Well this is going to be the first in a series of small articles related to watch photography. I hope that you find this post helpful and feel free to offer any other suggestions if I slip up anywhere. I am still a novice, but have been hit hard by the shutter bug.
Anyhow, on to how I photographed my 1950 in the previous review and the desktop wallpapers on the way.
Essential Equipment:
Tripod (a must)
Light box - You can either buy one form a photography store or make your own. I chose this one as its collapsable.
A few different light sources - I used some inexpensive fluorescent swing arm lights I had lying around.
A cleaning cloth - ESSENTIAL
and finally some patience.
To make life easy I setup my lightbox on a simple chair, but left the front wide open. Leaving the front open will help to avoid drastic reflection lines on the watch case, should you be shooting polished surfaces. To enhance the reflection and avoid your background, I usually dim all the light behind me. However by doing so, it is recommended you setup a tripod. Once the lightbox has been setup, I place a black velvet cloth to line the back and the bottom of the lightbox. I find this assists with the look of the picture and avoids further unwanted reflection. I then swing my lights into place - one on the left, right and top although I recommend you move them around for further effect. If your camera is very sensitive, you may only need 1 or 2 lights. Unfortunately I am running older technology which limits my performance and my camera requirements.
Here are some pics of the setup:
After I set the time to 10:09, I cleaned the watch surface with my cloth and placed the subject into the lightbox. Please note that I used an OEM watch stand which can be moved on three axis. Needless to say I would recommend picking up something similar to make life easy for you. While in the box, I usually play around with the pose and position of the watch to avoid any reflection lines across the crystal. Often a few millimeters left/right or up/down will make a huge difference, and avoiding reflections in your crystal improves the quality of your shot.
Now the fun really begins. So after you have setup, you will need to spend some time to learn your camera and its limitations well. Like all equipment certain digital cameras are better than others but it is up to you to know how to use it. My Olympus E-10 is a first generation 4mp digital SLR which comes with many functions and presets but I only use the manual mode for more control of the pictures. The macro feature on mine is somewhat limited at a distance of 8", but it works out as you don't want the lens to be too close to the crystal anyway. If you are too close to your watch, then it is inevitable that the camera will be reflecting on the watch which is not what you want to be doing. Play around with the angles and the camera distance which works best to avoid reflection, then perform a manual white balance. Check your manual on how to do this, but it is essestial or your pics may turn out either too blue or too orange in hue. By white balancing you will set your camera to see the true color of the subject. Next you need to determine both the shutter speed and the aperature setting (if you are using the manual feature that is). Please refer below for the basics on these critical settings. For my shots, I used an exposure range between 1/20 - 1/100 for full lighting, and about 4 second exposure for the dark lum shot. Aperature ranged from 2.8-5.6m with and ISO of 80. I will say that I probably shot about 30-50 pics in various settings until I had the results I liked. Your camera may handle lighting differently and as such you will need to take a few test shots before you jump in head first. Try and get as close to focusing on the dial markings or hands, unless you are trying to capture another element of the watch (ie/strap).
As a final suggestion, I would recommend to use a timer feature on your camera while on the tripod to ensure that there is NO movement in the exposure. Even the slight movement of your finger on the shutter button could result in blurry pictures. If you have a shutter remote, then use that for ease. Trust me there is nothing worse than taking 30-40 pics only to find that 1/2 are garbage due to movement.
Well, thats pretty much it for now, but Part 3 - Post Processing in Photoshop will follow soon. Below you will also find a small article on the basic of photography.
best
K
Photography 101
Shutter Speed:
The shutter speed is a term used to describe how long the shutter of the camera will stay open for any given exposure. Most cameras on the market use whole numbers to represent the shutter speeds, even though what they really mean is the fraction of that given number. For instance, common shutter speeds are 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500 and 1000 but what they really mean is : 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000th of a second. Hence if you use a 1/1000th exposure setting you camera shutter it will let in the least amount of light and is considered your "fast" speed. Likewise your 1 settings will stay open the longest and let in more light, which is considered your slow speed. I should also note there is a "B" setting for shutter speed as well. The "B" or (bulb) setting is special in the sense that the camera's shutter will stay open indefinately, up to the limitations of your specific camera.
Shutter speed plays a crucial role in the quality and clarity of your photos. The general rule is that the faster an object is moving, and the less blur you wish to have, the faster the shutter speed you will need. For instance if you were at the Formula one race you may wish to choose a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second. This will in essence freeze time in a single fraction of a second. However you may need to practice and experiment with this a little until you get a feel for your camera, as well as making sure you have enough light for the given exposure. Sometime you may even wish to use a slower shutter speed to blur the object in question for effect. When in doubt try taking the same picture with a few differnt variations, as this should at least produce one or two decent pictures.
For most watch photography, this becomes somewhat simplified as your object is usually never moving. It is important to note that the longer the exposure, the more critical it becomes to either brace yourself to keep the camera from shaking or the need to use a tripod.
For "Luminous" shots you may need to resort to the "B" setting of your camera. B stands for "Bulb" which means that the camera will stay open as long as you hold the shutter button down. Some cameras (like mine) are limited in how long the shutter will remain open, so you will need to refer to your camera manual. Needless to say "B" is always used with a tripod to hold the camera still, and a cable release (or timer) to trigger the shutter. If you’ve ever seen photos where car lights are streaking across the road, they were made with long "B" exposures. Luminous shots can vary, but you will need to play around with the settings until you get the hang of your camera's capabilities.
Aperture:
The best way to explain the aperture is to compare it with the pupil in your eye. The aperature is essentially a mechanical "iris" inside of the lens that opens/closes to control the amount of light that passes through the lens. A "wide open" aperture gathers all the light the lens is capable of. A "stopped down" aperture lets the smallest amount of light pass through the lens. Compare it to your eyes: in the dark, your pupils will open wide to gather light; in bright light, your pupils close to cut back on the amount of light entering your eye. Same thing with your camera.
Apertures are expressed in ratios, or the focal length of the lens over the effective optical diameter of the lens. This is also commonly called the "f-stop". In photography, "aperture" and "f-stop" are pretty much the same thing. An aperture might be expressed as "1:5.6" in deference to this ratio definition, but it’s more commonly called "5.6" or "f5.6".
The common available apertures of a camera lens are: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22. Just like shutter speeds it should be noted that every other number is double / half the next. What this means is that each aperture or f-stop lets in half as much or twice as much light as the adjacent stop. The maximum aperture on many cameras is 2.8. This 2.8 setting lets in the most light, and is sometimes called "wide open" or the "fastest aperture", while the opposite is true of your "highest" number. You will need to refer to your manual to check the range of your camera lens. For instance, my Olympus has a range of 2.4-11.
In addition to controlling the amount of light that passes through the lens, the aperture also controls the"depth of field". Simply put depth of field is the expansion of the plane of focus into a zone of "acceptable sharpness". A wide open aperture like 2.8 has narrow depth of field while a "slow" aperture like 22 has very broad depth of field. What the heck does this mean? Well basically if your depth of field is narrow your objects behind the focus point will be blurry. And example of this, is if you are taking a pic of your watch on its side and focusing on the dial, your strap will most likely be out of focus or blurry. Likewise if you have an aperature of a higher setting, your depth of field will be wide and therefore will keep everything in relative focus. Again you will need to play around with your settings for the desired results. Sometimes i prefer to use a narrow depth of field for effect.
Film Speed (ISO):
Film speed is a rating of a film’s sensitivity to light, hence a film with an ISO of 800 is very sensitive to light, while a film with an ISO of 25 is not very sensitive to light. Film speed is generally a little weird for digital cameras as they are usually very limited in settings. For instance my camera only has 3 settings: 80,160,320. It should be noted that digital cameras (unless higher end models) handle anything higher than 100 poorly and your results will be grainy. This is not what you want at all, and for watch photography I suggest using your lowest ISO setting and playing around with lighting, aperature and exposure to compensate. To help with these settings, ever time you double the film speed, it’s like adding one f-stop or one shutter speed to your exposure.
Proper exposure is a function of at least 3 things: Shutter speed, Aperture and Film speed. Below you will find a link to a site which explains the settings in depth.
http://www.silverlight.co.uk/tutorials/compose_expose/exposure1.html
Composition and the Rule of Thirds:
If you have no photography background or skills the most usefull advice I can give you is to observe the "Rule of Thirds". The help explain what this means, think of a grid overlaying the frame of your composition divided by 3 horizontally and vertically. Best way to imaging this is to think of a tic tac toe board. Focus your subject in the middle of the frame, encased by the outter third perimeter. Most shots will look balanced and good if you stick to this.
"Veritatem dies aperit."
I hope this is a good read with your morning coffee.
