Time

[Mark von Kanel]

Terry,

Thanks for that, extremely informative. This is an area of photography i want to pursue, ive tried it a couple of times using natural light and had a devil of a time capturing anything acceptable. Somthing for my project 52 when i get home maybe???

I have a couple of beautiful watches to try this on, would you be willing to advise me when i try?

im curious to know how you got the watch bracelet to keep its shape?

Someone i know wanted to sell a rolex on ebay. I actually like her quite a lot so i didnt fall out when she said ive only got a point and shoot, youve got a good camera, can you just take a quick snap of my watch for ebay!!!

It Was the day before i was leaving for my ship...... i hadnt any time to dig lights out.... but it took 4 sodding hours to achive the following which is awful.




Im looking forward to achieving the kind of results that you do!

Thanks for sharing.

[Loose Canon]

Glad to post it Mark. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for getting your watches in front of your lens.

It does take some “time” to get things set up and happening of course. But that’s what its all about with this kind of shooting and what I consider the fun and certainly where you learn the down and dirty details about lighting. Once done it only takes the length of a shutter release for the final shot (well, unless you are going to composite).

For me, once I get into the shoot, I get totally lost in it to the exclusion of everything else. That’s a place I like to be! At least I’m not worrying about whether or not the electric bill is due!

To keep the watchband in shape I cut a rectangular piece of clear plastic orange juice jug. I cut it just a bit narrower than the watch bracelet and the length about half the circumference so that it wouldn’t go all the way around the bracelet. I didn’t want the camera to “see” any of it because I didn’t want to have to deal with that in post. I slipped it under the face and when I clamped the watch to the flex arm I made sure I had the piece of plastic in the clamp and nicely positioned to give the bracelet some curve. The plastic was stiff enough to push against the band to retain shape but flexible enough to bend in a half circle. If you look at the last BTS shot of the watch itself you will see at the top of the frame where the bracelet isn’t completely rounded and makes a kind of inverted “v” shape. That’s where the piece of plastic ended on that side of the watch face. That was cool because I knew I was going to crop tight and that part wasn’t going to show in the final version. I didn’t need a lot of the band in the shot. All I needed was just enough to show what it is and no more since it is all the same. If you see a little of it, you’ve seen it all and know what it looks like! That way I was able to give the watch face center stage!

And that was a darned astute question if I might say Mark. These are the details that make or break a shot!

A big part of this kind of photography (probably all of it) boils down to problem solving. I find that no matter how well I try to envision what it is going to take to pull it off I always run into issues I have to solve “on the fly”! But again this is part of the fun!

The answer is always “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome”!

The idea is “Have Fun Doing It”!

[allenlennon]

Terry, this belongs in their catalogue! Great shot! Your time, effort and patience(what ever little you may have left) has well and truly paid off!

[rudi]

Thanks Terry for posting the BTS shots. Very informative, and educational.

[Loose Canon]

Allen, thank you sir. One heckuva thing coming from the Master of Illusion himself! I have one last frayed nerve left, which is one more frayed nerve than Wifey-Poo has left!

You’re welcome Rudi. Happy to do it.

[allenlennon]

Terry, I think your either very tired or drunk to call me a great master of illusions! Hahaha