A Picture's Worth 1,000 words: Experiments in Digital Coin Presentations

[CPK]

As the title says, a picture is worth a thousand words! I really enjoy seeing all the creative and cool coin presentations here - and we've got some incredible talent on this forum - so I thought it would be fun to have a thread where we could post our presentation experiments, ideas, tips, etc.

What I've been doing for my coin images up till now is pretty simple: photograph the coin with a solid black background, put the obverse and reverse images together in Paint, then add the written info in a uniform and consistent format. Works fine! But there comes a time when you want to do more. Lacking any sophisticated know-how when it comes to editing software, I've been taking my time figuring out how to do things. 

(Have to again credit @LONGINUS and @HipShot Photography for the inspiration! Love your work!)

Earlier today I posted a picture of my new Titus denarius. I liked how that came out, but I wanted to touch it up more, and also add some historical information. So here is the end result:

 

 

I need to refine how I separate the coin from the background - it's a little ragged - and of course I wish I had a better camera for the photos. Still, I think it turned out decent and I'm pleased with the results.

Anyone else been playing around with their coin photo presentations? Let's see them! 🙂 

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

It's nice!  I'd use a little bit different color for a silver coin (kind of blends in with the background), but well done!  It's eons better than my attempts.

[LONGINUS]

 

I like your Titus artwork and coin and many thanks for the honorable mention, @CPK — Your thread will be a great one to add to over time. I  have a lot of fun trying out new and different graphic presentations for my coins, both here and previously as “Deacon Ray” on the CT forum. I enjoy doing the digital graphics as much as I do the actual collecting.

 

Before I post some samples I want to tell you that I too love Beethoven. His music is amazingly powerful and it fuels my creative drive 🎵🎨 !

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by LONGINUS

[CPK]

Looking great! @LONGINUS (fellow Beethoven fan 👍) I especially like what you've done with that Persian siglos - combining it with the artwork and the creative way in which the historical information is shared.

I'm using mostly Paint 3D and GIMP to do my editing (GIMP is taking me awhile to get the hang of though). I like the reflection effect on some of those images.

@Nerosmyfavorite68 that is a good idea. I will have to do some more experimenting! 🙂 

[CPK]

Here's a new one I came up with.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Yes, that's a great color combination!  Well done!

 

[CPK]

Whipped this up this afternoon.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Another hit!  That one works really well!

 

[Ryro]

LOVING this thread! 

I was just starting to monkey around with it and having a ton of fun on basic power point while on break at work (nothing nearly as successful as you nor a digital fengshui symmetry master like @LONGINUS) but twins come along and you don't hand the same amount of free time as you used to. 

Here's a few I did a couple years back:

You may have lit the fire under my butt to get back to it. 

 

[CPK]

Wow, very nice compilation @Ryro ! 

Edit to add: Twins? Congratulations! 👏 🙂 

Edited August 8, 2022 by CPK

[DonnaML]

I am in awe of all of you!

[CPK]

Took awhile to find the right balance with this one, but I think it came out okay.

 

 

 

[CPK]

More coins of the British Empire!

1885 silver rupee, Calcutta mint

 

[CPK]

Here is another "new" look to a coin I've had for awhile. I discovered some new photography tricks that really help with getting good lighting on silver.

 

[CPK]

This is the same 1745 LIMA shilling I posted in the Free-for-all thread, but with a slightly different look:

[CPK]

Here's something a little different.

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by CPK

[Ryro]

32 minutes ago, CPK said:

Here's something a little different.

 

Love that portrait and honest wear... and that reverse😍

Of course I get a beautiful gift from @Curtisimo, glamor shots included... and I still had to graffito. Missing you blue!:

Ps, @CPK please keep this up!

Pss,

[CPK]

Here is a new one. It's fun experimenting with different ways to display the coins in a more historical context. I could not find a downloadable background of the VOC flag that was large enough so I had to create my own in Paint. 

The coin is lovely, very sharp and with a hint of iridescence around the edges. My best VOC coin.

 

[CPK]

Not really a new presentation, but I took fresh photos using my new technique and I think the images came out much nicer.

Here is the old one:

 

And the new one:

 

[expat]

2 hours ago, CPK said:

Not really a new presentation, but I took fresh photos using my new technique and I think the images came out much nicer.

Here is the old one:

 

And the new one:

 

A remarkable difference between the two versions, well done

[Al Kowsky]

I've always believed that great coins make great photos & poor coins don't, & that applies to slabbed coins too. Like the old saying goes "You can't put lipstick on a hog". Pictured below are a few of my Septimius Severus coin photos.

[dougsmit]

Coins that survive in lower grades need to be studied and photographed as well.  This is especially true when the type is not known in mint state.  High grade coins can be easier to photograph but we need to find ways to show what needs to be shown.  One of my more recent images is the oval Athens obol with three prong tail.  I have not seen one of this description in mint state. I need to reshoot the tail alone to upgrade that 'inset' rather than just cropping it from the overall image.  

 

Lighting coins requires paying attention to the direction the ruler faces.  This face-to-face bronze of Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus has given me a lot of trouble making them each look 'right' at the same time.  The fact that it is barely fine makes it no less deserving of attempting to show it well. 

 

[CPK]

So far most of my coin photos have been taken with my old Samsung S6, and I can't complain; it's worked reasonably well. I do have a DSLR but no lens that allows really close-up shots. Well a couple days ago I ordered a lens extension and last night I was experimenting with it. So far I'm liking the results. I'm sure it doesn't hold a candle to a real macro lens as far as image quality, but then it only cost about $70 instead of $500.

Not having used my DSLR (Nikon D3200) extensively for coin photography, there is a learning curve which I'm still navigating. But I think with some coins it will be a marked improvement, not just in quality but also in better picturing the coin as it appears in real life. For example, here is a before-and-after photo of a Crispus AE - the first picture with the S6 and the second with the DSLR. What do you all think? Has anyone else played around with extension tubes?

 

[CPK]

One thing I've found with using the lens extension is that the focus is quite sensitive and the depth of field is very shallow. Of course the focus can only be manually adjusted as well. But overall, I'm liking what I'm getting. Here's another before/after - this time, a very charming Victory.

 

S6:

 

Nikon D3200:

 

[Kaleun96]

1 hour ago, CPK said:

So far most of my coin photos have been taken with my old Samsung S6, and I can't complain; it's worked reasonably well. I do have a DSLR but no lens that allows really close-up shots. Well a couple days ago I ordered a lens extension and last night I was experimenting with it. So far I'm liking the results. I'm sure it doesn't hold a candle to a real macro lens as far as image quality, but then it only cost about $70 instead of $500.

Not having used my DSLR (Nikon D3200) extensively for coin photography, there is a learning curve which I'm still navigating. But I think with some coins it will be a marked improvement, not just in quality but also in better picturing the coin as it appears in real life. For example, here is a before-and-after photo of a Crispus AE - the first picture with the S6 and the second with the DSLR. What do you all think? Has anyone else played around with extension tubes?

 

Looking great! I've used extension tubes here and there, mostly for higher magnifications (3x and above). They're a very cheap and effective tool but as you say you lose some depth of field and you also lose a bit of light as your effective aperture increases. I think the hardest thing with extension tubes is changing the magnification, unless you use them on a zoom lens but then usually the useful range of focal lengths for extension tubes is fairly limited anyway (20-60mm or so). If you have a zoom lens with a longer focal length, you might find a close-up adapter like this is more effective than extension tubes.

Extension tubes are a great way of seeing whether it's worth investing in a macro lens or not too, whether for the added convenience or optical quality, or both.