Macro Watch Photograph?

Greetings,

Most of the (amazing) photos I see here are of bugs and spiders, so I thought I'd post a few watch photos to mix it up a bit.

Let me know what you think!

Wow! I really like 1, 3 and 4.

I think I like 1 because of the "non-standard" lighting. At first when I only saw a piece of it I thought it was going to be a bit underexposed overall, but then when I saw how you handled the lighting it made perfect sense, and a clever use of light and shadow on the watch face.

#2, well, number 2 is great with the water, you timed that quite nicely to get that little splash of the dropplet on the edge of the face of the watch. That would make a wonderful ad photo.

And of course, number 3, which is an ad style image, the photo of the watch is nice, and the lighting good otherwise I could see how it would be almost too easy to blow out the reflective metal on the watch!!

Very nice pictures in deed.

-Tony

Thanks Tony! I do a lot of watch photography for magazines in the watch industry. This month DIGITAL PHOTO PRO published an article from me on how to do macro photography with watches being the subject example. I'm a watch collector, so the photography started as a hobby which was an extension from my watch collecting, and sort of grew from there.

Best,

Hi Daytona, These are VERY well done. My faves are 1 & 3.
-Bruce

Ballen Photo wrote:
Hi Daytona, These are VERY well done. My faves are 1 & 3.
-Bruce

Thanks Bruce! I love 3 as well, but 4 might well be my favorite as that has my favorite watch in the photo.

I'll have to use some of your tips from that article to snap a couple of my Oyster Perpetual Datejust. Two-tone band, blue face with diamond numbers. It's my baby.

Sounds gorgeous! I'd love to see your photos!

Here's a photo of my blue dial baby:

That is beautiful lighting on the 1st one. Care to share how you did it?

great, just great! lighting, colors, sharpness! i would love to own these watches as well

Not terribly difficult. I use a light difusing box for the "stage" and set up the shot with the area lit. Next, I hit the switch on my power cords which controls the halogen lights I use to light the stage area, set up the shot and hit the timed shutter release on the Canon 20D with 100mm Macro. Right before the shutter releases, I hit the power switch on the studio lights, which captures the glow on the luminecent hands and markers at their peak. Finallly, a Photoshop CS flashlight filter is applied.

Best,

John

Olli wrote:
great, just great! lighting, colors, sharpness! i would love to own these watches as well

I've been collecting watches for a long time...my freelance activities finance the watch collecting, and camera equipment. I often quip I that I should take up less financially distructive hobbies....coacaine for example.

Masterful lighting, great comp and beautiful watches. These are of commercial quality without a doubt John, well done. The passion you have for your hobby/collection really shines through

JakeC wrote:
Masterful lighting, great comp and beautiful watches. These are of commercial quality without a doubt John, well done. The passion you have for your hobby/collection really shines through

Thanks! Much appreciated! I do a regular photo review column in a magazine called CHRONOS and do some freelance work in a few other magazines.

Extremely well done on these, you can tell you have this down to an art. I love the water drop action shot. All are definitely top notch, BUT, do you shoot bugs also? Just asking, because if you did, they would surely be world class photos as well.

These are really fantastic! Nice work!