My first photo shop succcess

[JTO]

I have tried for years to crop circles Coins...

 

Finally I have got cropping the circular coin down. To those of you who are Photoshop savvy this is dumb as dirt, but I just could not get my programs to do the job. All computer/digital picture are saved in pixels which are square. So cropping a square is easy but a circle is another issue. I tried to search on line a couple of years ago and got a ton of hits on "crop circles"... like aliens and corn fields. But I finally got the real Photoshop and puttered a bit and voila. I have a long way to go to get to the quality of some of you but this is a start.

 

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[RWB]

Next, you want to use the alignment tool to rotate the images so they are level. Do alignment before selecting the circle and cutting out the image.

 

(PS: It's not the pixel shape that matters -- it's the feather setting on your selection tool that counts.)

[JTO]

Yes thank you. I have mixed thought about the rotation. When I have unintentionally slanted the slab on the photo stand then I fix it. In this case the reverse die is rotated relative to the obverse by a few degrees. So the photo is an accurate representation of the coin.

 

That is, however, the same logic that got me in to trouble in the first place. The if I take a good photo then I don't need to have Photoshop (I worked my way through school and one of my jobs was a a event (sports concerts... photographer).

 

It is more pleasing to the eye to have every thing in correct vertical and horizontal alignment or it is unsettling to look at a photo that is not. So to rotate or not?

 

John

[Nutmeg Coin]

It looks like the holder has some lines; could be cleaned up with Maguire's scratchX.

[RWB]

In your sample, neither side is correctly rotated to horizontal. If the coin has an abnormal alignment of obv/rev, then it's OK to show that, provided you let the viewer know that is what you are trying to accomplish. Otherwise, it simply looks like lazy work.

 

The coin and camera CCD should be parallel, regardless of the slab. That gives you the most accurate perspective.

 

Photoshop and other image manipulation software allow you to correct minor problems encountered during photography. These might include defective white balance, blur, crop, resizing, selective enhancement, tone control, etc., etc. From experience, if a digital image is "perfect" right from the camera, it might suggest there are really multiple errors in technique or equipment.

 

 

[JTO]

Thanks for the encouragement.