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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,451 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1248 Posts |
What is the secret for copper coins to look great? On online auctions some sellers have absolute gorgeous and colorful pictures of nice and attractive solid brown copper coins, even in lower grades. They look like they have been made brown with oil or some other substance and then scanned or photographed. However, they are not cleaned, but they look like a million dollars. What is the secret to make cooper coins look like that?  |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
It's no secret - it's the coin, and the photographer. Although there are substances *cough*Deller's Darkener*cough* which alter the appearance of a copper coin, there is no substitute for a nice coin under a good camera.  |
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Moderator
United States
187760 Posts |
Quote:
...there is no substitute for a nice coin under a good camera. And what you have there is a nice example of copper!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
beautiful coin--great lighting too! |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
I think SuperDave answered your question perfectly.... Get him to take your pics :-)
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Thank you for the kind words, guys, but the coin is the star here. The first pic was done with a dSLR rig and an expensive dedicated macro lens; the one below with a cheap Canon point-and-shoot. The first is over-lit, and the second much more faithful to the actual coin:  The point is, with a good enough coin it's hard to screw up.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1248 Posts |
Yes, if it is a nice coin, it comes out nice. For sure.
BUT some come out much better. Once received they look sort of dull and not like in the picture at all.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I think proper lighting plays a big role in the true color of coppers. As you mentioned, they can looker better than reality sometimes but usually making an eye appealing copper look as good as it should can be difficult.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Remember too that many of those coins are just photoshopped, oiled as you suggest, dipped in something, cleaned or even a copied photo from somewhere else. This does happen frequently and you jusst don't know until you get one. Proper lighting, the angle of the photo and other things also can make anything look better than it really is.
An example of photos making something look better than reality, ever notice how many auto advertisements on TV show their products in rain, snow or just wet surfaces? The reflections make the product appear a lot better.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
Remember too that many of those coins are just photoshopped, oiled as you suggest, dipped in something, cleaned or even a copied photo from somewhere else. This does happen frequently and you jusst don't know until you get one. Proper lighting, the angle of the photo and other things also can make anything look better than it really is. Words of wisdom, there. Quote:
Once received they look sort of dull and not like in the picture at all That's to be expected, frankly. One usually uses two different sets of lighting when looking at coins with eyes or camera; the eye doesn't need 100 watts of Halogen to see coin details, so we don't use it. The coin I posted above was rather dull in-hand (unless I looked at it under very bright light). This is a mental correction we all need to make when looking at posted coin photographs. |
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Moderator
United States
16677 Posts |
Great pics Super. It's also done with a neutral grey background. Believe it or not, on my old coppers and Colonials, I prefer black backgrounds. If it's a very dark Largy or Colonial, I will use grey.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,451 |
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Posted 12/29/2009 11:20 am
