Soviet Order of Alexander Nevsky

[Alfred]

and more pictures

[order_of_victory]

Heres a pic of my Nevsky

Order of Victory

[alanirvine]

[attachmentid=48922][attachmentid=48921]

Here's one of mine.

Alan

[alanirvine]

[attachmentid=48923]

Two others.

Type 2 and a type 3.

Alan

[alanirvine]

[attachmentid=48924]

Reverse.

Alan

[Dolf]

Guys,

I'm sorry to say this, but your pics (OoV, Alan) are really bad!

Can't you guys please, please, please post pics like those posted above by Andreas? Those are excellent, clear and detailed pics!

I entirely second Rick when he recommends you getting a nice Epson scanner!

Or any scanner that makes clear 3 dimensional scans.

Even my "pre-historic" Astra 1200P makes better scans than the pics you guys post!

Just my two cents,

Dolf

Edited August 7, 2006 by Dolf

[order_of_victory]

Dolf,

Critisim accepted, when I get home from work I will try and get some better pics

I dont like using a scaner because items tend toget lost in the whiteness

Order of Victory

[Dolf]

Dolf,

Critisim accepted, when I get home from work I will try and get some better pics

I dont like using a scaner because items tend toget lost in the whiteness

Order of Victory

OoV,

I also don't like that white/gray background I get when I scan my pieces, but in my case I guess that only happens because of my "pre-historic" scanner. So as you may have noticed I use some color card as background, either black (which sometimes makes the scans too dark and forces me to re-work them with Photoshop before posting) or red (which usualy gives a good result and most of the time I just have to resize them with Photoshop before posting).

Of course this is quite some work and takes much more time than just taking pictures with a digital camera, but in the end the result is in 99% of the cases better.

I really hope I can afford a new Epson one of these days. Damn, I really regret recently buying this multifunction HP which is only good for flat scans, but really bad for 3D objects! I should have tested it before! And I should have read Rick's advices too!

Dolf

Edited August 7, 2006 by Dolf

[alanirvine]

Dolf,

I would be the first one to agree with you about my scans.

I am only just trying to figure this out.

I am using a Microtek, but I don't think that it is the scanner's problem. It's mine.

Alan

[Dolf]

Dolf,

I would be the first one to agree with you about my scans.

I am only just trying to figure this out.

I am using a Microtek, but I don't think that it is the scanner's problem. It's mine.

Alan

Alan,

Next time try a different background, either white (which is what Rick recommends) or if you don't like the white background try something other than black, maybe red.

I never heard about Microtek, but in your case your scans seem clear (I mean not out of focus, as it happens if I use my HP for 3D objects ), the main problem in your case is the size of the pics you post, and of course they are too dark probably because of your black background. It also happens to me when I use a black card as background, that's why in such case I must re-work the scans with Photoshop, not only to resize them but also to adjust brightness and contrast.

I just noticed a perfect scan of a McDaniel's COA you posted on another thread! That's an excellent one!

Best,

Dolf

[order_of_victory]

Dolf ,

Is this an better

Order of Victory

[NavyFCO]

Is this an better

The problem that you're having is the fact that you are relying upon the flash for the light source. That's the reason there are some bright and dark spots on the award. There are several ways of getting around this. One is to buy a fabric "light box" with light, from someplace like eBay. I own a Smith-Victor light box that was a "buy it now" (with lights and all) for $95. on eBay. It works great.

The second option is to buy just the "box" only, and use that outside. That way, you'll use the bright sunlight, filtered through the white fabric of the box to make even lighting. The boxes run around $40 on eBay, or if you're creative, you can fairly easily make your own (I'm just not handy enough for that!)

The third option is to photograph the medals outside on a cloudy (overcast) day. From my experience, this is most of the days in "sunny" England, so you might be in luck there (bad to wait for a cloudy day in say, the California desert!) The clouds esentially serve as a "whole world" (at least your world) lightbox, breaking the direct rays of the sun into smaller, more even amounts.

If possible, you should also open your exposure settings on the camera in order to compensate for a lack of flash, and thus take in as much sunlight as possible.

Hope that helps!

Dave

[Dolf]

If not using a scanner and prefer a digital camera, then I guess I entirely subscribe Dave's post.

Moreover you should get rid of all those areas surrounding the main subject (the awards) by cropping your pics, as they use a lot of space and are useless.

But imho a scanner usualy produces better results

Dolf

[NavyFCO]

This is the sort of photo that you can take in a light box with decent lighting...

[NavyFCO]

In keeping with the "soviet" theme of the forum, here's a shot with my old camera of a Nevsky in my lightbox...

[order_of_victory]

I did try and use one of the over head spots as well

Thanks for the tips guys, next item on my shopping list is light box, oh Father Christmas is going to busy this year

Order of Victory

[Dolf]

Dave,

Great pics!

Not sure what you mean by a "light box", could it be something like this?

This one isn't mine, but it's a hand made one from a friend.

Thanks,

Dolf

[NavyFCO]

Not sure what you mean by a "light box", could it be something like this?

Hi Dolf-

I call it a "light box" though some others call it a "light tent". Here's an article about the one I purchased:

http://www.cameratown.com/news/news.cfm/hurl/id%7C1927

In this post is also a photo of it, from the same article.

Dave

[NavyFCO]

But imho a scanner usualy produces better results

I don't disagree, though sometimes you can capture details from other angles that the scanner cannot get. As you have probably seen from my website, I'm pretty adept at scanner usage. At the same time, if you're going to buy a good digital camera anyway, a light box isn't a bad thing to think about buying as - if you had the camera anyway - it's probably overall cheaper than the scanner. And besides, ever tried getting your kids to take portraits in a scanner? This is what my youngest daughter thought about having a portait taken by my scanner.....

[Ed_Haynes]

For those who are not linguisically deficient (as I am), see: http://nevskye.narod.ru/

Interestingly, the listing includes seven Nevsky awards for the 1956 Hungarian operation.

Edited March 14, 2009 by Ed_Haynes