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Message:: [QUOTE="oval_man, post: 1699111, member: 22602"]Someone at a recent show told me Heritage employs three full-time photographers to shoot coins. I've noticed some tweaking—sometimes lights are at 10 and 2, sometimes at 8 and 3, etc.—but I'll bet that for the most part, it's a crank-it-out, sweat-shop pace (like TPG grading!). I can't figure out their strategy at all—maybe they're too busy even to have one. It has crossed my mind that maybe they downplay the appearance of the coins so that buyers, as you say, are happily surprised—but then in many cases, particularly with nicer coins, they post huge images which "tell all," more or less. Besides, anyone who becomes familiar with their photographic look isn't going to be surprised more than once or twice, I would think. I look at a lot of their copper (large cents, two cents, etc.) and used to think they went for a soft look to make copper look "milder" and less harsh—particularly the coins with really dark, "steel gray" and "ebony brown" surfaces. But that same approach will wash out silver, as with your dollar. Who knows? At any rate, I always adjust the color as close to "normal" as possible on any coin I'm interested in.[/QUOTE]