Work In Progress Photos

I have hundreds of these British pennies so instead of taking something out of a 2 x 2 I am using this penny to experiment with. My photos of late have not been good, even with enhancement I have gone back and looked at some photos taken last fall and they are much better than what I am doing at present. I think I am trying to hard to use props/lights/etc. to make my photos more presentable. My camera will not focus on a coin unless I am using the micro mode and this is fine but having the camera so close cuts out much of the light. I have two OTT-LITES that produce a pure white light and have been using them, however, I am sure they are making my photos overexposed. These photos were taken using a light defuser (white paper taped to the side of the light) and taken during the day, not after dark. This is a circulated coin and as such there isn't a great deal of detail. SuperDave, is this an improvement? Also, haven't downloaded the Gimp yet but will.