RedGiant Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) Anyone care to speculate on how CGC manages to take such nice photos of their slabs after grading? I'm assuming some sort of light controlled/diffused set up - but has anyone been able to recreate that look? If so, examples and share your set up? I use a legal size CCD scanner and it works well, but it is harder and harder to find that tech if problems arise. Plus it's huge and bulky and takes up a lot of space. Looking to replace my scanner as it's an all-in-one and the printer sucks - I need a new all-in-one, but none have legal CCD scanners, so I would have two bulky items - the new all-in-one plus a standalone legal CCD scanner, which I'm trying to avoid if possible. I prefer the look of the scan, but I'm not crazy about having a separate large legal CCD scanner in my office - space is limited. Example Scan: CGC Image: Edited May 29, 2019 by RedGiant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valiantman Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) Others on the board are experts in this, but I think the difference is that some scanners allow you to set the depth/height of the focus, so that the scanner is focusing above the glass (on the cover), while most scanners just focus directly on the glass, which is the front of the slab plastic instead of the cover. Messing around with your scan, I played with the Gamma values and Brightness/Contrast, then used the Sharpen tool... Edited May 29, 2019 by valiantman PopKulture and BlowUpTheMoon 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ygogolak Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) Edited May 29, 2019 by ygogolak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGiant Posted May 29, 2019 Author Share Posted May 29, 2019 Thank you. I’ve read the scanner threads - really curious if anyone successfully using a camera and light box to take images of slabs - I believe cgc is taking stills, not scanning - but maybe I’m wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlowUpTheMoon Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 5 minutes ago, RedGiant said: cgc is taking stills, not scanning That's correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 29 minutes ago, valiantman said: ...Messing around with your scan, I played with the Gamma values and Brightness/Contrast, then used the Sharpen tool... Wtf are you doing? Trying to be the next Hulk..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valiantman Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 1 minute ago, TwoPiece said: Wtf are you doing? Trying to be the next Hulk..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicquant Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 Get a light box with built-in lights/diffusion and either your camera or iPhone. You can buy Bluetooth remote camera buttons for phones so you can position your phone either using a camera stand with a phone attachment or a stand specifically for a phone. I don’t take the time to setup my light box but will take a couple of slab pics in the light box later for you to see. You can easily replicate Cgc’s photos. Hutch88 and F For Fake 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGiant Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 12:00 PM, comicquant said: Get a light box with built-in lights/diffusion and either your camera or iPhone. You can buy Bluetooth remote camera buttons for phones so you can position your phone either using a camera stand with a phone attachment or a stand specifically for a phone. I don’t take the time to setup my light box but will take a couple of slab pics in the light box later for you to see. You can easily replicate Cgc’s photos. Looking forward to seeing examples and info on your set up - thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhymenoceros Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) @RedGiant is this the actual "scan" file CGC gave you? I always thought they actually scanned them but I guess not. The corner edges are too jagged to not be photoshopped. I'm a graphic designer and use photoshop pretty much daily. The white areas on the outside of the slab are made up of PURE white, also pointing to an alteration. If I had to guess on their setup, I think CGC has a studio setup with a camera mounted to a frame, pointing down, with lots of indirect lighting to cut down on glare. They then take that photograph and put it into photoshop, likely using a re-used layer mask that is the size of the CGC case. They fill the rest of the area with white on the edges (already part of the mask). They then edit the levels while looking at the actual book to compare the actual book to the "scan" image - at least that's what I'd do to maintain fairly accurate consistency. If their camera is setup with a good white balance then they may be able to skip the last step. Edited May 30, 2019 by Rhymenoceros bc, greggy and Crops068 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGiant Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 19 minutes ago, Rhymenoceros said: @RedGiant is this the actual "scan" file CGC gave you? I always thought they actually scanned them but I guess not. The corner edges are too jagged to not be photoshopped. I'm a graphic designer and use photoshop pretty much daily. The white areas on the outside of the slab are made up of PURE white, also pointing to an alteration. If I had to guess on their setup, I think CGC has a studio setup with a camera mounted to a frame, pointing down, with lots of indirect lighting to cut down on glare. They then take that photograph and put it into photoshop, likely using a re-used layer mask that is the size of the CGC case. They fill the rest of the area with white on the edges (already part of the mask). They then edit the levels while looking at the actual book to compare the actual book to the "scan" image - at least that's what I'd do to maintain fairly accurate consistency. If their camera is setup with a good white balance then they may be able to skip the last step. @Rhymenoceros yes, that is unaltered as I received it - the first pic was my scan from my scanner, second was image from CGC - and yes, as I understand it, it's an image and not a scan - thanks for your insight - I want to see someone's 'studio' set up - I disagree that CGC looks at book and adjusts colors as appropriate as I have book in hand and I can say my scan is closer to the 'look' of the book than their image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhymenoceros Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 1 minute ago, RedGiant said: @Rhymenoceros yes, that is unaltered as I received it - the first pic was my scan from my scanner, second was image from CGC - and yes, as I understand it, it's an image and not a scan - thanks for your insight - I want to see someone's 'studio' set up - I disagree that CGC looks at book and adjusts colors as appropriate as I have book in hand and I can say my scan is closer to the 'look' of the book than their image gotcha - I have never had CGC provide me with images so good to know. I'm sure it would take awhile to manually adjust levels. They may need to adjust their white balance and be sure to set it before each photo session if they are concerned about keeping colors consistent (might not be?). I'd be curious to see what their images looked like over the years and pay special attention to where the glares are on the photos. If I had a good enough sample size I might be able to provide more insight on how they've improved their system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhymenoceros Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 2:00 PM, comicquant said: Get a light box with built-in lights/diffusion and either your camera or iPhone. You can buy Bluetooth remote camera buttons for phones so you can position your phone either using a camera stand with a phone attachment or a stand specifically for a phone. I don’t take the time to setup my light box but will take a couple of slab pics in the light box later for you to see. You can easily replicate Cgc’s photos. Lightbox type setup with multiple diffused light sources is definitely my advice to get the best images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizards2 Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 10:27 AM, RedGiant said: Anyone care to speculate on how CGC manages to take such nice photos of their slabs after grading? I'm assuming some sort of light controlled/diffused set up - but has anyone been able to recreate that look? If so, examples and share your set up? I use a legal size CCD scanner and it works well, but it is harder and harder to find that tech if problems arise. Plus it's huge and bulky and takes up a lot of space. Looking to replace my scanner as it's an all-in-one and the printer sucks - I need a new all-in-one, but none have legal CCD scanners, so I would have two bulky items - the new all-in-one plus a standalone legal CCD scanner, which I'm trying to avoid if possible. I prefer the look of the scan, but I'm not crazy about having a separate large legal CCD scanner in my office - space is limited. Example Scan: CGC Image: I actually like your scan better - the colors are much richer. I wouldn't try to replicate what CGC is doing, but try to replicate what you are doing now. I'm not a techie, so unfortunately, I have no advice. I would like Quant to show us some photos of his set up. comicquant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicquant Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news... The bad news is I cannot find my light box anywhere. I found the diffusion sheets but no light box. The fantastic news is I found my favorite golf hat of nearly 20 years. I don’t know how soon but I’ll need to replace the light box so I’ll follow up as soon as I can. Edited May 31, 2019 by comicquant ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGiant Posted May 31, 2019 Author Share Posted May 31, 2019 36 minutes ago, comicquant said: I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news... The bad news is I cannot find my light box anywhere. I found the diffusion sheets but no light box. The fantastic news is I found my favorite golf hat of nearly 20 years. I don’t know how soon but I’ll need to replace the light box so I’ll follow up as soon as I can. Nice find! comicquant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaylam Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Graded... BlowUpTheMoon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicquant Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 25 minutes ago, Jaylam said: Graded... That’s awesome! ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcityduck Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 1 hour ago, Jaylam said: Graded... Looks like color touch to me. comicquant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizards2 Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 2 hours ago, sfcityduck said: 3 hours ago, Jaylam said: Looks like color touch to me. and over-graded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
