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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;gsimonel, post: 3591312, member: 82549&quot;]I think your photos look great. The problem is that you are comparing what you see in the photo with what you see in hand. Ideally, the photo should show the coin exactly as it appears, but the reality is that that is never the case, and every photo falls short of what we imagine it should look like. The rest of us just see the photo, so we are evaluating it on its own strengths and not comparing it to some ideal. And your photos look really good.</p><p><br /></p><p>Have you experimented with different backgrounds? Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish the edges of dark coins against a black background. Also, when you add the background during post processing, it can sometimes make the edges appear jagged.</p><p><br /></p><p>I photograph my coins outdoors. I built a stand for my camera by sticking a 3/4&quot; think wooden dowel into a scrap piece of 2x8. I clamp the camera to this dowel. Then I drilled hole into the 2x8 and I stuck a short piece of 3/8&quot; wooden dowel in. I put a sheet of black construction paper over the base of the 2x8 (with a hole for the dowel to come through) and some modeling clay on the end of the dowel. I place the coin on the modeling clay--the clay holds the coin in place if I need to tilt the entire contraption to get the sunlight to approach the coin at a lower angle--and photograph the coins about 1&quot; above the black construction paper background.</p><p><br /></p><p>I built this thing about 10 years ago, and by now the construction paper has faded. I still looks blackish to the eye, but my camera&#039;s auto aperture setting lightens both the coin and the background. The result is that the background comes out much lighter in the photos. It now appears as sort of a slightly blurry, mottled gray:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]959648[/ATTACH]</p><p>This allows dark coins to show up better. This Macirnus is mostly black but shows up well against the background:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]959651[/ATTACH] </p><p>The only downside is that silver coins don&#039;t stand out as well:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]959652[/ATTACH] </p><p>I don&#039;t think there&#039;s one correct answer. Every approach is a series of trade-offs. I still have a long way to go--one thing I might try is building some sort of reflector to bounce a little light onto the coin from the opposite direction--but it&#039;s fun to keep experimenting and trying new approaches.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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