Pocket Watch - see through/skeletal

astroNikon · Sep 22, 2013

Here's my one pocket watch. Not the highest (made in China innards) but it was a gift to me from my 3 (at the time, now 4) kids.
Nikon D7000, 75-300mm in Full mode, SU-800
SB-700 - mostly at 1/128 (right)
SB-600 - mostly at 1/64 (left)
not bad for 4am - I should try this when I'm awake. Next time I should really clean the watch too.

cgipson1 · Sep 22, 2013

Nice! Pretty nicely lit! Items like this can be difficult to shoot, with the reflections!

astroNikon · Sep 22, 2013

Thanks, that was a bit difficult with the lighting - basic flash with no diffusers/umbrella (I should test it with the flash soft box cover). Basically white poster board as the background. The flashes were slightly elevated at 35degrees from parallel. I initially had problems with the shadows from the outside lip to the face at less & greater angles.

I tried a few shots with slowing the shutter speeds to try and get the pendulum element in movement but didn't have much luck.

astroNikon · Sep 28, 2013

some C&C please ?
lightening, depth of field, in focus, is it interesting to look at?

Subject: 2002 Festina Tour De France (cycling) watch. This the support items of a bicycle crankset and rear derailluer

Trying to figure out how to improve everything on my basic knowledge.
Pictures are uncropped. Is the derailluer in the background too much, considering it's a "cycling" watch ?

Setup
SB-700 from right about 35 degrees off of parallel and 35 degrees up
SB-600 from left about 35 degrees off of parallel and 35 degrees up
Also a close to the same WB fixed light from above (I see the shadows under the crankarm now, and also on the right of the face .. oops)
Nikon D7000, Nikond 50mm AF-D f/1.8

Temp: 5700
exposure + 1 (in LR)
tint +6
ISO 100 1/640 @ f/3.2

Temp: 5700
exposure + 0.75 (in LR)
tint +6
ISO 100 1/640 @ f/3.2

astroNikon · Sep 28, 2013

Last one cropped
now I see more issues - not enough fill light from the left

tirediron · Sep 28, 2013

astroNikon said:
Last one cropped
now I see more issues - not enough fill light from the left

View attachment 56617

C&C per req: Normally watches are photographed with the hands at 10.10 ('ten and two') but in this case, I would set the hands so that there was a minimum of obscuring of the sub-dials and the maker's information. Perhaps around 10.20, or so? The lighting isn't bad, but your highlights on the right side & bottom are a bit strong, and likewise the shadows left and top are a bit too deep. More diffusion & less power on the right-side light and more light upper left. I would also re-think the white; maybe a nice blue to compliment the watch dial?

It's not a bad shot at all, but there are some areas where a little more attention would help a lot.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

astroNikon · Sep 28, 2013

Here's hopefully an improvement. Changed things:
I made the watch more perpendicular to the ground - I noticed it was slightly tilted.
Made the watch stand up straight more, instead of the top slightly tilted back
I removed the top light that I had (just a bright desk lamp, so I used only 2 Nikon flashes SB700/600
flashes lower but still a bit higher than the watch, same approx 35 degree angle from perpendicular

I changed the watch hands. Hour on 10:30 and the minute on 35min because I didn't want anything to interfere with the Festina emblem at the 2. I should have taken a pic both ways but I like it like this.

Blue-ish swirl type background.
85mm f/4.0 - 1/125 - ISO 100

of course I'm thinking now. If I put the flashes at the same angle as the face edges angle then I should be able to remove that shadow on either side better.

astroNikon · Sep 28, 2013

btw, I LOVE the blue background idea. I happened to had a blue swirl cloth background from 15 years ago as a photo background. It's two sided, one side has sparkles on it the other side doesn't . I used the NO sparkly side. But it compliments the yellow dial face great.

oops... I just noticed the watch back end sticking off of the top

edit: I forgot to add the SB700 is at 1/128 and the sb600 is at 1/64. This is the setting I've found that balances the two.
One reason to buy all the same flash!

astroNikon · Sep 28, 2013

I had to get rid of the tab above the watch band .... but now the blue is not as blue - and I don't really understand why?

I moved the flashes to equal the angle of the face lip to minimize shadows, which also increased reflections. But the flashes ended up Behind the parallel of the camera at about 50 degrees. They are also lower but still higher than the lens height.

I guess umbrellas/soft boxes would help in this
85mm - f/4.0 - 1/160 - ISO 100