# Watch Photos



## A/Ox4 (Feb 7, 2017)

Hello! 
So a client of mine asked me to take some photos of a couple watches of his that he is selling. He is a real estate agent, and normally I photograph homes for him. I have exactly zero experience with product photography, give or take an intagram food shot or two. 

So, here is some of what I've come up with. He is very pleased, and I think they came out pretty well. My biggest limitation was my lens. I shot with a Tamron 24-70, which is by NO means a Macro lense and doesnt have a great near focusing distance for something like this. That led to some pretty heavy cropping, but enough detail was resolved that I think for some sale listing photos this will do well. However, I had fun with this, and think I may expand my services to include this if anyone were to inquire, so a more appropriate lens, and better props would be in order. 

Other than that, can anyone give me any tips? I'm also not very strong in Photoshop, which some scrutiny over a few of these photos will undoubtedly reveal.

Tips and comments always welcomed.
Thanks in advance.


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## Derrel (Feb 7, 2017)

I've seen a lot better watch photography; done by experts in the field, with the best macro lenses, the best lights, gobos,reflectors, fill cars, mirrors, posing putty, and grip gear galore. Yours come in at about a 75 out of 100 compared to those guys. I see a little bit of softness on one, and a slight bit of perhaps les-than-perfect DOF on one, but damn!!! The pictures, the emotional feel for the watches--pretty good! Shots 1,3,and 9 (by my numering idea) are pretty good! I think you did very well considering using a not-the-quite-right lens type..and if you *once had*  "zero experience" as you say in product photography, you might want to consider yourself as having some kind of knack for this...because these are suprisingly compelling to me, and I'm not even a watch guy.

You've shot these with pretty good reflection control! Surprisingly GOOD shots for a person who's not a product shooter! I mean G.G, if you had a 90mm or 105mm macro lens you'd be dangerous!


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## A/Ox4 (Feb 8, 2017)

Derrel said:


> I've seen a lot better watch photography; done by experts in the field, with the best macro lenses, the best lights, gobos,reflectors, fill cars, mirrors, posing putty, and grip gear galore. Yours come in at about a 75 out of 100 compared to those guys. I see a little bit of softness on one, and a slight bit of perhaps les-than-perfect DOF on one, but damn!!! The pictures, the emotional feel for the watches--pretty good! Shots 1,3,and 9 (by my numering idea) are pretty good! I think you did very well considering using a not-the-quite-right lens type..and if you *once had*  "zero experience" as you say in product photography, you might want to consider yourself as having some kind of knack for this...because these are suprisingly compelling to me, and I'm not even a watch guy.
> 
> You've shot these with pretty good reflection control! Surprisingly GOOD shots for a person who's not a product shooter! I mean G.G, if you had a 90mm or 105mm macro lens you'd be dangerous!


That's quite a compliment. Thank you. 

I truly had no idea what I'm doing here, and I started with the metallic watch. Boy was it a relief when I moved onto the leather watch...

I shot this with a $30 speed light on my desk in my office. My reflector was a sun shade from my girlfriend's car because my reflector was in her trunk, and her sun shade was on my office. Go figure. The red background is a spare bed sheet, and the white is printer paper. I had the watches suspended on a dismantled floor lamp that broke a while ago, and kept the watch bands opened with cut up strips of a toilet paper roll. It was a pretty Hodge podge setup.





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## Derrel (Feb 8, 2017)

OMG--the above photos are about 10x more impressive now that I see what you used to shoot these with. I envisioned about another $500 worth of stuff. Seriously...I envisioned an Alien Bee 400 monolight and a $100 3x4 foot softbox and some putty and some fishing line and some plexi...etc. Wow...

But surely you had a $1.49 sheet of Office Depot poster paper for the white seamless backdrop sweep, right?


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## Cody'sCaptures (Feb 8, 2017)

Awesome shots. Love the diy set up! I remember seeing somewhere that watch product shots are normally at 10:10:30 idk why


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## pixmedic (Feb 8, 2017)

must be a good agent if hes wearing IWC and Vacheron. 

these are just fine for watch sales. plenty of detail showcasing the condition of the watch.


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## tirediron (Feb 8, 2017)

Cody'sCaptures said:


> Awesome shots. Love the diy set up! I remember seeing somewhere that watch product shots are normally at 10:10:30 idk why


Because in most watches the brand name is upper center; having the hands at this position ensures it's not obscured.


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## A/Ox4 (Feb 8, 2017)

Cody'sCaptures said:


> Awesome shots. Love the diy set up! I remember seeing somewhere that watch product shots are normally at 10:10:30 idk why


I read that too. But with them being expensive, I didn't want to fiddle with them.

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## A/Ox4 (Feb 25, 2017)

Derrel said:


> But surely you had a $1.49 sheet of Office Depot poster paper for the white seamless backdrop sweep, right?



No seamless backdrops. Just printer paper off my desk. 


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## K Bonds (Mar 13, 2017)

Shots are really good and your ingenuity is even more impressive. I do find the softness in some places a bit undesirable but the overall feel of the images is great.  


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