concentric banding on the Nautica dial. It sort of has a "retro" Arte Deco look to it.


technoguy

...your photography is SUPERB. It's getting better all the time. Those photos of the Nautica and the Timex Auto are Incredible. That blue seconds hand on the Timex almost looked like it had a neon interior. Great Job.

Dorsey H.

I guess that's my next favorite hobby, other than collecting watches.

Cheers,

Ed

Ed,

I want to tell you that this work is really excellent. I have a BS in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and your shots easily surpass the work of many fine studio photographers. How long have you been shooting? Are you working only with digital technology now? How do you like it compared to "analogue" or continuous tone film based photography? Can I ask about your set-up? How are you diffusing the light and what kind of light are you using? Do you work with any digital photography s/w like Photoshop, etc? If so, how much and what minds of adjustments to you make?

I hope you don't mind all the questions but you've piqued my interest with these remarkable photographs.

Thanks,

Mike K.

First of all, I have been a photography "nut" for most of my adult life! In the late '60's, I took a correspondence course in photograph. I sent them the money and they sent me the books! It was a self-taught thing. For a number of years, I had a photography sideline business. However, I main occupation soon led to it's demise.

About 5 years ago I bought my first digital camera and was into watch collecting pretty deep. Prior to that I was strictly a "film" man! That's when I started doing watch photography.

Here's my setup: My camera is a Nikon Coolpix L3 with 5.1 megapixels; a 3x zoom; and a macro feature.

My original light box was made from a cardboard shipping box from WAl-Mart (approximately 14x14x14 inches. I cut off one of the ends; sealed the other end; then created two cutouts with a 1.5' border and used cotton pillow covers(cheap from Dollar General) cut to fit the two side openings. This is my light diffuser for this box. I also used a glue stick and lined the interior of the box with white paper to improve the light dispersion.

I also have a Digital Concepts Portable Light Studio (light tent) which I purchased on a close-out at WAl-Mart. It came with two portable lights, which I don't use because you can't get natural light bulbs for it..Insead, I use the light described below. I used this setup for the Nautica & Timex Auto pix.

For lighting, I went to Lowe's Building Supply and purchased two 8 inch portable light reflectors with the big squeeze clips. I can mount these on the top of a chair back and aim it at the light tent. I then installed the "Reveal" brand natural lighting 40 watt bulbs for them. The Reveal bulbs do not distort the natural colors and therefore require very little color correction.

I have studied many different lighting techniques and then experimented with differnt light positions; differend backgrounds, etc, until I get a result that I like.

Here are some other of my pix with different backgrounds, etc. BTW, I get some of my backgrounds from Michaels Crafts which sells big 12 inch squares of paper with various pictures, textures and colors.
1966 Timex 600ft Diver:

Here's a WW2 Repro Sexton watch with a little manipulation from my GIMP program:

Luminox Navy Seals Diver:

Here's a Casio Super Illuminator using one of the paper backgrounds from Michael's"

And here's a shot of the LED illumination system on the above Casio; just a quick shot in the dark:

This is a pic of a watch I "created" from Timex parts and installed a new Chinese automatic; the case is a 1979 all stainless steel; dial is Great Britain; I also manipulated the lighting effect with the GIMP program:

Here's another with a paper background from Michaels; the Seiko "Orange Monster" on the sand dunes of a beach:

And a rainbow background of this Timex "Solor" Shock watch, I used Picasa soft focus to blur the background:

A little B&W 1930's retro action on this "Curvex" style watch:


That's 'nuff for now. Yes, Mike, I use two graphic manipulation programs; first the GIMP program which comes with Linux by default. (I use the Linux operating system exclusively) I also use the Google Picasa program, which is great for cleaning up color corrections; sharpness; contrast; lighting, etc.

I try to use as little graphic manipulation as possible. But, I want the watches to show true colors, etc.

Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, let me know.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Cheers,

Ed

Those are some cool watches. I guess I'm out of excuses for not having a light box now.

MikeyT
In the Thumb of Michigan

Vostok Tank Commanders watch. Sorry for the confusion. Here is the 600ft Timex diver:


Cheers,

Ed

and capture the essence of the timepiece. I really like the way you handle the elements of composition and the watch's relationship to the background. Many times it can be difficult to maintain an even balance between background and foreground relationships and you have clearly mastered this. I also am impressed by the use of high key vs. low key lighting. The photographs of the Nautica and the new Timex automatic evoke a sense of sophistication drawing attention to the minute details of the watch revealing real clarity. There is also a certain personality that you can attribute to the watch through low key lighting. On the other hand, the high key lighting used to photograph the Seiko Orange Monster and the Timex Solar Shock reveal a different "personality" about the watches. Not so much sophistication but utility, versatility, fun, etc. I suppose it would be analogous to the low key lighting techniques used in the great Film Noir depictions of the 30's and 40's vs. the high key techniques used in most of the MGM musicals of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. It's really quite something.

It's also nice to see a great deal of thought used to handle composition, specifically The Rule of Thirds which essentially divides the frame into three equal sections allowing the placement of objects in the frame for the most effective "message" and lead space, which suggests more space leading the object in the frame creating a much more holistic balance.

I assume you shoot with manual settings. How do you handle Depth of field concerns? Do you ever manipulate the lighting instruments with colored gels, etc.? Just curious.

I look forward with anticipation to seeing more of your photographs. I think it would be interesting for the Forum members to maybe see some more "defined" examples of these particular techniques. For instance, shooting the same watch with the same exact composition but with varying and different lighting extremes, etc. I hope you don't find me presumptuous in suggesting this. I am always interested in how meaning is conveyed through the visual media. It is really a fascinating area of study.

Thanks again, Ed, for sharing your talents and techniques. I can't wait to see more of the photographs that you have made.

Mike K.