First set was Heritage. Second set is mine, and what the coin looks like in-hand. I've noticed a sickly, overlit + color balance error lately on many Heritage listings. I am MUCH happier with this coin than I expected, now that I've seen it in-hand!
In a way, I'm glad they photograph they way they do. I think people hold back when a photo isn't good. In my case, it wasn't as drastic as yours, but the in-hand coin is sooooo much nicer then their photos. My HA coin, their pic on left, mine on right:
So far. They don't all match perfectly, but they make me happy. Still looking for the right half dollar that isn't overpriced.
In fairness, 15 years ago, their photos were really bad. They have gotten much better over the years, but I think their stock setup for their slab shots uses extreme diffused lighting. The result is over lit surfaces that are very easy to evaluate but subdued luster across the board. The “beauty shots” for toned coins and high value items I think are contracted out. I know Todd Pollack was doing them for a while, and recently they have been using PCGS TruViews.
The overlit Heritage picture looks like one of their glam shots. I'm much more comfortable viewing their generic, assembly line slab shots, and thus find them to be much more useful.
Those are some truly ugly "Glamour" shots. They really need to let go whomever is photographing those, they aren't doing anyone a service. It looks like some Millennial with an iPhone shot them and then pumped up the contrast and pushed the midtones and highlights to an extreme.
Like messydesk said the photography is assembly line. You are taking thousands of pictures. You can't take the time to adjust the lighting, positioning, and take a dozen shots to pick the best one. You have your camera set in position, the lighting fixed in place to give you a good "average" shot. Then you start taking pictures. Obv, rev, next coin, obv, rev, next coin etc. We all know to get the best representative pictures that look the most like the coin does in hand you have to work at it changing and tweaking things. Except on very rare items Heritage doesn't have that luxury. So when you get the coin and you DO take the time to get the shot right, it is little wonder the in hand images are better than Heritage.
