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Lucky me, or: Why you shouldn't light a coin from below when taking pictures
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<p>[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 4895246, member: 19463"]It is each buyer's job to learn to 'read' coin photos. This one was shot with light coming straight down from the camera which bounced the light to the side where there was a steep difference between the high and low spots on the surface. This made dark 'shadows' on the forehead, back of head and under the chin. I suspect that this photographer added a bit of light at the top to make the image look more natural and erase the dark area on the top of the head. Some larger sellers have fancy camera rigs that automate (ie, allow use by someone who does not know why they are lit this way) photography of hundreds of coins. A small change in the fill light angle might have brightened the forehead and left the shadow under chin and truncation of the neck which might have looks better but, looking at all my denarii of the period, I see many with forehead darkness that I was too lazy to correct. </p><p><br /></p><p>Moving the light just a bit to the right or changing the coin angle slightly could have brightened the forehead below.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1181275[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Is this better? Big sellers do not have time to fuss with every image so we need to 'diagnose' what we see and modify what we expect. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1181272[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 4895246, member: 19463"]It is each buyer's job to learn to 'read' coin photos. This one was shot with light coming straight down from the camera which bounced the light to the side where there was a steep difference between the high and low spots on the surface. This made dark 'shadows' on the forehead, back of head and under the chin. I suspect that this photographer added a bit of light at the top to make the image look more natural and erase the dark area on the top of the head. Some larger sellers have fancy camera rigs that automate (ie, allow use by someone who does not know why they are lit this way) photography of hundreds of coins. A small change in the fill light angle might have brightened the forehead and left the shadow under chin and truncation of the neck which might have looks better but, looking at all my denarii of the period, I see many with forehead darkness that I was too lazy to correct. Moving the light just a bit to the right or changing the coin angle slightly could have brightened the forehead below. [ATTACH=full]1181275[/ATTACH] Is this better? Big sellers do not have time to fuss with every image so we need to 'diagnose' what we see and modify what we expect. [ATTACH=full]1181272[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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Lucky me, or: Why you shouldn't light a coin from below when taking pictures
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