# Geting There ..........Slowly



## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

Never been happy with my watch shots







Never seen to get the colours right despite trying different set ups. The watches I see against a black back drop always seem to work for me so I thought I would have one last go with a complete new set up. Still room for improvement but I think I have hit on the answer with a bit more tinkering.





































Mike


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## MarkDavey (Jan 9, 2009)

They look cracking shots Mike - love those :yes:

....and the watches ain't bad either


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## Agent orange (Feb 11, 2006)

Definitely getting there Mike :yes:. May I suggest a slightly longer exposure and / or bouncing a little light to catch some of the textures.










I really must try my 176.0012 on a mesh.

Cheers,

Gary


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## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

Agent orange said:


> Definitely getting there Mike :yes:. May I suggest a slightly longer exposure and / or bouncing a little light to catch some of the textures.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for your input Garry, what did you do to my picture to "brighten" it up.

These were taken with a flash set up over a light tent and a small slave flash that was suppose to fill in the lower parts of the watch but did not really do a lot h34r:

I need to spend a bit more time with it, these shots were a very quick try out and as such O.K compared to previous efforts spending ages at it and still not being that satisfied :wallbash:

Mike


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## mjolnir (Jan 3, 2006)

MIKE said:


>


I love the way the light plays on a plexiglass crystal like this. Always seems to give it such a warm look. Nice moody photo you have there :yes:

My camera skills are nothing compared with the experts on the forum but i'd assume that Gary played around with the contrast/shadows in Photoshop. If you play with the colours a bit you can take out the yellow hue, make it more natural and bring out the lume colour a bit more. Hope you don't think i'm being picky. It's not like my photo's are that good.


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## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

mjolnir said:


> Hope you don't think i'm being picky


No not in the slightest Rob, thankfull for any pointers B)

I was trying to avoid Photoshop but maybe time to fully embrace the digital age 

Mike


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## smartidog (Feb 28, 2009)

Hi Mike,

Shots look good,but like me I had just got back into photography, have a new dlsr and trying

to learn the ropes. Beauty about digital is you can just keep practising and I is instant and costs you

nothing, and looking at the photo properties on computer tells you exposure etc so you can tweak accordingly

next time.

Don't know what photo editor that you use, but I use picasa, if you don't have it, its a free download

from google. Keep up the good work mate,know what its like seems to be so much to learn to get them just right

some of the guys pics on here are awesome.

Jon


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## Agent orange (Feb 11, 2006)

MIKE said:


> Thanks for your input Garry, what did you do to my picture to "brighten" it up.


As Rob guessed I just fiddled about with shadows, highlights and mid tone contrast in photoshop elements. Nothing technical, just to lift your pic a little.

Personally I just use natural light and bounce it around my subject using bits of white card, to try and capture the textures. I find it amazing what a difference a few pieces of card strategically placed can make. All that flash and light tent malarky would probably make my feeble brain implode :blush:.

Here's a couple of snaps of my Heath Robinson set up, no laughing though .



















These days I don't bother with the DIY infinity stage (black polyboard L shaped thingy to the rest of us). I have got a light tent but I find it too fiddly and time consuming to set up. I used it once and it's been gathering dust ever since, yet another wise ebay investment, but not! :blush:

Cheers,

Gary


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Mike, you could for a start just try using a sheet/piece of kitchen foil under the holder to lighten the bottom of the watch, if it looks too much try an A4 sheet of paper.

Its all in the way you paint the light onto your subject....patience and a lot of experimentation works wonders


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## enbee23 (Nov 9, 2007)

Agent orange said:


> MIKE said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for your input Garry, what did you do to my picture to "brighten" it up.
> ...


O/T, sorry.

I spy an old Session in the background there, fairly takes me back unk:

Which model is it?


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## stonedeaf (Dec 3, 2008)

MIKE said:


> Never been happy with my watch shots
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> ...


Hi Mike,

There are some really excellent shots there - don't be at all despondent :thumbsup:

Like you I prefer a Black background but it's quite difficult to control. The Bane of my life are reflections which just seem to appear from nowhere :wallbash:

I agree with what's been said about keeping it simple but I always use a home made light box and a couple of cheap B&Q Task lights and use these to pick up the texture of the case.

I'm no expert by any means but copy what others have done and try to replicate even if it may not be my style - it helps to build up your knowledge base. As has been said keep trying and experimenting it only costs a bit of time and it's never wasted.

I've just posted some snaps Here which I'm quite pleased with and would welcome criticism on - always room for improvement. :derisive:

Regarding Photoshop I embrace it especially "Auto Colour" for tungsten lighting and unsharp mask since my originals are always a bit "soft" Highlight and shadows is also very useful. :wink2:

Another VERY important element is cleanliness - try and polish and remove as much dust and finger marks etc as you can - a camera vacuum is indispensable for this.

I'm never sure where it's best to publish snaps and usually restrict mine to posts about watches rather than this forum but I may change since this forum seems to be getting a little more attention lately .

Keep up the good work and hope to see some more examples soon :cheers: :cheers:


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## brgkster (Jul 14, 2009)

i picked up a bridge camera, then i joined night classes, so hopefully i may be able to post some pics by christmas, atm i am possibly the worst photographer in munster, if by christmas i become the 5th worst that will be a big improvement.


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2009)

Hi Mike.

Do you have a "Ring flash' that fits on the front of the lens? Sometimes with close-up work a ring flash can give better lighting.

Have you thought about shooting in 'Black & White' mode?

I borrowed your photo and converted it to black & white - see below.










Regards

Rabbit :thumbsup:


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## Matt B (Nov 10, 2009)

very impressed - i wish i had the patience and skill


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## paulh123 (Nov 6, 2009)

I suffer with close up's thats why i just use daylight. One of my old Speedy.


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