Taking The Best Photographs Of Amcient Greek And Roman Coins

Wow, chrsmat-- you've definitely come a long way!

Some things I've found helpful when painting around the edges:

1. Select a very large brush size. If there are cracks or irregularities you can go back with a smaller brush.
2. Zoom to show only ~1/6th of the coin's edge on the screen; it's easier to control your painting since irregularities of your gestures/mouse aren't as magnified.
3. (most important) Soften the brush. In Photoshop Elements I soften the brush's edge to ~80%.
4. Not that the effect of brush softening changes with brush size. If a coin has cracks or irregular margins requiring subsequent use of small brushes, you have to soften the brush even more. If your brush size is ~<20 pixels you may have to soften the brush to only ~10-20%.

I do not paint my backgrounds black. They are that way due to my setup which uses a black velvet background.

It took me over four years of experimentation to end up with my current setup.