Correct Rotation of Portrait / Head in Coin Photographs

[LawrenceChard]

Correct Rotation of Portrait / Head in Coin Photographs 

I take considerable pride that my company produces some of the world's best coin photographs. However, perfection is difficult to achieve, and being pragmatic, we also try to produce them as efficently as possible, which means restricting the time invested in their production. There are many details to get right, some smaller, some larger.

One of the "details" which many quite competent photographers seem to struggle with is the exact rotation or alignment of the portraits on the obverse side of coins.

While some photographers appear able to get it right almost instinctively, other don't.

We had some debates about the "correct" alignment on this particular coin, so produced a comparison image showing 5 slight variations:

This is a montage of 5 rotations in random order, all from the same photo.

The coin is a 2016 Tristan Da Cunha Gold Queen's 90th Birthday Double Crown.

Does anyone want to add any comments, or try to put them in order from best to worst?

Anybody think none of them are right, and want to suggest a better rotation?

😎

[Zhorro]

2 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Correct Rotation of Portrait / Head in Coin Photographs 

I take considerable pride that my company produces some of the world's best coin photographs. However, perfection is difficult to achieve, and being pragmatic, we also try to produce them as efficently as possible, which means restricting the time invested in their production. There are many details to get right, some smaller, some larger.

One of the "details" which many quite competent photographers seem to struggle with is the exact rotation or alignment of the portraits on the obverse side of coins.

While some photographers appear able to get it right almost instinctively, other don't.

We had some debates about the "correct" alignment on this particular coin, so produced a comparison image showing 5 slight variations:

This is a montage of 5 rotations in random order, all from the same photo.

The coin is a 2016 Tristan Da Cunha Gold Queen's 90th Birthday Double Crown.

Does anyone want to add any comments, or try to put them in order from best to worst?

Anybody think none of them are right, and want to suggest a better rotation?

😎

Well, you asked for it!  My preference is 4th, 1st, 5th, 3rd, and then 2nd.

[westminstrel]

The coin should be rotated 180 degrees lol but if we are forced to stare at this portrait then I’d say…

5 is best

2 is okay

1 and 3 are tied being more off than 2

4 is worst

IMO 🤓

[LawrenceChard]

21 minutes ago, westminstrel said:

The coin should be rotated 180 degrees lol but if we are forced to stare at this portrait then I’d say…

5 is best

2 is okay

1 and 3 are tied being more off than 2

4 is worst

IMO 🤓

Your wish is my command!

Unless it's anything to do with "free postage"!

😎

[westminstrel]

Hahah cheeky as ever! Maybe I should be more specific - rotate the coin 180 degrees along the axis. 😅

[arphethean]

4th -> 3rd -> 2nd -> 1st -> 5th

Worst -----------------> Best

 

Photos not so bad. Coins squint in slabs though... 😱 😫 🤬

Edited September 18, 2022 by arphethean

[SidS]

They all look about the same to me to be honest.

But then I've never been a details guy, much more show me the big picture and give me the jist of it. 😁

I'd be a terrible detective, probably trip over the victim's body on my way into a crime scene before asking, "What's happened here then, is it a burglary?"

[CollectForFun]

I know that you want to rotate the image so that the position of the portrait looks most natural. But the result of this can often be seen on the slabbed coins - while the obverse looks straight in the slab, the reverse is badly rotated to one side. So I wonder if it really is necessary to try to determine the right rotation of the head, if we could simply look at the reverse, which usually has a horizontal or vertical line enabling us to determine the right position and then use the position of the obverse in accordance with the reverse? Or why think that anyone can determime the rotation better than the mint itself?

[Stuntman]

On 18/09/2022 at 11:45, Zhorro said:

Well, you asked for it!  My preference is 4th, 1st, 5th, 3rd, and then 2nd.

I agree. 

For me, the date on the obverse should be centred correctly at the bottom of the image and this should determine the rotation.

I know that this might not correspond with the actual die striking compared to the reverse, but when talking about photographing the obverse, in my opinion it should correspond with anything on the obverse that makes it clear what the correct rotation should be.  

In the absence of an obvious horizontal line feature, I would use the date.

[westminstrel]

And then at times this happens…

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/man-who-designed-queens-portrait-24979245.amp

[bluffer]

17 hours ago, westminstrel said:

And then at times this happens…

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/man-who-designed-queens-portrait-24979245.amp

thats her jumping out the helicopter at the olympics?