The first watch I ever shot was done with a similar set up to this. First time around I constructed a 4\u00d76\u2032 wooden frame from wood 2\u00d72\u2019s that I bought at the local lumber store and covered with paper Vellum. Vellum works just fine, but there are two problems with vellum. One, Vellum is very fragile, you hit it and you will punch a hole in it. Two, apparently if you get Vellum to close to a hot light, it\u00a0catches fire<\/strong>!!! So, for safety purposes, I only use the Savage Roll diffusion material.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This time around, I made my life a little easier on myself and bought a cloths rack and covered it with Savage diffusion material. This you can find on this site (click\u00a0HERE\u00a0<\/a>), Alex Came up with the idea and I thought I would just capitalize on that idea and use it. I bought two of these frames from Amazon.com for $12 Each. I only used one however for this shoot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before I get into the details of the shoot, I would like to make a comment on equipment. I shot this with a Medium Format camera, however, you do not need a medium format camera to take great photographs. I have one, so I use it. \u00a0But you can just as easily use your Canon, Nikon, Sony \u00a0. . . whatever you have. Is there a difference between a DSLR and a Medium format camera?\u201d \u00a0Yes, there is in my opinion. \u00a0Can you tell the difference if you hold them up side by side? \u00a0Yes you can in my opinion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Will anyone ever take the exact same photograph with a DSLR and Medium format camera and hold them side by side? \u00a0Probably not. \u00a0 So shoot away with whatever you have. \u00a0If someday you have the extra $$\u2019s and you want to play with medium format equipment, go for it. \u00a0But don\u2019t ever feel you have to have it to take great photographs! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n OK, Now on to this shot. This was, as I said taken with ONE strobe. See below for the general setup.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I used one frame with diffusion material on it clamped to a C Stand. Ironically I didn\u2019t take a photograph of how I clamped it, but it was very basic and I used the clamp that comes on a stand and just clamped to the tubing at the base of the metal frame.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_sidebar orientation=”right” area=”et_pb_widget_area_4″ _builder_version=”3.17.1″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ specialty=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”3.19.7″ module_class=”pt_nohave_tag pt_hide_200″ inner_width=”auto” inner_max_width=”none”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.19.7″ background_color_gradient_start=”#ffffff” background_color_gradient_end=”#efefef” box_shadow_horizontal=”0px” box_shadow_vertical=”2px” box_shadow_blur=”18px” box_shadow_spread=”0px” global_module=”64053″ width=”80%” max_width=”1080px”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Only for non-logged and non-pro” global_parent=”64053″ _builder_version=”3.19.7″ custom_padding=”20px||20px|20px” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”#ffffff” background_color_gradient_end=”#efefef” border_radii=”on|5px|5px|5px|5px” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ custom_margin=”10px|||20px” border_width_all=”1px” border_color_all=”#efefef”]<\/p>\n To access the full tutorial, please sign-up<\/a> or login<\/a> to your Pro Club user account<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.19.7″ prev_background_color=”#000000″ module_class=”pt_tag pt_200″ inner_width=”auto” inner_max_width=”none”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ specialty_columns=”3″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/2-130.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Basic Setup. One Light Modifier With One Einstein Bare Bulb Strobe<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The camera is on the Bogen tripod and the Manfrotto tripod is holding the acrylic tubing. There are two tubes of Acrylic, one 2.5\u2033 in diameter and one 1.5\u2033 in diameter. The 1.5\u2033 tube is clamped to the tripod and the 2.5\u2033 tube was slid over the 1.5\u2033 tube. I did this only because my clamp would not hold the 2.5\u2033 tube directly. <\/p>\n The Buff Einstein is bare bulb for a reason. I wanted the light to not be channeled by a modifier like a reflector or soft box, I wanted to try and get some fall off and gradients on the tiny watch surface. By adding a reflector I would be directing the light to a spot on the diffusion panel thus restricting its ability to fall off and create a gradient, so it remained a bare bulb.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/3-121.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n First Shot Out Of The Camera \u2013 Too Hot On Top. <\/p>\n OK . . . SO this is a SOC Image (Straight Out of Camera) The face is fairly well lit, but as expected the sides and bottom are dark. Also, the very top of the bezel is blown out as that is where the light is coming from. Now If I turn down the light, it just makes everything darker, I told myself I can\u2019t add a second strobe, so what do you do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well, you have to reduce the amount of light hitting the top of the watch. How do you do that you may ask, well, you simply diffuse the light further. I had some left over material from making my panel, so I put that across the top. AT first I just put a single strip, but it was still to hot, then I just double it over, so I then had three layers of diffusion across the top.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Capture One, I could see the light had gone down from 255 (pure white) to where I had some detail and it was no longer \u201cBLOWN\u201d out and I could see some gold (see below)<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/4-109.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Added Diffusion Material To Lessen Light Across Top Of Watch<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/5-99.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Now Top Of Watch Isn\u2019t \u201cBLOWN\u201d Out<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Next on the list was giving some light to the bottom of the watch. Since I am only using one strobe, I got a silver card (actually on heavy paper). I got this from a local craft store. I clamped it to my tripod on an flexible arm to give it some curve to the silver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was hoping it would put some light on the lower band, but it really didn\u2019t. So I would fix that later.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/6-94.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Silver Card Added To Lighten Up Bottom Of Watch<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/7-77.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Bottom Of Watch Now Has More Light<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/8-71.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Foam Core To Add Light To Right Side Of Watch<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/9-66.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n The Right Side White Card From A Different Angle<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/10-60.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n The Result Of Adding A White Card TO RIght Of Watch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/11-56.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text before missing image” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Card To Add Light To Left Side Of Watch<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Resulting Shot:<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Result Of Adding Card To Left Side Of Watch<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ok, now how about the bands? Well, I don\u2019t have shots of how I shot this because After I shot the watch, I then took yet another white card and held it by hand on the top and bottom to give light to the band to composite in later.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now that I have my shot, I need to stack focus this image. So I took a series of photographs starting from the back to the front adjusting focus as I went until I got the whole watch in focus across multiple frames. I then took those images and put them into Helicon. If you have never used Helicon for stack focusing, you are missing out. <\/p>\n After all that, I spent a LONG time retouching and the final image of this angle was this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/12-49.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/13-36.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n SOC Image of Straight On Variation To Be Used For Background<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/14-36.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n Straight On Shot After Retouching<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I hope this was helpful, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email or Google+ or post your comments right here, under this post.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Gear” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n \tCamera: \u00a0<\/strong>Mamiya DF Medium format body<\/span> <\/div>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Hero” custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”3.17.1″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”#0c1319″ background_color_gradient_end=”#2b3a42″ background_color_gradient_direction=”60deg” box_shadow_style=”preset7″ box_shadow_horizontal=”0px” box_shadow_vertical=”-80px” box_shadow_color=”#ffffff” custom_padding=”20px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#ffffff” inner_width=”auto” inner_max_width=”none”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”|||” _builder_version=”3.17.1″ width=”80%” max_width=”1080px”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title” _builder_version=”3.18.4″ text_font=”Open Sans|600|||||||” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_2_font=”Poppins||||||||” header_2_font_size=”36px” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” text_orientation=”center” background_layout=”dark” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center”] How to Photograph Watches with One Light: Product Photography Tutorial [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Final-66.jpg” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.18.4″ border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_horizontal=”5px” box_shadow_vertical=”5px” box_shadow_blur=”25px”] [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4869,"featured_media":56534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,13435,2449,1373,1408],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[2063,2073,2057,1689,1547,1430,2071,2065,2066,275,2056,2055,2069,2070,151,2072,2068,137,2067,1540],"class_list":["post-56533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewelry","category-proclub-beginner","category-jewelry-pro-club","category-no-video","category-product"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56533"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=56533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Shot:\u00a0How I Photographed Watch<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/if__-63_3139638.png\")
Only for Pro Club Members<\/h2>\n
I used tubing because I wanted the watch band to be more or less round. I didn\u2019t want the watch to \u201cFLOP\u201d around I wanted it more or less still. In this configuration I took my first shot to see where I was with regards to exposure etc.<\/p>\n
Bezel On Top Reading 255 (Pure White) With
No Gold Tone Or Texture.<\/p>\nThis was the resulting shot using the silver reflector:<\/h3>\n
Now came the left side of the watch, I need to lighten that up.
So I got a simple light stand and a large white foam core board and clamped it to the light stand.<\/h3>\nThe Result of Adding a White Card:<\/h3>\n
Ok, so we are getting there. \u00a0Now we need the left side of the watch! \u00a0Another White Card you ask?? Why yes of course!<\/h3>\n
It is, in my opinion FAR better than Photoshop in this regard. It seems to be far faster, and more accurate and it is easier to fix if there is a mistake than PS, download a free trial and give it a whirl.<\/p>\nThe Final Images<\/h2>\n
This is a TWO shot image though. \u00a0So I had to get a close up of the face, I just re-positioned the watch slightly and got this when it was all said and done!<\/h3>\n
Then I composited the two and you have your final image!<\/h3>\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/GearIcon.png\")
<\/td>\r\n\r\n In the Gearbox<\/h2>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\r\n <\/td>\r\n \r\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.photigy.com\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/inner-arrow.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/div>\r\n
\tDigitial Back: \u00a0<\/strong>28 MP digital leaf back<\/span>
\tLens: \u00a0<\/strong>120mm Mamiya Macro<\/span>
\tStrobe:<\/strong> 1 Paul C Buff Einstein<\/span>
\tRadio Triggers:<\/strong> Pocket Wizard Flex TT system in Basic Trigger Mode<\/span>
\tTripods:<\/strong> \u00a0Bogen 3036 and Manfroto NeoTec<\/span>
\tTripod Heads:<\/strong> \u00a0Nothing special (ball heads.)<\/span>
\tLight Stands: \u00a0<\/strong>C-Stands by Cowboy Studios<\/span>
\tLight Modifier:<\/strong> Alex’s Cloths rack conversion covered in Savage Diffusion material.
\tAdditional Light Modifiers:<\/strong> White foam core (large and small), Silver sided paper.
\tAdditional Materials:<\/strong> \u00a0Assorted Clamps
\tWatch Support:<\/strong> \u00a0Two Acrylic Tubes
\tComuters:<\/strong> MacBook Pro (for tethering) and IMac for processing (i5 processor, 8gb ram)
\tSoftware Used:<\/strong> \u00a0Capture One (v7), Photoshop (CS6), Helicon (focus stacking)<\/p>\n