You V NGC - 1879-S Morgan Dollar

Alright... so obviously, your lighting is an issue. As well as the focus. I don't see any EXIF data so do you care to share how exactly you're imaging these?

Nice coin, by the way, 65 semi-Prooflike.

Erm...it's quite crude, really. This image was shot under a 40w soft white light bulb. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S3 smart phone as a camera.

I'm taking the shot freehand, so that explains why some shots are clearer than others. I'm not as steady as I used to be! The object that I'm shooting is off center from my phone. This allows me to eliminate most of the glare from the slab.

I then crop the shot on my phone (used to do it on photobucket), email it to myself, then upload it to photobucket before posting online.

I call it the AK-47 method of photography. Primitive and ugly...but it goes BANG every time!

Mods: please don't move this to the Coin Photography sub-forum!

As long as we can maintain a solid discussion on the grade and characteristics of the coin, I'm all for a little side discussion on photography methods as it helps to publicize that we've a thriving Photography Forum where a casual reader can learn a lot about shooting coins. So, by way of leading the discussion, I'll start with the coin itself first:

I see a solid NGC MS65 here. That gouge under the eye is in a poor place for a good grade, but it's the only true distraction so I think it still makes the grade. The reverse is typically better, with only the divots near the wreath to distract.

Now. Have a look here, Afterimage, for a bit of discussion on how to best leverage a phone camera in coin photography. Just be aware, you're going to end up a bit jealous of what an iPhone camera is capable of, even though your Galaxy is obviously no slouch....:

https://goccf.com/t/160092

MS-65.

Much better work on the lighting this time, the area in front of the face could use some more light, though. To give you an idea, I use 3 lights on Morgans. Two on halves and smaller. I stand by my 65, by the way.

Solid MS-65.

Great Coin

That was the part I was hoping you'd catch, but I'd rather teach you to fish than give you a fish. Contrast is always going to be a problem for you in shots like this, partly because of the slab obfuscating things and partly because of the compromises inherent in tiny lenses feeding tiny sensors. Pay no attention to the iPhone results; I'm convinced Apple employs witchcraft.

You can improve this matter by applying more lighting. I prefer two lights to Fade's three, arranged at 10 and 2, but either way supplying enough light that the camera can start reducing settings to compensate for that much light will only help contrast. There's an upper limit to that, of course, at which point stuff will start washing out.

This is a solid 65. The obverse fields are near-pristine.