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 Replies: 10 / Views: 947 |
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New Member
United States
25 Posts |
I recently purchased a coin on-line. When it arrived and I had it "in-hand" it looked nothing like the seller's posted pictures. See attached pic. The image labeled "Buyer Image" was taken with a Nikon binocular microscope fitted with a 38-watt halogen spot. Of the two images in the attached pic, the Buyer Image accurately captures the coin's appearance "in-hand". I'd like to understand why the seller's image looks so different. Is it due to the lighting that the Seller used, or has the image been manipulated on the computer using contrast and color/hue/tint, etc. adjustments. I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5336 Posts |
From the seller's background I recognize him as a big seller (MMV) who artificially tones coins and also photo manipulates them. So I suspect it's a combination of lighting tricks to enhance contrast and photoshop to bring out contrast and sharpness at the expense of accurate color. At least yours doesn't appear to have been artificially toned...
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New Member
 United States
25 Posts |
So likely no single input, makes sense. I tried to duplicate the seller image using basic color/tone/hue/contrast adjustments and can't even come close. I'm wondering if filters are being used in combination with lighting? Regardless, folks are paying a premium for the embellishment. Thanks.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5336 Posts |
Just for kicks I tried to replicate what your seller did to his photos. So I took an IHC similar to the one you bought, and photographed it in my standard way with two lights and the correct white balance. Then I photographed it with a single high angle light source to maximize contrast, followed by some additional contrast enhancement, sharpening, color adjustment, and reduced saturation in photoshop. The photo on the right is how the coin really looks, and the one on the left is the manipulated photo. Easy to see why you have to be careful buying from online photos.  |
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Moderator
 United States
72135 Posts |
Well the high angle light source will eliminate shadows that will show the edges of the devices better. @Zurie: Can you photo graph that coin again with both lighting set ups and NOT do any image manipulations? The contrast will change a color temp of an image. While the image on the left had been 'image manipulated, it does shore more detail than the the one on the right which may be what you see 'in hand' but looks 'washed out' When I get home I'll have to do some experiments too. I just changed to a new phone yesterday, so I decided to see the difference of the cameras from old to new phone - here are the results of that little test. (No image manipulations at all) same lighting setup too.   Edited by Dearborn
06/27/2023 4:44 pm
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New Member
United States
25 Posts |
Thanks for the comments...
@Zurie:
Looks like you were able to replicate the hue shift, from copper to brown/tan. Very similar to the original pic I posted.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5336 Posts |
Quote:
Can you photo graph that coin again with both lighting set ups and NOT do any image manipulations? @Dearborn, sorry, I just saw your post. Here are the two shots with different lighting, but no color adjustment or other image manipulation. The photo on the left is very high lighting angle with a single light source. The one on the right is very low lighting angle with two lights. The optimal image is probably somewhere in between, although the color is closer to the right-side image. 
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Moderator
United States
72135 Posts |
Thanks for the extra images, It would appear that by just altering the lighting, you can get similar results too.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5336 Posts |
Yes, the photoshopping is fine tuning, but the lighting makes most of the difference.
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New Member
United States
25 Posts |
Thanks again for the helpful comments Z&D.
@Zurie...what type of lighting are you using? LED, halogen, standard incandescent, other?
Thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5336 Posts |
I use LEDs to minimize heat. Any of those should work as long as you adjust white balance to get an accurate color.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 947 |
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Posted 06/26/2023 09:34 am
