The how to photograph watches thread
Discussion
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:
rottie102 said:
Stuart said:
rottie102 said:
Camera In Phones suck though
I dunno about that. My iPhone 4 takes staggeringly good pictures for what it is.Now go and take similar pictures :
Shall I go on?
What's the difference when the picture was taken.
As for the other reply - well, that's what I agreed on - it takes goodish pictures for a camera in a phone. Just please let's not try to compare it to a dslr.
End of off topic?? Let's not ruin a very good thread.
rottie102 said:
ThatPhilBrettGuy and Adrian W -
Please read everything again, slowly this time...
So, back on topic, anyone else willing to share any tips and trick about photographing watches?
Sorry yes I see what you mean now Please read everything again, slowly this time...
So, back on topic, anyone else willing to share any tips and trick about photographing watches?
That's all good then. So as you say back on the subject...
...Somewhere I've seen an article where at 50mm lens is taped on the front of a telephoto...back to front giving a super macro. The DoF was amazingly small. A couple of mm I remember. That'll be interesting to try. Also I've got a microscope somewhere. Hhhmmm...
Some expert tips from Muska's thread "A watch photographer"
http://www.harrytan.sg/watches/Better%20Watch%20Ph...
http://www.wristwatchphoto.com/2009/05/technique.h...
http://www.harrytan.sg/watches/Better%20Watch%20Ph...
http://www.wristwatchphoto.com/2009/05/technique.h...
andy tims said:
Some expert tips from Muska's thread "A watch photographer"
http://www.harrytan.sg/watches/Better%20Watch%20Ph...
He's done some great photo's in the past - that's a really good guide for someone who doesn't know their f-stop from their elbow. Like me. Cheers.http://www.harrytan.sg/watches/Better%20Watch%20Ph...
LordGrover said:
rottie102 said:
For what it is - yes.
Now go and take similar pictures :
Shall I go on?
Only fair if you make a call, send a text and browse the web on your camera.Now go and take similar pictures :
Shall I go on?
However the iPhone is not the only smartphone. I'd expect the top end Sony Ericsson units to have half decent lenses for phones, but I've never used 'em.
There's always the argument about how it's the photographer that makes the photo, and not the kit - but this is only true for images where you're not in control. Something like the sunset this evening as I got out of my car - by the time I'd rushed back home, got out the DSLR and tripod, messed about trying to remember what settings to use, and taken a photo, the light would have gone. So iPhone it was.
With watch photography - completely different argument since you have complete control over the subject. So use the best kit you've got, makes sense, no?
Of course, that doesn't mean that this thread should only focus (ehh) on DSLRs because we don't all have one. Tips on shooting with a cameraphone are *very* useful because a lot of us will take better *wrist shots* with a cameraphone than their DSLR… However I'd recommend that nothing inferior to, say, the iPhone 3GS be considered as a 'camera' phone - the 'camera' unit in previous iPhones was simply SO poor quality that I can't imagine any way of getting a reasonable photo out of one...
Mwuahahaha!!!!
Sod the recession, in fact sod anything relating to being sensible. I walked into my local camera shop looking for these £10 'extension tubes' so I could turn my latest acquisition 'one lens to rule them all' Tamron 18-270 into a macro-capable lens.
Here you go sir, said the friendly chap. Extension tubes - £169. WTF? Surely I can get a proper macro lens for not much more? Yup, I can.
So now I am furnished with a proper macro lens for my Nikon. Prepare for 'all the gear, no idea' cyberface to take some bloody average movement and dial closeup shots with equipment that a talented photographer would turn into magazine-advert quality stuff!
Anyway - had to learn about aperture. So I tapped up my uncle, who is a retired professional photographer (they never retire). He slagged off my Tamron lens, pointed out that he had the Nikon model better than mine, and when I complained that he was a pro, he dropped in 'well, I wasn't going to mention the £100k+ collection of Hasselblad medium format cameras I used to use professionally' - he's that sort of guy. However, even though he picked a fight he was always going to lose at the end of the night (family get-together - always bad news in the cyberface household), he taught me very succinctly firstly why (a) my Tamron 'one lens' was having trouble focusing (my fault - slapped a circular polariser as combination lens protection on, without realising it saps 30% of the available light. Idiot), and (b) what aperture settings mean and how to control them on his camera (which was very similar to mine, being the next model up Nikon digital).
So…. let's see what I can do, somewhat inebriated, in completely artificial light and utterly inappropriate surroundings…. (there will be a photo here in 15 minutes or so)
Sod the recession, in fact sod anything relating to being sensible. I walked into my local camera shop looking for these £10 'extension tubes' so I could turn my latest acquisition 'one lens to rule them all' Tamron 18-270 into a macro-capable lens.
Here you go sir, said the friendly chap. Extension tubes - £169. WTF? Surely I can get a proper macro lens for not much more? Yup, I can.
So now I am furnished with a proper macro lens for my Nikon. Prepare for 'all the gear, no idea' cyberface to take some bloody average movement and dial closeup shots with equipment that a talented photographer would turn into magazine-advert quality stuff!
Anyway - had to learn about aperture. So I tapped up my uncle, who is a retired professional photographer (they never retire). He slagged off my Tamron lens, pointed out that he had the Nikon model better than mine, and when I complained that he was a pro, he dropped in 'well, I wasn't going to mention the £100k+ collection of Hasselblad medium format cameras I used to use professionally' - he's that sort of guy. However, even though he picked a fight he was always going to lose at the end of the night (family get-together - always bad news in the cyberface household), he taught me very succinctly firstly why (a) my Tamron 'one lens' was having trouble focusing (my fault - slapped a circular polariser as combination lens protection on, without realising it saps 30% of the available light. Idiot), and (b) what aperture settings mean and how to control them on his camera (which was very similar to mine, being the next model up Nikon digital).
So…. let's see what I can do, somewhat inebriated, in completely artificial light and utterly inappropriate surroundings…. (there will be a photo here in 15 minutes or so)
Excellent. Gratuitous spending on unnecessary camera gear always gets a thumb up from me. I'm a specialist in self justification and spouse fooling, and camera stuff is both very easy to sneak into the house and easy to justify (look how lovely you/your mum/the cat looks in this photo now I've got this new lens etc).
I'm surprised though CF. Given your general awareness of "stuff" and analytical mind I thought you'd have got to grips with aperture, light and depth of field some time ago. Interesting subject to play around with once you understand the fundamentals, and it it'll transform your approach to picture composition.
Time to suck up to Uncle Cyberface too. Does he have kids? If not then I'd line yourself up to inherit the Hasselblads.
I'm surprised though CF. Given your general awareness of "stuff" and analytical mind I thought you'd have got to grips with aperture, light and depth of field some time ago. Interesting subject to play around with once you understand the fundamentals, and it it'll transform your approach to picture composition.
Time to suck up to Uncle Cyberface too. Does he have kids? If not then I'd line yourself up to inherit the Hasselblads.
OK - no tripod, somewhat drunk, handheld in artificial light with no flash - bits of Project Lator:
My first two pictures with this lens and I've got no idea what I'm doing, but I *like* what a complete idiot can do with this thing
I have a particular 'thing' for screwed balances (weird) and would love to transplant the screwed balance of the older chrono into the Landeron 189 but… we will see.
That's with standard settings and manual focus - no manual alteration of aperture etc. yet so I can change the depth of field.
Stuart - yes, normally it'd be something I'd be all over, but I've only acquired a DSLR fairly recently (couple of years?) and had so much work on my plate that learning the minutiae of how cameras actually *work* has escaped me. I've always tended to focus (argh) on landscape photography esp. mountains when skiing - and all that needs really is a nice wide angle lens and being in the right place at the right time with the right light (easier in the mountains!). Close up stuff and portrait is proving a right old challenge and I need to learn stuff. So I am.
No more messing around when inebriated though, don't want to bust this one!!!!
My first two pictures with this lens and I've got no idea what I'm doing, but I *like* what a complete idiot can do with this thing
I have a particular 'thing' for screwed balances (weird) and would love to transplant the screwed balance of the older chrono into the Landeron 189 but… we will see.
That's with standard settings and manual focus - no manual alteration of aperture etc. yet so I can change the depth of field.
Stuart - yes, normally it'd be something I'd be all over, but I've only acquired a DSLR fairly recently (couple of years?) and had so much work on my plate that learning the minutiae of how cameras actually *work* has escaped me. I've always tended to focus (argh) on landscape photography esp. mountains when skiing - and all that needs really is a nice wide angle lens and being in the right place at the right time with the right light (easier in the mountains!). Close up stuff and portrait is proving a right old challenge and I need to learn stuff. So I am.
No more messing around when inebriated though, don't want to bust this one!!!!
cyberface said:
I've always tended to focus (argh) on landscape photography esp. mountains when skiing - and all that needs really is a nice wide angle lens and being in the right place at the right time with the right light (easier in the mountains!).
One for another thread perhaps, but I'd disagree with this, as will you once you play around. For landscape you can do a huge amount with depth of field - and the results from shooting wide open can be as pleasing as they are different from closing down as much as possible to give a DOF from your nose to the horizon. Play around next time you're out, and you'll see what I mean.Pics are good, but they make me feel a bit inebriated with that tilt-shift look. I'd narrow down a little so that the depth of field extends to make the foreground in focus just a little more. The strong bokeh behind to bring out the detail of the movement is pretty bloody good for an inebriated first go though .
Stuart said:
cyberface said:
I've always tended to focus (argh) on landscape photography esp. mountains when skiing - and all that needs really is a nice wide angle lens and being in the right place at the right time with the right light (easier in the mountains!).
One for another thread perhaps, but I'd disagree with this, as will you once you play around. For landscape you can do a huge amount with depth of field - and the results from shooting wide open can be as pleasing as they are different from closing down as much as possible to give a DOF from your nose to the horizon. Play around next time you're out, and you'll see what I mean.Pics are good, but they make me feel a bit inebriated with that tilt-shift look. I'd narrow down a little so that the depth of field extends to make the foreground in focus just a little more. The strong bokeh behind to bring out the detail of the movement is pretty bloody good for an inebriated first go though .
Whilst I can still hit the keys I'm aiming at, I'll call it a day because I thought the whole pictures were in focus above - not sure what you mean by 'tilt-shift' Stuart?
cyberface said:
creating a 'sea of cloud' effect
Called a 'cloud inversion' in rambler parlance. I saw some 'tilt-shift' stuff for the first time on the BBC's pics of the Monaco Grand Prix I think, very weird yet cool...
Fer fecks sake - just as I'm getting to grips with watches the last few days have seen me trawl around for information about cameras now - I really do need to replace the perfectly good Canon ixus I've got with something far more ingenious and interesting. This led me to the Photography sub-forum, this led me to Olympus OM1s (vintage, manual, classic) and then yes, to Hasselblad (visions of Alfie & David Bailey). Once I'd pulled my head out of the clouds I started reading up on micro 4/3rds cameras, and I think, that's where my money will go next...
Edited by andy_s on Friday 8th October 09:09
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