I Think I'm Getting Better

Santa brought me the camera I asked for, it is a digital microscope really. It is a Plugable, not sure of the model. My photography skills are somewhat lacking but I am learning fast and stumbling onto so neat lighting tricks. To show how my skills are improving I have attached the following two photos. The nickel is about the first photo I took with this setup and the commemorative dollar is a photo I took this evening with my son's help, he is very skilled at this sort of thing. I would like some critique and helpful pointers so I can improve further. I have discovered how to crop all of the background out, I just haven't discovered how to save this edited feature. I am having another issue that I will post the question and photo on another thread.