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Whats with the washed out pictures?

Lots of times when I'm reading this forum, folks will post pictures of their coins. Sometimes, the pictures are those provided by the grading services. Maybe they are registry photos? The problem is, it sure seems like those grading service pictures are washed out. Especially toned or gold coins. They only hint at the beauty of those coins. I give a (poor) example at the bottom of this thread.

Yesterday in the Optimal Collecting Grade thread, a couple of the guys posted true photographs of a classical gold coin and a St. Gaudens $20. Those pictures floored me, and I realized that its because they were accurate representations of their coins.

I guess thats its. I just wanted to make that statement. Seems like the amateur photos are better. I'm not faulting the grading services either because the purpose of their photo isn't for show and tell as much as clinical documentation. Maybe it will encourage you guys with wonder coins to take some detailed photos of your coins that have the real "metallic" color to them. Coin photography isn't easy and I don't want to discourage people from posting the grading service photos if its all they have handy. I'm just putting this concept out there.

I keep some of my coins in the safety deposit box. I like to have nice photos of my coins so that I can see them whenever I want without going to the bank. It'd kill me to not have accurate representations.


The example below isn't as dramatic because its not a closeup...but you get my drift.
Would you rather see this?
Grading Service Photo Link

or this?

image

Comments

  • WestySteveWestySteve Posts: 567 ✭✭✭
    ScottGardner's gorgous St. Gaudens...in full color:

    image

    Bill Jone's early gold: (I swear you can see the aged impurities in it...beautiful)

    image
    image >>


  • llafoellafoe Posts: 7,220 ✭✭
    I've seen very few coins in hand that floor me... most of the time you have to tilt, twist, contort a coin to make it WOW me! image
    WANTED: Cincinnati Reds TEAM Cards
  • deviousdevious Posts: 1,690
    What are you talking about? Accurately photographed coins?

    Really? They don't do a good enough job? I'm lost. I just started to pay for our host's TrueView's imaging and believe me, they are extremely accurate. And they accurately show all of the flaws. And you can even study the flaws in detail with the LARGE trueviews. I guess I don't get your post about TPG's and their photographs.

    image
  • blu62vetteblu62vette Posts: 11,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Your link to NGC is for a slab verification, it is meant so you can verify the coin not meant to be the best image in the world. For me I am not a fan of full slab shots, you lose way to much of the coin in the slab compared to when you focus on just shooting the coin.
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  • Lehigh96Lehigh96 Posts: 685 ✭✭✭
    In fairness, some of the people who post on this forum are professional numismatic photographers, including Todd, the poster above me. PCGS Truviews look pretty good to me. IMO, the best photographs are those that most accurately represent the appearance of the coin in hand. Unfortunately, only personal experience with the coins and photographer can ensure that. The rest of us are all just on the honor code I guess. The other thing to consider is that technology is so good these days that the gap between amateur and professional photographer has be closed significantly. To illustrate this point, I will post my photo of a coin taken with a point and shoot compared to that taken By Stack's Auction House.

    image

    image

    I am in the same boat as you, I prefer to have accurate photos of all my coins and have worked hard over the years to improve my photography skills. At this point, the only way to improve is to start using a DSLR which I just don't have the energy to master right now.

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  • WestySteveWestySteve Posts: 567 ✭✭✭
    See, I like your photo better. I'm not saying that Stacks, or the slab services don't take accurate photos. They show all the tick marks and all that. It's just that they all just look sorta washed out to my eye (i.e., the colors are muted)...not as vibrant of colors as an amateur can likely easily achieve with reasonable effort. Thats really all I'm trying to say.

    As for taking good photos. I'm no expert. But I've figured out one trick when using a "normal" digital camera. Put your camera in macro mode (if it has one), then the most important thing is to set your resolution to maximum. Then take the picture from relatively far away (like as much as 2 to 3-feet) and crop it. This is a good idea even if you can put it closer and focus in macro mode. Even after cropping, the resolution should be good enough to show some detail. I think the reason this works is that cheap cameras like my own aren't nearly as good at taking close-up photos as far away...even in macro mode. It takes a really expensive lens to take close up photos well, but photos from a distance are relatively achieveable. It has to do with the difficulty of making different focal length lenses that can bend and unbend the light correctly. The precision needed for making a good close focus lens is much higher than one that can focus at a distance. So many cameras just suck at taking tight shots, even if it doesn't look that bad in the viewfinder.

    Steve
  • stmanstman Posts: 11,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think for the most part people do the best they can do. Some still use scanners (Me) and some just don't have the time or the desire to be photographer (me again). I know some of the image connoisseurs and elitists don't like an image unless it's perfect and fills the screen of their monitor
    so they can pick on every small tick that shows in this huge image. When in person it's nothing. Also keep in mind, I have no doubt some folks don't post images because they feel they are not up to "board standards." So IMO, posts like these might make other folks less likely to post an image. I read all the time people saying "sorry for the terrible image" when it looks pretty decent.
    Please... Save The Stories, Just Answer My Questions, And Tell Me How Much!!!!!
  • WestySteveWestySteve Posts: 567 ✭✭✭
    Aw, it was meant to encourage them to try. I have faith in my fellow man...that he can do better than the stock photos from the slabbing companies.
  • lkeigwinlkeigwin Posts: 16,885 ✭✭✭✭✭
    TrueViews are really great images. Damn, some of those coinfacts photos blow me away!

    The problem is that there are compromises with photography. PCGS focuses (ahem) more on color and less on luster. We "amateurs" have our own preferences.

    I like seeing them all. And I love beautiful coins, however they're depicted.
    Lance.
  • frnklnlvrfrnklnlvr Posts: 2,750
    PCGS's True Views are usually a very accurate representation of the coin. I think you may be referring to the "x-ray" type images that PCGS uses for the Secure Plus system. These are totally different than True Views and are used to tell if a coin has been altered since it's previous submission. The NGC photos on the certification verification are used to verify the coin is the same and you don't have a counterfeit slab/coin.

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