 

I prefer the first picture. The second picture is very flatly lit and doesn't show luster of the coin. This is especially noticeable on the portrait and the eagle's feathers. The white balance is different between the two. I can't tell which is correct without the coin in hand, but the first picture seems to have better color.

 

I prefer the first set of photos as I think it shows the coin as it probably looks in hand, even allowing for the focus issues. The second set looks almost washed out, maybe a bit over exposed. However, taken together, both sets give me a better idea of the actual surface condition. More information is always better!

 

Like the way the first photo shows the luster.

 

They now have adjustable LED bulbs that you can dial up the lumens from 450 to 1100 and also select from temperature ranges in Kelvin.

What do most of you use...is brighter better or is dimmer when the bulb is maybe 12-36" away ?

What about temperature -- 2500 K or 6500K...is a "cool" or "warm" temperature best ?

 

Since this thread is over three years old I wonder if Sallent ever took newer pictures of his coin. I think the first set was the best. Beautiful coin.

Bruce

 

First good, second not so good, go back to first Walla. Congrats.