Critique this photo and help me improve my photography

[pendragon1998]

Here is a composite of photos I took of a circulated 1944 half I've had forever. I'd appreciate any comments on how I could improve this image. I'm still learning to take better photos, so any input would be welcomed. Thanks!

 

[Bruceswar]

The photo looks rather well for a circ coin. But I will say that the reverse is tilted a bit. Other than that nice photo. I can't say as to how accurate the photo is vs the coin in hand, but it looks accurate. On a side note I like the 2 pics of the coin side by side. Thats just me though

[pendragon1998]

Thank you Bruce. I agree that the plane of the reverse looks a bit tilted, but it's actually an optical illusion; the coin was definitely flat. It's possibly due to a slightly too-close crop.

 

The photo is pretty darn close to how the coin looks in hand, although there's a slightly pink hue to the coin that the camera didn't pick up. I think my white balance is as good as I can do with a white sheet rather than a gray card, so other than photoshopping it, I don't think I can improve that.

 

I also prefer the pics side-by-side, but I thought I'd try and keep this thread from scrolling horizontally too much since I was posting big images.

[zrlevin]

You could try closing down the f/ stop as far as you can go (I uses f/36), and lengthening the exposure time. I find that this works well for circulated coins.

 

Zach

[James_OldeTowne]

This seems like a very good image to me. One thing about the coin though - it might like an acetone bath. I could swear I see some PVC residue on the coin.

 

Really, I think you're images have improved dramatically in the past few weeks .

 

James

[physics-fan3.14]

James, you beat me to it. I was going to say that it looked like the coin had a greenish hue, and could use some acetone. And I agree, those are great pictures.

[pendragon1998]

I agree that the photos make it look like it's got a slightly greenish cast through the vertical axis, but it's apparently an artifact of either my lighting or my camera. I noticed it too when I looked at the images, but I cannot find it in-hand, so I can only conclude it's artifact. I have to admit, it does look a little like PVC.

 

I'm about 95% happy with the image, but I want to get the focus a little better. I'll try a longer exposure and stopped down lens as Zach suggested. I've been trying to keep the shutter speed higher than 1/60 sec, but I'll give the slower speed a shot. It's not like anything's moving or anything. Thanks for all the comments so far.

[pendragon1998]

And my first experiments photographing copper...

[zrlevin]

Nice Pic!