Coin photos – “true to life…”

When it comes to coins you want your photos to be as close to how they look in real life as possible. Not so easy with new, very shiny coins but also not as simple as you might think with worn examples as these pictures of the same coin show –

The “take 1” images didn’t do the actual coin justice, it looks much more like the last two photos.

Colour is significant for a silver coin (that florin is sterling silver), because they can develop sepia toning naturally and that can affect their desirability and in some cases even affect the grade.

Sometimes toning makes them more attractive but generally not so especially if it’s a washed out “browny” look like that highlighted in the “take 1” photos.

Also the amount of detail left on the coin is important and the “take 1” photos make the florin look flatter than it really is, and that’s bad for a collector!

So I’m pretty happy with tonight’s efforts – it was the positioning of the light sources which did the trick this time – no fiddling around with camera settings or editing software, and I’ve ended up with photos that show what the coin really looks like!