Finally Took A Photo I'm Quite Proud Of, Trueview Style

The white background hurts my eyes
John1

The white background works great with a dark coin like the 1932-D because it makes the coin stand out better. I usually use a black background for BU silver coins for the same reason. Congrats to @Decaf94drew for figuring out how to make great coin photos!

I think the circulated cent picture came out even better than the BU picture. There are always imperfections in any image, but your photos have both eye appeal and sufficient precision to examine details. You should definitely do a short write-up on your photo setup, particularly if it's relatively affordable.

From your responses above it does not seem you are looking for constructive criticism, but here goes anyway...

Having primary light sources come from the lower half of the coin (between 3:00 and 9:00 but especially 5:00-7:00) is very unnatural. I understand the desire to ensure even illumination on the lower half of the coin, but any light from the bottom half should be "fill" only, reduced in intensity and more heavily diffused.

You defend the sharpness/focus of the image but for sure it is showing some softness. This can be due to several reasons:

- Camera movement during exposure
- Mirror Slap or Shutter Shake
- Lack of critical focus on middle-height features
- Aperture too small (too large an aperture number)
- Insufficient post-processing to optimize final image sharpness

I am not saying the image is bad, but there is always room for improvement. If you're open to suggestions there are several folks, including myself, who would enjoy working with you on making your photos even better.

These pictures are sharp!
Lighting can be improve with slight adjustment. I would like to have similar results with coin photos.

The limiting factor is my equipment for sharpeness I need to finally upgrade my lens set up haven't wanted to upgrade till I finally found the limits. This lens isn't a dedicated macro. Also my physical placement in relation to the coin is becoming a big issue I need to back my camera up like an inch or 2 and I'd be much better off. I do appreciate the criticism let's me know what others think. The light at 5-7 could be blended better or changed overall I don't disagree, however for now I will keep it till I find a better way to accomplish what's needed. I think you may be right on shutter shake, in time looking into an slr would probably be a good Idea for me I think. On bu cent I do agree aperture was an issue I'm trying to work that out better. With better equipment I do believe sharper can be more easily accomplished. As for my needs right now it will kind of have to do unfortunately.

You make it work with what you have and not what you wish you had!