MentalVirus
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Hi, I'll start by saying that one of my hobbies is photography and another is coins & currency collecting (specifically Vietnam and SE Asian money). Anyway I have decided to combine my two hobbies and since Vietnamese coins are somewhat obscure and rare with very poor documented information by most standards, I was going to start making a site mostly dedicated to them and my collection of many many coins. I'm currently working on different techniques for lighting and setup to get the quality of pictures that I want and getting closer.
Where you guys come in is, I'm not a Photoshop expert or artist. I have used it quite a lot but self taught and only for editing photos. Portrait touch ups, layering/masking exposure for landscapes...stuff like that. Certainly no graphic design or 'artsy' work at all, and it's certainly not where my talents shine lol.
I want to come up with a way of making my photos standout and be recognizable yet somewhat simple and clean. Not too busy or over the top and distract much from the coin itself. I first take pictures of the obverse and reverse using a 5D Mark II and 150mm macro with a full stack of extension tubes. I then combine the pictures and place them on a black background. I'll attach an example.
I think this is ok but then decided I want something a little more. I had the thought to try and make the picture appear a little more 3 dimensional and maybe as if the coins are actually standing up even though I photograph them laying flat. I will attach some examples of what I came up with. I feel like I'm fumbling around even trying to produce these images though. I believe I like the Black/Red better and will probably use a similar color scheme for the site also...especially since Red is a good color to use when it comes to Vietnam.
I'm wondering what ideas/input/help anyone here could provide as I don't feel very creative in this way or very competent at it! Are these 'good'? And could they be much better? If someone is board and wants to play around with them or give suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Heck, if someone comes up with someone I really like and want to use as a 'template' I'll even send you a tip
Where you guys come in is, I'm not a Photoshop expert or artist. I have used it quite a lot but self taught and only for editing photos. Portrait touch ups, layering/masking exposure for landscapes...stuff like that. Certainly no graphic design or 'artsy' work at all, and it's certainly not where my talents shine lol.
I want to come up with a way of making my photos standout and be recognizable yet somewhat simple and clean. Not too busy or over the top and distract much from the coin itself. I first take pictures of the obverse and reverse using a 5D Mark II and 150mm macro with a full stack of extension tubes. I then combine the pictures and place them on a black background. I'll attach an example.
I think this is ok but then decided I want something a little more. I had the thought to try and make the picture appear a little more 3 dimensional and maybe as if the coins are actually standing up even though I photograph them laying flat. I will attach some examples of what I came up with. I feel like I'm fumbling around even trying to produce these images though. I believe I like the Black/Red better and will probably use a similar color scheme for the site also...especially since Red is a good color to use when it comes to Vietnam.
I'm wondering what ideas/input/help anyone here could provide as I don't feel very creative in this way or very competent at it! Are these 'good'? And could they be much better? If someone is board and wants to play around with them or give suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Heck, if someone comes up with someone I really like and want to use as a 'template' I'll even send you a tip
