3 renditions of the same coin
shylock
Posts: 4,288 ✭✭✭
Toothpuller pointed out to me a newly listed Teletrade 1901 PCGS MS66RD Indian cent that recently sold in Superior's pre-Long Beach. At that time Superior provided only a distant slab image, and I told him I once owned it (consigned it to Heritage) and it was beautiful except for one major flaw -- a toning spot right in front of the profile. With this new Teletrade image, you really get a glimpse of how different copper can look depending on the source. This page shows their listing, an early image of mine, and Heritage's: link.
From what I remember this coin really looking like: Teletrade did a good job of shadowing the spot, and the tone is too light. My image is before I learned color balance and makes it look a bit too orange. Heritage's looks way too dark and void of lustre, but at least we both revealed its problem area. I remember this coin being a lustrous, mellowed red, but after seeing these 3 images I'm beginning to question my own memory!
From what I remember this coin really looking like: Teletrade did a good job of shadowing the spot, and the tone is too light. My image is before I learned color balance and makes it look a bit too orange. Heritage's looks way too dark and void of lustre, but at least we both revealed its problem area. I remember this coin being a lustrous, mellowed red, but after seeing these 3 images I'm beginning to question my own memory!
Paul <> altered surfaces <> CoinGallery.org
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Comments
Wow! What a difference a few hands and some different experiences make! I've found that using good strong natural light for the photograph, then using some of Photoshop's balancing features tend to even things out.
You've brought out something that is dificult about shooting coins: Does one make the picture so that it covers up inperfections and gives the coin a better look than it has, or does one err to the side of showing more of the coin's real features - thus making a more "honest" picture, but probably a lower cost picture. Getting the balance between the two is very difficult, and is also very subjective.
Great pictures!
Did it look more like this in real life?
CG
Right you are, but all I did was to use the auto image balance feature on the MS Photo Editor. But this is imporant to know--did it give a fairly accurate picture of the coin? Eveyone complains about Heritage's photos making their coins look too dark. So it would be interesting to know whether using the auto balance feature will give a more accurate rendering of the coins they show.
CG
Edited to add: Ooops. Missed your comment that it looked like the image balanced photo only more lusterous. That is good to know since it means anyone can get a better sense what a coin looks like by using the balance feature. Should apply to photos other than Heritage's as well.
CG - on further review, the color of your Heritage pic is not quite right, though I can see where this could help uncover nics that might get hidden in one of their darker images. Plus, the enhancement added texture to the coin that doesn't exist. The one reason I stay away from software editing is, for every correction it makes, it seems to lose some quality in another area. Those pixels are delicate critters.
Obscurum per obscurius