Guess that 18-55 ain't so bad after all, eh?
I did a couple of things to it in the Gimp, to help me get a feel for what's missing. The result is above, and I'm not satisfied with it yet either.
You *might* be against the 18-55's upper limit in terms of resolution and sharpness. Or you might have more to capture. I think the latter is true. I'm going to critique this picture very harshly, because it shows that you and your camera are both capable of professional results. Just keep in mind that you're already doing better than 90% of everyone who's ever tried to shoot a coin, and your camera is better than 90% of the cameras out there. But you can do better.
The image isn't nearly sharp enough, especially if it's going to be that big. Cut the size in half, and with nothing else changed it'll be unbelievably sharp. But then you'd be just an *ordinary* shooter.
I don't think the color is quite right. That's typical of Canon - I'm guessing you were using either Auto or Tungsten settings - and you might want to adjust to remove some yellow and red in postprocessing. I removed 30% of each in the Gimp, but then I lowered the Levels, which tended to emphasize what was left so it looks like a wash, color-wise. But, lower Levels and a little more Contrast are a quick and dirty way of fixing the usual problems.
At this skill level, we make things straight.
Yes, I know it's anal, but get Monticello horizontal.
Your choice of lighting angle is up to the task. Nickel, along with silver, is prone to bright spots; we can maybe work on that later.
Your original pic included EXIF data, so I'm able to see your camera settings. Here's what I'd do, understanding that the sole goal here is to make the shots sharper:
First, you're going to need more light. The things you've had to do to keep a clear image with the available light are compromising your shot's sharpness.
You're at ISO1600. That needs to lower drastically; it's high enough to introduce noise into the picture. Set it at ISO400. A T2i can produce essentially noiseless pics at that ISO.
Current aperture is f/7. Tighten that up to f/12. It will increase your depth of field, thereby recovering whatever sharpness you're losing because the lens can't capture the whole depth of what it's seeing. This will cost you even more perceived light.
Are you using a delayed shutter? I ask because if you actuated those pics by hand, that's the cause of the sharpness problem. Furthermore, unless you throw a whole lot more light on the problem we're going to have to use exposures of 1/15 or so, and that will most definitely induce shake if you do it by hand.
Another possibility it to increase the distance from camera-coin. You might be just_a_touch too close for the lens; if you do this, raise the camera an inch at a time.
OK. I think you can use the available light by doing ISO800, f/10 and 1/15 sec. Were it up to me, I'd rather see lower ISO, higher (numerically) aperture, and exposures of at least 1/125, but that would require a lot more light.
Posted 11/27/2010 5:56 pm
I was looking at these things for 4 or 5 minutes then I scrolled down and saw your second post. I can't tell a difference.
