coin photography: photo editing

1907Quarter

what should one limit oneself to regarding photo editing tools. I gather that one should spend as little time here as possible, trying to get the most out of the camera itself, as possible.

For instance, I now know when shooting an NGC slab, that I can alter the exposure in the camera's shooting mode. If I instead use the photo editing software's brightness/contrast buttons I can achieve a similar result. Or can I?

What do you think?

photoman

You have more leeway using photo editing. For instance with photoshop, you can lighten certain areas of a photo and darken another area in the same photo and you can't do that with a camera. If you expose for everything to be as close as possible in the photo then you'll have more to work with in the photo editing program. Photoshop is basically a darkroom on computer. Basic photography, if you have a bright object and a dark obect in the photo, which ever area you meter off of will be the most accurately exposed.

numonebuyer

Some people are much too good at using Photoshop, if you know what I mean.

I, on the otherhand, believe you should take enough photos to be good enough taking photos to adjust your photographic equipment such that what you get in the photo matches the coin. I do not use any modified photographs on my website or any auction that I run.

mgoodm3

Shooting through slabs limits what you can do with the camera. It's hard to totally avoid glare and the resulting contrast loss the result. A little bump in the contrast will often clean up that glare and get you back to what the coin looks life in real life. A little sharpening makes the images look a bit cleaner. All these adjustment have to be used carefully with the aim of reproducing the natural look of the coin. I try to use the coin in hand as a reference for what I'm after.

SirAnthonyAC

Hi,

Personally, I feel you should limit your photo editing to making the coin appear in the photo as it does in real life.

For example, if I shoot a blazing coin but, the photo looks flat… I will give it a hit with auto levels, bump up the contrast, etc… until the coin looks on my monitor as it looks in my hand.

Sometimes, what is a truly pleasant looking golden tone on a Morgan dollar is somehow turned into a puke-yellow-rusty-crude when a photo is shot… that needs adjustment.

Sometimes an inconspicuous mark on a coin is accentuated beyond all human comprehension when a photo is taken… I won’t remove the mark but, I will lighten it so that it appears as it does in real life.

However…. What most unscrupulous sellers will do is, edit out every scratch and mark, clone away nicks, smudge out abrasions, and bump the contrast until a circulated POS looks like an MS70… then post it on EBay. That’s a great way to go if you don’t care about repeat business or negative feedback, and many sellers make a handsome profit doing just that.

Anthony

shylock

I just answered your post from yesterday about this subject:

A touch of brightness and an even smaller touch of contrast (ratio of about 5/1) can help most images, but look at these adjustments like salt and pepper. Used in moderation they enhance an already well constructed photo. If the photo is badly over or under cooked to begin with, mass quantities of seasoning will only add to the bad taste!

To take the metaphor a step further, the best food needs no seasoning at all, and the best images need no editing other than cropping and compressing. For every photo editing adjustment made, another quality of the image suffers. And more contrast won't fend off the damage done by over brightening -- try it on some images and you'll see what I mean. The only major adjustments should be made beforehand with the camera settings and lighting if you want realistic depictions of your coins.

nwcs

Photoshop is an excellent tool. Obviously the better the source photographs, the more you can do with great programs like Photoshop. My personal belief is that you should do whatever it takes to make an image that best represents the coin or an artistic look that makes the coin look its best (but not for selling purposes, etc.).

A hint: do not use brightness/contrast in photoshop. Use levels instead. Adjust to the color histogram and take out color casts by using the gray selector. The curve utility can also help adjust for over-bright or over-dark. But it can only do so much if the data just isn't there. Hence, the better the starting pic the better the results in Photoshop.

nwcs

Also for sharpness... use unsharp mask with 25, 3 and 2 as the params. Once is usually enough but twice can be good. Especially for shots through a slab where the focus can sometimes be just a hair off.

1907Quarter

unfortunately do not have photoshop, but I do have Nikon photoimpression. I like the rotation/cropping tool but I'm endeavoring to use the other stuff as little as possible and letting the camera do the work. My 1 centavo is completely unadulterated!
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