Judging only the coin, which, after all, is what is being photographed, surely the center one. When I have a
denarius, and I photograph it in my usual way with the gray card, sometimes I, too, get gray so dark it looks black. The only problem is when you want to use Photoshop to mask the coin: you can lose a
bit of edge. If you can get the coin closer to the lens, so that the meter reads more coin as such, or replace the gray with a piece of black velvet for
denarii, you can get the edge of the coin to be clearer. When masking, also, you can make Photoshop distinguish the slightest difference.
Anyhow, the center photo is
very good.
You can move the
lamps a
bit farther, or cause one of them to shine a
bit more into the background (into the
glass below which the card is on the floor of your box or
dish), to 1) reduce contrast a little and 2) differentiate a little less between the coin and the background.
But you can solve your own problems in terms of your own environment and equipment. I do get irritated at competing advice. My experience with all sorts of photography and photographers is that there are many right ways and, to a certain extent, they are personal. Pete Burbules and tacrolimus are two persons that I know have found their own excellent solutions, and the former has done it with a 2MP camera no longer new.
Pat L.
P.S. Actually, a reflector near by aimed at 4h to 5h, or a small
lamp, like a mini-fluorescent, about a meter or more away at about the height of your
head or shoulders and again aimed at the lower
part of the coin (in any case, something much weaker and more diffuse than your primary
lamps) should do the trick. A reflector could be aluminum foil or a hand mirror, for example.
