What A Difference Lighting Can Make

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Author	Replies: 2 / Views: 1,580
4504 Valued Member United States 379 Posts	Posted 05/28/2017 4:50 pm hello all I was fumbling around ebay and other sites and came across this big silver coin. in one photo, the coin looks all silver. in another photo, the entire background is very black, while leaving the raised surfaces silver... a completely different effect. I know the same goes for gold coins too, I had bought one with the photo showing a black background and gold colored on the raised surfaces. when I got it, it was ALL gold colored... (no black on it). I was baffled, until I went to take a picture of it with my cell phone, wa-la the background was black, just like in the original picture! by moving the coin around a little, it would changed to an all-gold color. here is the example... http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-SILVER...AOSwlY1ZJKit talk about a big difference in appearance! mike Report this Post to the Staff

Adam_E Pillar of the Community United States 4846 Posts	Posted 05/28/2017 5:01 pm Scanning tends to make mirrored surfaces appear black from what ive experienced. the second and third photos in the link you provided appear to be scans and not actual pictures. Scans tend to blur the image a bit if the coins are behind plastic as well. It's really difficult to accurately represent what the coin looks like in hand, especially when dealing with a coin with highly mirrored surfaces like a proof. so it's important to keep in mind as a buyer that proof's very very rarely have as deep black of a surface as you would think from the images Edited by Adam_E 05/28/2017 5:03 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Slider23 Pillar of the Community United States 4469 Posts	Posted 05/28/2017 7:11 pm By looking at the photo of your ebay example, I would expect the center of the reverse to be gold in color, the raised details on the coin to be frosty silver and the fields to be silver with a mirror finish. When you put a camera directly over a silver mirror finish often the mirror surface will reflect off the lens and will appear black in color in the photo. In the first photo of the reverse where the coin appears with a gold center and the details and fields silver in color, the camera is not directly over the coin, but shooting the image at an angle. You are correct in your analysis that lighting and camera angle play a major role in getting quality photos that make the image appear as in hand. Report this Post to the Staff
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