# Feeling Inspired



## MarkDavey (Jan 9, 2009)

Having seen the rather lovely photos in Mr Toshi's new Rolex thread I felt inspired to spend a bit more time and try and learn a bit more about creating some better photos myself.

So first of all I had a quick go at knocking up a homemade cardboard box lightbox (as described in the brilliant tutorial buy stonedeaf) and then spent a bit of time with the camera set to manual (and the 710 set to flabbergasted - I think she thinks I've seriously flipped  ) and managed the following...














































I realise there is still some at lot of refinement to be had (Rome wasn't built in a day...) but I was quite pleased with the results as I'm quite new to this lark :lol:


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Very good ! 

You have set your camera up well,

I still struggle with my settings 

Very crisp, you should be able to reduce the reflections in the dial of the box even more with different positioning of the watch....


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## Tom Radford (Apr 28, 2009)

Very nice. I agree about the reflections, they are a bit distracting on a couple of the pictures. but apart from that. Great job.

Some people dont like the long exposure with the sweeping second hand, But I've always liked it when done well. If you are going for that look, I might have been tempted to go for a slightly longer exposure of maybe 10-15 seconds though.

Put the aperture up to f/11 or maybe higher to get a slightly longer exposure to make the sweeping hand more of a feature.

Most of these shots appear to be shot at around f/4 or f/6.3 with exposures of 4 seconds. so just play around with a smaller aperture.


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## MarkDavey (Jan 9, 2009)

Thanks for the advice Tom, as stated I'm really new to this so it's a steep learning curve....but practice makes perfect!

Unfortunately for me my camera is only a compact (Canon G7) and has a maximum aperture setting of F8 so I'll give that a go next time


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## thunderbolt (May 19, 2007)

Superb photos, very impressive. :thumbsup:


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## Tom Radford (Apr 28, 2009)

MarkDavey said:


> Thanks for the advice Tom, as stated I'm really new to this so it's a steep learning curve....but practice makes perfect!
> 
> Unfortunately for me my camera is only a compact (Canon G7) and has a maximum aperture setting of F8 so I'll give that a go next time


As its a compact, then F/8 is probably fine. Those shots at f/4 show how different compacts and DSLR's are. If I took a shot of that watch at F/4 on my DSLR, only a tiny bit would be in focus, yet on a compact the whole thing is in sharp focus. To scientific for me to work out but its all to do with the sensor size and depth of field they produce I think. For a compact they are great shots!


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## Guz (Apr 7, 2008)

Great stuff


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## stonedeaf (Dec 3, 2008)

MarkDavey said:


> Having seen the rather lovely photos in Mr Toshi's new Rolex thread I felt inspired to spend a bit more time and try and learn a bit more about creating some better photos myself.
> 
> So first of all I had a quick go at knocking up a homemade cardboard box lightbox (as described in the brilliant tutorial buy stonedeaf) and then spent a bit of time with the camera set to manual (and the 710 set to flabbergasted - I think she thinks I've seriously flipped  ) and managed the following...
> 
> ...


Pleased the tutorial was of value but I can't take any credit for your snaps which are great :thumbsup:

As for the reflections I have two boxes - one of which is sprayed black inside which I find helps with black and dark coloured dials which act like mirrors especially with curved crystals.

The only other option is move, move and move the watch again to try to avoid the worst.

This is for me the most difficult thing about watch photography :wallbash:

All we can ever do is keep trying and hope something clicks eventually - keep up the good work


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## MarkDavey (Jan 9, 2009)

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments 

And stonedeaf, painting the inside black is a cracking idea, I'll have a go at that next time


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## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Well done with those, the best I can manage is point and shoot :thumbsup:


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## mattbeef (Jul 17, 2008)

Looking good mate, makes me want to pull my finger out and get some decent snaps of my little collection


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## Zephod (Nov 15, 2006)

Well done those are great , I to need to make up a light box !


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## oddgitt (Mar 19, 2008)

I'm jealous :bb:


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