High relief perfection from Nanjing Mint

Discussion in 'Modern Chinese Coins & Medallions' started by SpacePete, Sep 1, 2016.

  1. barsenault

    barsenault Well-Known Member

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    Hey Missing. Totally agree with you on the pictures and videos. Spacepete those are some sweet pictures you have. Now I don't have to post any. :))
     
  2. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    Those pics that Pete took would have sold me right away on this medal series. Now it's a pass because I don't want to play catch up on this series.




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  3. andrewlee10

    andrewlee10 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    You can try to talk to private mint to check out the level of difficulty of doing so call marketing. If private mint in China say hard than government mint who has no incentive to do it at all.

    Classical garden group did a good job in marketing and photo. However the real sell to collectors are ????. They claim selling Super well and few thousand collectors line up of getting it but they keep reducing mintage from first medal issue till 5 th medal issue. Can you believe it ?

    I totally agree good photo and video did help a lot
     
  4. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    The US Mint is not much better....their marketing sucks big time also.....but their products are mostly quite different than the types of modern Chinese medals that seem to be most popular in the West.

    In other words, the US Mint doesn't even have to put out pics and videos for many of it's most popular products because there's nothing much really to see in normal relief designs.....you can more or less have a good idea of what the actual coin looks like based on a flat drawing. After all, how much different does A (drawing) look from B (actual photo of the drab, dull, boring medal)?

    A:

    [​IMG]



    B:

    [​IMG]



    I don't think any photo or video would make such a product any more or less aesthetically pleasing or desirable to me.




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  5. andrewlee10

    andrewlee10 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    What the moral of story ?
     
  6. SpacePete

    SpacePete Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    I am in awe of the skill and artistry that went into the manufacture of this medal. I just don't know what to say or even how to adequately articulate what it is like.
     
  7. barsenault

    barsenault Well-Known Member

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    The moral of the story is, when you have a flat, normal, unoriginal image on a piece of metal, many times you can get away with little photo or video coverage, but when you have a beautifully mastered, and well sculpted piece like that Phoenix and Dragon, pictures and videos sure do help to bring to life the high relief for all the world to see just how much more advanced China is verses the rest of the world. In other words, if you like art on metal, then there's no one who does it better than the Chinese mints.
     
  8. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    ^ Yahtzee! (or in plain talk, exactly)




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  9. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    Your pictures do it the best justice I've seen anywhere. The only thing that could possibly do the medal more justice is a macro HD video. How are you with video....and just as importantly, do you have a good quality macro lens, Pete?




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  10. postafoa

    postafoa New Member

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    Speaking on this topic, i've long thought about contacting this awesome photographer and artist regarding MCC, never got around to it. Maybe someone here is willing?

    I've looked at his work long before i ever got into MCC.

    This is how you take pictures of gold and silver coins:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomd77/albums/72157603959095587
     
  11. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    TomD is a member of this forum.....I think he still is. He used to occasionally post though I haven't seen him post here in quite a while.

    Yes, his coin photos are exceptional (though I believe he does quite a bit of post production work on his photos if I'm recalling correctly). Regardless....the end result is what's important and his end result photos speak for themselves.





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  12. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    << duplicate error >>
     
  13. KeepOnTrying!

    KeepOnTrying! Member

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    This is just an opinion since I don't have any expertise in this field of coin photography but I prefer SpacePete's photos. They are more dynamic and living; you see the medal come in and out of focus etc.

    I have looked at the photos in the url posted and most of them have this ethereal one dimensional quality and look almost airbrushed and sterile. I am not in any way at all detracting from the expertise with the lighting and focus etc.

    But SpacePete's more "amateurish" attempts are more pleasing to my eye. More raunchy and feely! Like clutching and eating a turkey drumstick at Disney while walking around the park compared to eating filet mignon at some high class dining facility!

    Just an opinion and I don't mean to offend anyone!
     
  14. postafoa

    postafoa New Member

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    Well yes, i agree there. I also like photos where certain areas are out of focus, and sideways shots. Most of TomD pictures are of traditional fiat coins too, which are almost flat, as opposed to modern non-fiat coins with much deeper strikes, lending themselves better to sideway images. Never knew TomD was a SS member, but it figures :)
     
  15. SpacePete

    SpacePete Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Another stacker once lent me a small macro lens for the iPhone. That was fun until I took some closeups of my 5oz 2015 Britannia.... oh, the spotting!!
     
  16. SpacePete

    SpacePete Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    :) That's a great way of putting it!
     
  17. mmissinglink

    mmissinglink Active Member

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    I completely agree. While I very much enjoy looking as TomD's photos, they are too surreal and flat in many instances to be used as good reference photos. TomD's photos are more like art than they are reference. Pete's photos are ideal reference photos and should be the standard to go by for Chinese medals.



    I take good reference photos of Chinese medals and modern high relief coins as well....just saying. :cool:



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  18. andrewlee10

    andrewlee10 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Hi guy,

    I know iphone mirco and fish eye lens at very cheap price from china. I might able to help to buy it and send to you together with your order. However, I need to check my partner in china willing to do it for free or not.

    I have worked with Bob and run up a few ideas.... like Bob and andy monthly video talk, photo/video competition of the stuff you bought from chinesemedals.com to entitle for xx% discount for next purchase or FOC selected item (postage by buyer), combo promotion to followers, Facebook for panda lunar series and so on.

    Please give us some ideas which is helpful to generate more interest for collectors.

    Thank's for few collectors and friends like Geir and Robert who help us along and provide us a lot great insight opinions of design, concept and ideas. This allows us to combine the views from eastern to west.

    Thank's Frank for the video and thank's Pete for the photo. This is very helpful so Bob and me have more times to do other things and accompany the family more.
     
  19. KeepOnTrying!

    KeepOnTrying! Member

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    This is a link to a thread on coin photography with smartphone and handheld cameras on CCF: http://china-mint.info/forum/index.php?topic=11855.0

    I hear the new iPhone 7 camera is even better. The Samsung phone 7 camera might also be packing a punch, when the batteries are not exploding :)
     
  20. andrewlee10

    andrewlee10 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Try Oppo the brand from China. The camera is Super
     

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