As I shared with you a few days ago, I was very interested in getting into product photography. Of course the most obvious thing I did was to search the Internet for basic guides that will make me start learning product photography. I've seen some amazing product images on the web, especially watch and Jewelery (also spelled jewellery) photography. I was always amazed how photographers are taking those perfect, prestige images. I've experience with Adobe Photoshop and if you followed my Prestige compact camera concept design, you can see that I really like it. What I like about product photography is the fact that you have control over the light source. Furthermore, I can make my own little studio at home and shoot pictures even at cold rainy winter days.
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| Men's metal wrist watch on reflective dark Grey acrylic surface |
Getting Inspired!
I've discovered that the shot doesn't end when the shutter button is pressed. There is a lot of work that can be done in Adobe Photoshop to create some amazing effects that give the image its final perfect look. As I made my way through some videos about how to take professional watch images, I came across some very interesting videos (though there aren't that many). I think that when you are searching for tutorials regarding watch photography, you better look for tutorials under the term "Jewelry photography", which will bring you to related video tutorials about that subject. If you search Google for "Watch photography" in the "Web search", you will get plenty of websites that are dedicated for that subject. If you are interesting in viewing some watch photography art works, take a look at watchinghorology.com, prodoto.com and on Flickr Creative Watch photography group. There are some amazing pictures out there, take a look at this Breitling Automatic Chronograph watch image, photographed by Chrissy Avila.
How Can I Shoot Those Expensive Watches?
I was thinking to myself: "Where can I get those watches that I want to take photography of?", I don't intend to buy them just to take images of them. I guess some of the photographers are actually renting those watches or maybe taking photos of replica watches. For example, you can rent some luxurious watches from stealthetime.com. They have Rolex, JWC, Cartier, Panerai, Hublot, TagHeuer, Breitling and Raymond Weil watched in leasing. I went through some of the most prestige names in the industry. Other popular names are: Longines, Movado, Bvlgari, Omega and Baume & Mercier. Renting watches starts from approx. $30/week to over $100/week. The Rolex Submariner Two-tone lease price is $104.00/week. Anyway, you get the point.
Tip: Of course you can buy cheap Jewelry and shoot some great photographs too. Maybe it is a good place to start. Just go to the closest market and pick up some interesting cheap objects to shoot. After you master the techniques and lighting, you can than start thinking of borrowing or renting more expensive products.
Lee Morris' First Attempt
Take a look at the following video by FStoppers. In this video, you can see Lee Morris attempting to shoot an expensive Rolex watch using studio lights and reflectors. He is not a professional product photographer, but managed to come up with very good results after getting those photos into Adobe Photoshop.
You can see that for inexperienced product photographer (although he is a pro photographer) it takes hours to come up with the final image that he is satisfied with.
So Many Things to Learn - ahhhhh!
There are plenty of things to learn and experience with prior to being able to come up with satisfactory results. You need to use a tripod, perform a custom white balance, carefully position the watch, use reflectors, LED lighting, reflective acrylic surfaces and so on. When searching the Internet for a light-box for shooting products, I've come across many different solutions. I've searched the Internet for "Jewelry photography equipment / Lighting / Boxes" to see what comes out. After all, if I want to start shooting watches and Jewelry pictures, I need the appropriate studio equipment. You should know that there are plenty of DIY Lightboxes How-To tutorials out there, but for me, I prefer getting a good cheap solution than trying to build one myself.
Read THE Book About Lighting
You should know that in order to really get those perfect shots as you seen on the cover of magazines, you should know how to control light or how light behaves. I personally read the book "Light: Science and Magic"
that really got me into understanding what photography is all about - Light. This is a highly recommended book that will teach you how to think creatively, how to use the light to your advantage and achieve the best results. Don't skip this one - a Must have book for every photographer!ImagingPrep
TableStudio Product Photography Kits
Another highly recommended website for learning about product photography is tabletopstudio.co.uk. TableTop Studio product kits are made to save you time and money by getting the right equipment that you need to start shooting great product photographs. Starting from professional studio lighting, EZcube® Light Tent, product photography courses and other tips and tricks for both newbies and professional product photographers.
DIY Photo Studio Product Lighting
Creating your own on home studio doesn't have to be expensive. I know, you were looking at several websites that want to sell you a KIT for $600, promising you the best quality materials and results. Well, I'm sure that there are some great products out there, but if you are just starting out and don't have the budget, there are some really some great DIY tutorials that will teach you how to build a cheap TableTop studio environment for a fraction of the price.
One one my favorite DIY Photo Studio product tutorials are from ProPhotoLife.com. ProPhotoLife has a YouTube channel, full of useful video guides to get your started with product photography and other type of photography shooting. Take a look at the next video. You can see how easy it is and cheap, to build your own studio from cheap materials and accessories.
The photographer in this video demonstrates how to photograph a digital camera using a DIY TableTop solution, but you can photograph any kind of products with it, including watches and Jewelry too.
DIY Lightbox
I've read plenty of guides about product photography until now. Many of the professional photographers use a Lightbox to control the lighting, reflections and position the product as they find fit. You can buy a Lightbox + some background cloth sweeps for around $60 (without lighting). Even so, some people prefer making their own DIY Lightbox from available cheap materials that you can by in any local hardware store (eg. Ace hardware store). There are plenty of DIY Lightbook How to videos on YouTube which you can watch and follow the step-by-step instructions to set up one yourself. Lightboxes are tent-structure boxes with white covering around them that are used to diffuse the light from light sources around your subject. This will enable you to achieve soft diffused lighting and prevent harsh shadows appearing on your photographs. Lightboxes are also referred to as Macro Studio/Boxes.
Check out this quick DIY Lightbox/Light Tent video:
Yes, I know, it was way too fast. For detailed instruction on how to make an inexpensive light tent, follow the step-by-step instruction on this guide on digital-photography-school.com. As you can see, the results are great!
What Now?
This is it for now. I hope that after reading an viewing the videos that I've posted in this article, you get a clue on what is waiting for you out there and how to get started. There are plenty of things to learn about product photography. I have a friend who read a book on how to create better product images for his eBay store. I can tell you that the images he was taken really helped him out, selling more products online. Whether its food, clothes, watches or Jewelry, product photography is one of the most interesting ones. You need to learn and know how to use the lighting to your advantage to create a professional looking image. There is plenty of room for creativity in this field and there is also a great demand for such photographs on stock photography websites (eg. istockPhoto). Take you time, learn the subject step by step and master the professional techniques until you get the results that you want. I've decided to educate myself and get deeper into product photography in the near future. Good luck!
What's nice about your product photography is that the lighting and backing is very appropriate. I think even pre-owned watches NYC would look like their brand new products with your pictures.
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