# Hamilton Microrotor



## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

I must say I find good movement shots very difficult. My first difficulty is getting everything into focus (I am using f6.3 to f8 to get a bit of depth of field). The second difficulty, as always, is lighting. The other thing that I find difficult is to get the "mood" or feel into a pic. ming and Jocke make it look very easy. I need to practice more I'm afraid.

Anyway this is the movement from my Hamilton.


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

Si


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

don't be so self critical Si, they are fantastic shots.


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

They are indeed fantastic shots of a fantastic looking watch - very minimalist









Wish my photos were anything like as good as these


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Nothing wrong with your pictures Si, they convey a lot.

Stunning watch you have there.


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

Thanks for the +ve remarks but I have a long way to go. I don't mean to be self critical but I know if I was to give the exact equipment and lighting I have to for instance Ming (on t'other lot) they would do so much better. And that pisses me off.









To me none of the above pics are right at all. I know they do the basic job of showing you what is there but I want to make it appear as it does to me, ie beautiful! Whereas my pics seem to nothing but highlight defects.

This whole image manipulation business adds a whole other dimension that I sadly to not have the time to explore!

I use a programme (free BTW) called Gimp for editing, as my fisrt choice of editor does not run my antique puter. It is a free programme and I cannot believe how complex it is. This thing must have taken years to put together - are there any other Gimp users out there as I could use some help with add-on compoments?


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Better a bit lighter Si.


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

Well OK, I was going for the mean and moody look though!

More seriously, one thing about my pics of this movement is that they miss the whole point of taking pics of it in the first place. Why? Because the special thing about this movement and the watch that contains it is how slim it is and the pics say nothing about that.

Any suggestions as to how to take a pic of the above movement with some sort of reference object to show the scale?



















Thin as a whippet.

Si


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

They are great pics Si, but I do know what you mean: sometimes when I take photos of watches they get good comments, but I still have the feeling that they did not quite capture what I wanted to convey.









I would suggest that if you wanted to convey how slim the watch was, then include somthing that everyone instinctively knows the thinness of. Then viewers can see the thinness of both items, and can make the comparison without thinking about it. Including a scale or ruler always seems too artificial for everything except maybe insurance purposes.

For me, the last set of photos probably did just that. By including part of the watch strap and the plastic of the watch holder, you gave us the sort of comparison needed to see that the watch was slim. as we all know how thin the typical leather strap and plastic display holder is.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Si,

Did you see this thread about Gimp?

Cheers

Paul


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2004)

They are all great pics Simon.

Regarding watch pics I always find that because the size is so magnified you tend to see every imperfection that is invisible to the naked eye.


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

Thanks all!

No Paul, hadn't seen that thread. I like this one:



















I have only scratched the surface of Gimp - it is incredibly complex and I need to figure out levels, curves, and all sorts. A bit like Linux, it suits those who already know a bit about this sort of thing, which I don't! For instance there are some extensions for Gimp available, eg one which allows use of Canon .crw RAW files. Howver, installing this extension is beyond me as I know nothing about C, compilers and all that stuff.

Si


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