Hi Johnny,
A few comments:
1) I'm not sure from your reply to CzarMike if you're just using the white balance setting that makes the paper look whitest (presumably the fluorescent setting since that's the light you're using), or if you're using the "Custom" white balance setting, which is what you want for the best results. You'll need to check the manual to see how to use the "Custom" white balance on your camera, but the idea is basically to setup the lighting you're going to use, then point the camera at a white background and click the appropriate button to have the camera adapt to that lighting (i.e. to make the white ground come out white/neutral not color shifted). Anytime you change the light position/lighting you'll need to redo the Custom setting.
2) I'm guessing that the first photo on the
red background was taken with "Auto" white balance which makes the camera guess(!) the
type of lighting you are using. Probably what happened here was that the camera thought there was too much
red overall (because of the background), so internally lowered the
red level causing the coin to lose it's color. If this is what happened then just using a white vs
red background, but
still using "Auto" white balance would also show some improvement.
3) Fluorescent lights take some time to warm up and for the exact color of the light they give out to settle down. This is an issue if you're using "Custom" white balance to adapt to the light... What you want to do is leave the light on for a few minutes at the beginning of your photo session before setting the "Custom" white balance.
4) To avoid color gradiants across your photos (not that these have it), you only want to use ONE
type of light source - sunlight, fluorescent, or regular light bulb, etc. Don't use a fluorescent light if you also have sunlight coming in the window! It's best to close the curtains/blinds and shut off any other light so that your photo
lamp is the only source of light. The result of not doing this is that your white background may appear white on one
side of the photo, but yellow or blue tinged on the other
side!
5) As
Pat says, with digital photography you really need some
software post-processing to get the best results. It's difficult to get a photo that looks perfect right out of the camera. The most common problem post-processing can
help with is fixing up a slightly "washed out" look to your photos, but you can also fix slightly-off white balance, brightness, etc.
One program that's free and very easy to use is
Google's "Picassa", which you can download from here:
http://picasa.google.com/Take a test photo, then try the following Picassa adjustments in this order:
1) On the "Basic fixes" tab, click on "Auto contrast" (this will fix any washed-out look), then use the "Fill Light" to adjust the brightness which probably became too dark after the contrast adjustment.
2) On the "Tuning" tab, use the "Neutral color picker" by clicking on the eye-dropper symbol, then clicking on some
part of your photo that should be pure white (normally the background). This will adjust for a slightly off white balance setting.
3) On the "Effects" tab, click on "Saturation" and use the slider to reduce the saturation a little until the coloration looks natural like the coin in hand. This is often necessary after using the "Auto contrast" option which increases the saturation.
Welcome to hobby number 2.
Ben