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Post by Thomas Carey on Nov 27, 2007 10:16:11 GMT -5
Now that the contest is over. There are some things I have been really curious about. These questions are for the three who were in the final round.
Did you shoot the watch with a variety of backgrounds and lighting or just the one you entered?
What inspired you to use the combination of lighting, background, etc. that you used?
Was the theme you used one you had been thinking about trying for awhile or was it something that you just thought of?
Best Regards,
Thomas Carey
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Post by talktime on Nov 27, 2007 19:17:29 GMT -5
Well, I had given it some thought as the votes were coming in from the initial round and I thought I might have to actually do another shoot with this watch that is barely visible in the supplied photos. It wasn't until I had the watch in my possession that I knew what I was working with. I also really had no idea what to use for a backdrop for a watch that I don't own. I mean, a Dive watch is easy, as is a pilot watch. But what about a watch with black diamonds in it??? After a bit of thought, I went with coal. The sharp, facets should make a nice background and highlight the black diamonds in the watch nicely. But where do you get coal in 2007? Fortunately, my friend has a house that is over a hundred years old, and at one time, it had a coal-fired boiler in the basement. He gave me a bag of coal on one condition: that it was NEVER to be returned! So, after that deal was made, I went home with my bag of coal, and began washing each piece individually by hand to remove the coal dust and dirt. I also segregated several smaller pieces that showed good color and visual interest...  After the pieces dried overnight, I could begin the task of assembling the pile, piece by piece, to get exactly the look I wanted...  Then I was snapping shots, but just not pleased with the sharpness- apparently the camera was being fooled by the crystal, and I had to go to manual focus to get the dial art to be readable at 200+%... I also used several light sources to get the color balance believable, but not fake, sterile or over-processed looking. Since I couldn't color correct in photoshop, I used a combination of fluorescent, incandescent and candle light...  Naturally, I used a tripod and timed release to obtain maximum sharpness. Even in the low-res jpg's, the dial wording is in sharp focus at over 200%. If I could use the RAW image and work it in photoshop, converting to jpg, I think it would be even better- but that's against the rules... I did the best I could, but it just wasn't good enough, obviously. Normally, with a product shoot, I have SOME direction from my customer, say an 'outdoors' theme, or 'wedding bells' or whatever- I can work with that. Having no direction made this difficult for me. A second Idea I had was to use silver certificates and other ancient coins for a background and shoot in black & white. I thought color would be better to show off the subtle color shifts in the dial, but I think the B&W photos would have been better by far. Oh, well. Next time I guess... |
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Post by foghorn on Nov 27, 2007 22:26:01 GMT -5
IMHO it is absolutely wonderful to see real creativity like this as opposed to the auto-techno-pseudo creativity(?) of photoshop.
Bravo to you for some old school ,real , and well thought out, creativity!!
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Post by diver88 on Nov 28, 2007 3:25:27 GMT -5
 well Thomas, I really had no idea what I would do, I also had the idea with black rock, and some stainless steel (great minds) but really had no real direction, even when I saw the watch. I was sitting in a chair in my moms house and while looking across the piano black surface out the window I thought, "why don't I just try this" and I did. I tried different lighting but ended up with almost no lighting ( just natural) to get what I did. actually a window shade behind me was my main lighting control. with the texture of the dial and so many reflective surfaces, it was a battle to defeat reflections for me. I had one shot though not what i would have entered, it was a nice companion to the picture of my Omega 2254 which got me into the final competition, if you remember that...  going to take a few more pics now, see more close ups maybe.. i usually never have a plan to start, I just start doing.. diver88 ;D
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Post by Thomas Carey on Nov 29, 2007 4:06:51 GMT -5
Thanks guys for sharing that info with us. I think it's very interesting to see what goes into high quality pictures like your fine examples.
Best Regards,
Thomas Carey
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