Watches and lighting

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cargo

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Gary
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Hi People.

Stumbled on some site the other day with images of watches. OMG how can you make watches look soooo good. A quick Google and the the world is full of amazing watch photos:)
Anyways last night I had a quick go. Don't look anything like what we see on the net but hey ho it was my first try and to be honest I am not sure how to improve the image so hoping for some advice.

Ps; This is for fun and just a hobby and was something different to photogragh not to sell watches or any thing.

Oh yes I forgot.
This was lite with a speedlight fired through a piece of floor protection plastic which I had cut into 3 pieces forming a 2 sided triangle shape with a roof white card placed opposite as I had no batteries for my other speedlight.
Help required as to how I did and what could I do different to get beter results.

Gaz

test.jpg
 
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Very nice Gaz! I wouldn't know where to start! And nice improv on your light modifiers! ;)
 
Gary it looks good to me & like Bethy I wouldn't know where to start (y)

My neighbour asked me to do some antique carriage clocks & that had me in a sweat :eek:
 
Looks good to me, nice even lighting. The only thing I could suggest to try is a touch of back/rim lighting to separate the strap from the background more, but this is a pretty darn good shot imo.

If you look closely at the face it seems to be losing some contrast on the hands. Not really sure why that is or how to resolve it (other than in post). Maybe the light needs to hit it at slightly more of an angle?
 
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TimmyG said:
Looks good to me, nice even lighting. The only thing I could suggest to try is a touch of back/rim lighting to separate the strap from the background more, but this is a pretty darn good shot imo.

If you look closely at the face it seems to be losing some contrast on the hands. Not really sure why that is or how to resolve it (other than in post). Maybe the light needs to hit it at slightly more of an angle?
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Hi Tim I had noticed that about the hands and was a touch confused as to why that had happened. I will pick some batteries up tomorrow after work and use a 2nd flash to back light a touch and see what happens. Thanks for the tips.
ps: awesome Flickr stream of teeny weeny creatures :-) Gaz
 
As said I picked some batteries up yesterday and tried the same photo with another flash. Could anyone advice if it as added to the image or any other general advice would be welcomed___Gaz

watch_2_lights_copy.jpg
 
Sorry can't offer technical tips but I will say it is better probably because the strap is more obviously separated from the BG (y)
 
I would say it has improved it. It's also added a bit more depth to the strap, which was looking a little flat in the first image imo.

I can see some post processing work partway down the lower strap and around the winding cog (or whatever the actual name is) and that edge of the watch face. There is a difference in the level of black, so I assume you have darkened the majority of the background, but there are some patches were it's not exactly along the outline of the watch. Apologies if this is a bit picky but I think you have to be with these types of images. Looks like you may need to investigate the pen tool in PS to help with cutting out objects. It's difficult to master, but if you can get it right it is a very powerful tool to make use of.
 
TimmyG said:
I would say it has improved it. It's also added a bit more depth to the strap, which was looking a little flat in the first image imo.

I can see some post processing work partway down the lower strap and around the winding cog (or whatever the actual name is) and that edge of the watch face. There is a difference in the level of black, so I assume you have darkened the majority of the background, but there are some patches were it's not exactly along the outline of the watch. Apologies if this is a bit picky but I think you have to be with these types of images. Looks like you may need to investigate the pen tool in PS to help with cutting out objects. It's difficult to master, but if you can get it right it is a very powerful tool to make use of.
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Hi Tim. Yes you are correct for some reason the background was patchy when I took the photo this time. I must admit I edited this pretty quickly (for me anyway) late last night so it is not the best job as you point out. Yes I try to use the pen tool sometimes and you are correct it is hard to use correctly eg: with as little anchor points as poss. With the image above it was a bit rough and ready I just erased a curves layer mask back with a soft brush hence the rough job. No need to apologize and reading what I just wrote I think I was daft to do it quickly and not upload the best image I could have done after going to the effort of taking the image in the first place. Eevn if it is only for amusement. Glad the light has made a difference though,it was your good self whom suggesting to add some more light. Mind you it seems very tricky as to where to place the said light as the slightest movement changes the images quite a bit.

Thanks
Gaz
 
Forgot I took a set up photo (if anyone is interested). In the above photo I did not have the envelope there for bounce. Do you think I should have placed the lights in different position?

Gaz

IMG_1179_Scott_10k.jpg
 
To be honest there is no set formula for positioning the lighting. You can start with some standard directions, but from my own experiments I've found just trying random angles can give unexpected and strong results. I did find this tutorial useful, and it demonstrates how to build up the lighting to give you the image you want, but you are basically adding a light, taking a shot and seeing what it looks like, then adjust as you think necessary:


Product shots have to be perfect though (even before you get into the post-processing) and that's probably why I tend to stick to bugs :) I think both you shots are great though, and it's the little tweaks and improvements that will make all the difference.
 
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Cheers for this will watch it now.

Gaz
 
cargo said:
Cheers for this will watch it now.

Gaz
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So you will 'watch' it now - is this humour on such a very serious subject :LOL:
 
Ha like it :)


"Watched it now"
Thanks I like the build it up way of doing things. Easier with the permanent light sources as you can see what your doing but works the same with flash I guess.

Gaz
 
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