Please critique these photos?

[Willieboy]

One of my photography interests is taking pictures of my modest watch collection and then posting the pictures on various watch forums. I just took pics of two watches using my new D5100. The camera was set on the macro setting, flash was automatic, the 18-55mm kit lens was zoomed all the way in and the lens was about 18 inches from the subject. My observation is that the watches do not look as crisp and sharp as I would like. Please tell me what you think?

Mods. if I have done something wrong in posting pics here, please delete the post and move it to a more suitable forum.

Thanks for looking.

 

[TCampbell]

Yep - if you read the description of the forum it tells you that if you want critique that you should post the images in one of the galleries. Don't worry... the mods can move it.

When photographing shiny metals, keep in mind that the metal is basically a "mirror". A "mirror" really has no color of it's own... it just reflects whatever is around it. Surround it with black and your metal is just going to look black. You can increase the light all you want... it'll still be black.

To fix, surround the watch in white. You could also surround the watch with some solid white cardboard or foam-core boards. Shine lighting on the boards so that the white surface is well-lit. This will cause the watch to pick up the "white" of the boards and cause the silver to look whiter even thought the watch is laying on black fabric (and the camera can't see the white boards.) Remember... the metal surface is behaving like a "mirror"... so WHERE you place the white boards will have a big impact on whether or not you can make the silver watch casing and bands look better.

There is a possibility that the white will also reflect in the crystal. You can tame the reflections using a circular polarizer.

 

[Willieboy]

Do you think the pictures look as sharp as they could/should Tim?

 

[jfrabat]

Overall critique:

Light is too low; you want more contrast so that the subject catches more the attention. Black vinyl is good for product shots, as it will give you a little reflection, which will ad to the shot. Although I find it TOO cliché, many photographers will make the time on the watch 10:10 for the photo (so that the watch's hands form a check mark). I also think you need to arrange the watch better (the bracelet), as the way you have it here does not "sell" the watch. Just a few basic pointers; hope this helps!

 

[shinycard255]

Overall critique:

Light is too low; you want more contrast so that the subject catches more the attention. Black vinyl is good for product shots, as it will give you a little reflection, which will ad to the shot. Although I find it TOO cliché, many photographers will make the time on the watch 10:10 for the photo (so that the watch's hands form a check mark). I also think you need to arrange the watch better (the bracelet), as the way you have it here does not "sell" the watch. Just a few basic pointers; hope this helps!

I can't really say putting the hands at 10:10 as being "cliche"... it puts the hands usually around the name of the manufacturer... which is what you technically are trying to show... their name on their watch. It's usually hands on the 10s and the second hand on or around 35 seconds. Now, this rule could be broken as any rule in photography could be broken

And listen to what TCampbell was telling you... watches are like mirrors and can only see what is around them. It's all about angle of reflection