Picture comparisons- Experimenting.... Toned Token....

Took out my Metal Detecting Token and took some Pictures of the Rose "toning". A hard thing to capture on a cell phone.
Question. Which Picture looks better? Pic1 or Pic2? Vote or comment please....

 

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I did both. #2 Looks better

 

#2

 

2 for sure.

 

I like 1 for showing off the rose toning, but 2 for seeing overall details.

 

#2 - looks more natural.

 

I went with #2 but wonder if there is something red in the room that the mirror fields are picking up.

 

First, I agree with @Jersey magic man

But, I have a question that only @SensibleSal66 knows the answer to:

Since the two colors (emphasized below) are very different, which color is closest to the coin's color when looking at it in-person, in-hand, face-to-face?


I realize of course that the overall color of any coin will vary depending on the light under which it is being viewed, but these two colors are quite different.

To me the "better" image in any image comparison of a specific coin specimen, should be: The image that all-around most closely matches (in crispness of detail, and in coloration) the actual coin as viewed in-person.

Two examples:
(1) If a coin's legend is moderately crisp when viewed in-person, then the better image would be the one in which the legend appears most moderately crisp. (Keep in mind that a blurry and/or out-of-focus image distorts crispness of detail to the point that it makes deciding which is a 'better' image challenging.)
(2) If the fields on a coin are coppery-gold when viewed in-person, then the fields that appear in the image should also be coppery-gold.

To me, the "better" image in any comparison is not the image which looks the most pretty, or the most colorful, or etc. Instead, the "better" image in any comparison is the image which makes the coin appear as close as possible to 100% of what the coin REALLY looks like in-person with the naked eye. Flaws included.

It's all too easy to take a photograph of a coin and enhance the image (via photo editing) into an image that makes the coin look MUCH better than it is. To me, such editing causes a lesser image, not a better one.

To hopefully help clarify my point: If I were to buy a coin that used the #1 image in the sales listing, and I received a coin in the mail that looked like the #2 image, I would not return it -- but I would be disappointed -- and I also would wish that the seller's listing had included . . . (wait for it) . . . a "better" image.
.

 

I like #2 better because it looks more natural. Both are acceptable but 2 is better in my opinion.

 

I don't know what the coin looks like. To me, it looks like there's something red reflecting in the first picture and the left one of the second pictures. The lower right looks OK because I can recognize the plastic slab insert as being a color I know.

 

When I bought it in the early 2000's, it was just a nice Silver color. It has definitely toned in the years since to a "rose tone" and that is what I tried to capture but failed short, I guess. Any recommendations??

 

If all you have is a cell phone, I think you can't do much better.