A few physical backgrounds to compare

[GrumpyEd]

Interesting.
It might not seem like it matters but it adds up if you store a lot of photos.

[Petespockets55]

#2, "black velvet" is nice but I like the "soft foam"(#5) or "cotton pique"(#6) best. The shinier backgrounds seem distracting.

I use a dark gray/almost black mouse pad with stretch fabric which reduces distracting speckles but probably increases the file size from what you've indicated here.

[jfines69]

Those are all excellent photos... I like the black velvet best... The lighter colors appear to show a shadow around the coin??? There also appears to be a light reflection off the SW coins edge from about the 6 to 7 position on the gray backgrounds??? Wouldn't the lighter colors reflect more light back into the lens???

[DoubleYou]

I like the True Grey the best. It makes me feel like I can pick up the coin. They all are fantastic as always.

[ray_parkhurst]

I picked up some more "black" paper backgrounds to try. Different coin, shot with a Schneider 60mm WA lens. Let me know what you all think:

Crepe Texture


Wood Texture 1


Linen Texture


Wood Texture 2


Flat Black Texture

[ray_parkhurst]

Links fixed

[Petespockets55]

If all things were the same for all 5 new images, #2,3, & 5 images remained the same (no detectable visual change in the color of the coin).

I think I prefer #1 because of the darker background and doesn't it distract from the coin iteself.

[mustbebob]

I also personally prefer image number 1.

[ray_parkhurst]

An interesting thing about these textures, especially #1, is that their color is very "gray". If you look at the RGB values across the whole background, they range from 11,11,11 up to 57,57,57, almost always staying perfectly balanced. This means that a dark background like this can be used as a white balance check to ensure no hue juicing has been applied.

[makecents]

I like the crepe texture the best. It looks like there is more contrast to me and the flat black looks like it does not show as much definition/clarity, in the coin.