I guess this one could be a useful sticky or wiki - mods, please decide.

Lots of us post pics of our watches on here. There's even a perpetual Wrist Shot thread. Many of the photos are simply dire - the usual excuse is 'poor equipment' but unless you've got a pre-3GS iPhone, that's BS Some of the photos are comically bad - taken clearly with a multi-megapixel decent digital camera, with the owner's patterned carpet in crisp, precise focus but the arm and watch blurred to hell Some aren't even recognisable as a watch. Many photos taken with the flash are all over the shop because watches tend to be shiny and the flash bounces back off the watch and blinds the CCD. And the slightest amount of shake or blur ruins fine detail, which is a shame when you're trying to show some particularly beautiful guilloche on the dial. Even if focus is manually sorted, some photos don't look anything like the watch in reality because the colours are all out of balance, and this can make what is an utterly stunning watch in real life look plain and dull in a photo.

I'm guilty of ALL of the above at some point (though never focused on my shoes, I've certainly had a freckle on my wrist in perfect focus but the dial guilloche (which I wanted to show) blurred enough to be useless.

Every photographer I've met whose photos I consider to be 'art' (good, in other words ) all say the same thing - it's not the camera, it's the subject / situation and the light. This is true - artistic photos often result from being in the right place at the right time, and any camera you have will have to do. But in the case of watch photography, we've got a defined desire for the photo (a clear, accurate image of the watch showing what it really looks like).

So - how do we do this guys? I was inspired for this thread by a reply from andy tims, whose photography is consistently superb. Oddly enough the other regular who I immediately think of when great photos are considered is andy_s, so that's two quality snappers called Andy. And I can't forget tertius, who is also one of the top dogs (his photos of his Zenith El Primero chronos are just sublime). No offence to the other regulars here who also take cracking photos, but these three are my favourites….

Please can everyone chip in with suggestions on how to take great watch shots. Focus (heh) on the type of camera being used. I have a D50 Nikon but can't achieve anything *like* the results Andy Tims does - his camera is better than mine but not by the proportion that his photos are better than mine.

Ideally I'd like this split into three classes - recommendations (from those who've had success) on how to get the best watch picture using:

• a smartphone camera (forget pre-3GS iPhones, the camera was beyond useless, but most modern phones can take acceptable photos done correctly)
• a typical point-and-shoot (e.g. Canon Ixus, that type of thing)
• a typical DSLR (an average one like my D50)

I'm assuming that anyone with an old SLR and film is an enthusiast and knows what they're doing. But most of us have cameraphones, most of us will have a digital point-and-shoot, and it appears that quite a few of us here have DSLRs. And many of those (like me, for example) are 'all the gear, no idea' and don't know how to use them properly.

Selfishly, I'd really appreciate tips on what settings to use with my D50 so I can just bung it on its tripod, arrange the watch in the position I want, adjust the focus manually so it's perfect, and take the photo. However I'm so inept that every time I try this, the camera makes some decisions for me… and I'm not skilled enough to use FULLY manual mode. So for DSLR muppets like me - which variables at a *minimum* do I need to adjust to get good watch pictures? I understand focus and exposure length. Do I need to know about aperture… and if so, what do I do? And how can I set my D50 to allow me to manually do focus and exposure (and whatever else is required for watches) but everything else is handled by the camera? It's a lot of questions, sorry if it's asking too much.

For point-and-shoot, you're going to be dependent on the camera's autofocus in most cases. The quality of the light will therefore have the biggest impact so tips on where best to actually *take* photos, and with the light from which direction, would be useful. I've found that using the flash always ruins a watch picture so manually turning off the flash with a point-and-shoot is essential - this often then needs a tripod to avoid shake. Some point-and-shoots have adjustment for exposure, aperture, colour balance (digital) etc. so tips on what can help here would be good.

For smartphones, there are fewer parameters to get really good photos. Bright natural light is best because the phone can take a short exposure time and this minimises shake. Any application that allows you to take a photo either timed after a delay, or by pressing a hardware button (and not pressing a touchscreen like the standard iPhone camera app) is valuable since you can then clamp the smartphone somewhere solid, turn off the flash and use a longer exposure without hand shake ruining it.


But I'd really like to take quality photos with my DSLR. If everyone chips in with top tips (and examples where necessary) then this thread could be a gold-mine of information for the entire forum, and even better - improve the average quality of posted photos. And that'll be superb, because there are people here with some utterly beautiful watches - and a real broad range of tastes - and sometimes I'm left thinking 'oooh - that looks like it'd be gorgeous but I can't tell from the photo'.

I'm about to start Project Lator and that will involve lots of photos, some of some exquisite detail. If I take the photos with my current skills and knowledge, the thread will be disappointing. I'd love to get *great* pictures of this.

And a fancy setup isn't needed. Yes, the SLR makes manual focus a bit easier and more wieldy. But I bet one of the Andys or tertius with my iPhone 4 would take a better picture of my watches than me with my DSLR. It's in the skill and knowing how to use the light, then knowing how to use the camera.


Basically, I know some of what I don't know - and that's more than half way there (there are, of course, the unknown unknowns, but I don't want to go there because I'll have that Rumsfeld explanation in my head and be laughing all afternoon). Industry and trade secrets aside, what are the best things to do? Especially if one has a DSLR?

Also to add to the above, can anybody tell me how to download said photographs to PhotoBucket without it timing out. When I use my wifes camera the photos are fair to good but the files are too big and wont download to photobucket. When I use my blackberry the files will download fast, but the quality is compromised.

TIA.

A polarising filter is often useful for controlling/reducing reflections.

HTH

Can you talk in a language that a 6 year old would understand, just for my benifit, before I go to Macro and buy some tubes.

Thanks.

I use a 40D, a 28mm F1.8 macro lens (longer would be better), and sometimes extension tubes (though in that case with a 50mm F1.8), a tripod and a matte light shade "box". I frequently use a mirror as a "prop"

All my pics pretty much are here.

The most important factor is light. Ideally you want a soft diffused light, rather than something harsh like the built in flash. Near a window is good, or use a piece of white paper to bounce light back.

If it's too dark, you'll risk the shutter speed being too low causing blur but too much light will cause harsh reflections off shiny parts of the watch so you may need to experiment.

Here's one I just shot in a hotel room with just a reading lamp and my iPhone. I also have a pro DSLR sitting just feet away, but no way to upload any shots till I'm back home next week. But hopefully you'll agree that decent shots are possible with basic equipment.



An SLR will give you more control, and access to better quality lenses including macro. The two key aspects here are shutter speed which has to be fast enough to make the image sharp, and aperture which controls how much of the image is in focus - ideally the watch is sharp with a nice creamy out of focus background. Both are directly linked, and there are plenty of tutorials on the net that describe this in more detail than I can on my phone :-)

Yes I do use a Nikon 60mm AF-D Macro lens, with my D90 (and previously the D40) but I've seen some amazing results with decent quality point & squirt camera on macro settings. That said, here are my tips for what they worth based mainly on using a DSLR.

Preparing the watch – Assuming it’s not filthy (in which case a gentle scrub with soap & an old tooth brush may be needed initially) clean the watch with a glasses cleaning cloth or similar & if you have one, use a photographers squeeze-bulb blower to get the residual dust off perhaps repeatedly if you’re taking several shoots. With macro, the watch that looked clean to the naked eye, can look filthy close up.
If possible mount the watch on a stand that allows you to tilt & rotate giving different angles. The odd straight on “full frontal” is OK, but they are a bit boring.
I usually shoot watches with the time showing 10 past 10 as this usually frames the manufacturers logo and does not obscure the date window, but this “rule” may need bending depending on dial layout. If I’m shooting from the crown side of the watch, I generally don’t want to see the crown pulled out, so the watch will be running & I try to pay attention to the position of the second hand, so it’s not obscuring any of the logo’s, the date window or the hour or minute hand. If the watch is running, I may take 3 or 4 shots on a single setting & then select the one with the most pleasing second hand position.

Mount the camera on a tripod & shoot using either an Infra-red remote, cable release or the timer to reduce camera shake at the point of firing. If your lens has any sort of image stabilisation / vibration control then disable this as on the tripod it has no “shake” to work against.
It's not necessary, but If you're going to buy a macro lens go for a 105mm or similar as my 60mm can be a bit limiting, especially if I also wanted to shoot insects etc. A 105mm lens gives you a greater working distance between the front of the lens to the subject at the closest focusing distance helping to avoid spooking those insects and reducing the chance of you blocking the light on the subject.
If you don’t want to buy, or make a lightbox use indirect natural light. I used to shoot outdoors, but apart from the odd looks I got from my neighbours, the biggest issue was dealing with unwanted reflections especially on watches with flat crystal & no anti-reflective coatings. I now favour the cill of a large window that gets very little direct sunlight, but creative use of reflection can be successful.
My camera settings are generally as follows (sorry for the use of some Nikon terminology for those using other makes)
I set the camera to aperture priority, letting the camera select the shutter speed. The ISO setting I choose depends on how much light is available. If possible I’ll go for ISO 200, but 250 or 320 are often necessary.
If your eyesight is good enough to focus manually, I’d do that. Mine’s not, so I use AF. On the D90 I select AF-S (single servo autofocus) as the focussing mode and the single point autofocus area mode. Then, by looking through the view finder I can alter the single focussing point to any of the 11 the D90 has, which (especially if I’m shooting the watch at an angle) may not be the centre of the picture.
Shooting in RAW format gives you the most post production options, but I’m using JPEG. However, to allow the picture to be cropped and stay sharp, use the largest / best quality file size the camera allows.
I use spot, or centre weighted exposure metering since I’m not interested in the backgrounds.

Once all of the above are taken care of the main variable (and how you’ll take most creative control) is the aperture setting. Apart from controlling the amount of light hitting the sensor, the aperture setting controls the depth of field. Higher aperture settings (lower f numbers) give more light and a shallower depth of field. A very shallow depth of field is fine if the watch is either perpendicular to the camera (which is good if you want to get some really tight crops of parts of the dial) or you deliberately want just part to the watch in focus. With a macro lens, very shallow DoF will be achieved from f/2 to about f/7. Generally, with the watch at a slight angle & when I want the whole watch in focus I’ll use f/9 to f/12 and if I want a deeper DoF, I might go as far as f/36
One thing to remember about using a remote, or the timer is that unwanted extra light will get into the camera through the view finder, when you don’t have your eye to it, so block the view finder off, with either a proprietary accessory, a small bit of card, or your hand held close.

The main thing with a digital camera is to experiment with different settings especially aperture & ISO and see which combination gives the best results.

I’m not much into to post production and have only recently invested in Photoshop elements, so can’t give many tips on using software. However, what I have learned includes; When cropping, try not to leave the complete watch dead centre of the shot and if sharpening, don’t over-do it. Zoom in to check you haven’t over-pixelated the shot.

Here are a few pics to help explain the use of aperture settings to control depth of field

Use of shallow DoF

In this shot I wanted just the crown detail in sharp focus, so I used f/4.2

it could have been sharper

Here I just wanted part of the bezel in focus so I used f/8


Use of deeper DoF

Despite the angle, pretty well the whole watch head is in focus here using f/36


and here I wanted all the detail sharp, but had the watch more perpendicular and used f/22


I hope that’s of some help. I’m really no photography expert. Whilst my results are not bad, they have improved significantly in the last few months, having read my camera's manual (and the book Nikon D90 for Dummies) and tried lots of different settings I now know with practice, what most likely to get decent pictures. However, to put my efforts into perspective, just look at this guy’s work.

http://www.watchwallpapers.com/

Wow. Impressed.

Digital zoom = never. Better off taking photo and using software later to zoom in.

No idea on the rest.

I can't take good wrist shots to save my life & could use some specific tips on that if anyone has any please?