Horology Photography Thread

[AlexanderB]

Roland, I personally don't consider a faster shutter speed an advantage when taking pictures of the movement since I use a tripod. On the two movements I took a picture of earlier you actually don't see much of a difference although shutter speed was significantly different: 1/6s vs. 1/250s.

The picture below is an ETA 406 from a watch my mother in law wanted to throw away. I took them in December right after I started. At that time I didn't have the ring light and used my desk lamp to get as much light as possible and I used my little Canon PowerShot S110 with macro mode, F4, 1/80s.

What you see here is a pretty "uneven" lighting situation with too much light in the foreground and too little light in the background. This was before I started to investigate in taking pictures of movements. Same on the second picture: some portions of the picture are too bright while others are too dark. Difficult to get details on either of the both.

This is the kind of quality is what you get when you're not aware and don't think like I did. You can clearly see the difference (I added one of the pictures from above once more for your convenience). And for the readers here: it is quite evident that it does make sens to start thinking and looking at the equipment.

BTW The movement here and the one at the beginning of this thread are both before cleaning.

Cheers Alexander

[Endeavor]

Hi Alexander;

I was just exploring (cheap) options, to see what's possible with equipment people may already have. No doubt, that the relative cheap LED ring-light (again, cheaper than I thought) produces very good pictures! I was looking at the flash-light adapters today and they seem to be about the same price (looking at material from our Chinese eBay friends) as a LED ring-light, c/w lens-adapters and diffusers. After a quick search I saw this one, but I haven't investigated fully if this model fulfills all the requirements: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/48-LEDs-Macro-Ring-Flash-Light-with-2-Diffusers-for-Canon-Nikon-Pentax-TA-4WJ2-/291555890836?hash=item43e215d694:g:JCwAAOSwqv9V6QKT

This one has 48 LED's and two diffusers, and if it fits the equipment, it's a winner, hands down ! There are plenty more models to choose from and no doubt, a continues lamp is much more convenient to work with than a flash.......

As for the little LED reflection-dots......you can always say that the movement / watch has been inlaid with pearls

Kidding aside, I think you have a winner Alexander!

 

Edited April 5, 2016 by Endeavor

[Mark]

Guys, I have created a gallery section on the forum for members to be able to create their own album and upload images.

To get it going I have uploaded some of my past photos which are in no way, shape or form professional but hopefully a little interesting

You can create your own album here: (Just click on the "Add Images" button)

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/gallery/category/2-watch-repair-photographs/

It's very simple - I managed to upload over 50 photos within a few minutes.

[Endeavor]

Great idea Mark !!

looking at your pictures, I can only dream of the watches you get to work on....... So, you must be doing something right (just kidding !)

[svorkoetter]

On Tuesday, April 05, 2016 at 3:25 AM, AlexanderB said:

One last comment on the LED ring light: the downside is that you may see dotted lines on the circumference of screws. Look closely at the pictures of my movement above and see if you can spot them.

They are also visible on the ring around the balance jewel.

This is the thing I don't like about LED lights, especially when used in jewellery stores. I was looking at one watch a while ago, and it looked like it had a fluted bezel (like some Datejusts do). But it was just the reflections of the individual LEDs off a smooth bezel.

I would suggest making a translucent cover for the LED ring, either out of paper, or translucent white plastic. This will diffuse the light and should get rid of those dotted lines.

[AlexanderB]

So true. I will mill myself a diffusor with my CNC mill I use for my RC planes and show the results later. For documenting the stages of disassembly it's ok.

There is an LED ring light available on Amazon now that comes with a white diffusor but customers complained  about the poor quality. Let's see what I can get done and what the results will be. There still might be a problem that the ring is visible though. I have to take a look on professional photos in magazines.

[Endeavor]

As far as I know, nobody has ever won a price in watch-walkthrough-photography. I think Alexanders pictures / setup serve its purpose very well and at low-cost. Within the reach of a lot of amateurs. A diffuser will help but how perfect does it need to be? Yes, it was me who pointed the dots out and I'm of the opinion that they could be cheaply "softened", but the dots themselves lay in the nature of the beast.

The famous rule; 80% is achieved by 20% of the cost, the other 20% is achieved by 80% of the cost.

If you really like to take flawless pictures, have a look how they do it in product advertising photography, nearly all is done with flash-lights, obviously not visible......... You need a very (light) controlled environment, umbrellas, reflectors, diffusers, remote controlled flashlights etc etc etc.....needless to say $$$$$$$$$

That is a complete art !!

If you start to do portray photography, you have to be very, very careful with a ring-flash /-light. Perhaps only as a slight "fill-in", but not as in the following picture;

With people, the first thing we do is looking at their eyes......... and watches don't have eyes, so when is good enough, good enough for what you are trying to do?

 

 

 

[AlexanderB]

Well spoken Roland.

[svorkoetter]

Don't get me wrong, I certainly wasn't complaining about the LEDs visible in the movement photos, just when they're used in watch showcases (where they're usually straight lines of LEDs, but have the same effect on round bezels).

[AlexanderB]

No worries you were spot on!

[Endeavor]

@svorkoetterI do absolutely agree with you   Show cases serve another purpose and the choice of lightning is very important in jewellery shops. What you described, the shop clearly didn't put much thought into it.

Lightning is very important is many cases. Why do you think the meat looks so nice red & fresh at a butchery? A Coincident? It goes back to which color is represented in the light-spectrum of the light source.

Edited April 7, 2016 by Endeavor

[bobm12]

So, to flash or not to flash, that is the question? If your were not to flash you get dots but would there be an economic way to flash?

Cheers,

Bob

[Endeavor]

Hmmm.......Bob, it seems you like the best out of both worlds.....and cheap. Nothing wrong with that and perhaps possible?

It just happens to be that Alexander ring-light is made out of LED's. Those are probably the cheapest.....you get were you pay for thing. There are for sure flash ring light which don't give you dots, for example the one in the picture below. However, they are more expensive and flash is less convenient to work with than a permanent light / lamp.

Having said that, it also depends on your equipment. Most likely Alexanders zoom lens loses light when fully zoomed out. Often "kit" lenses" have a "f"-range, say from 4.0 - 5.6. This means that the light though the lens becomes less when fully zoomed out (gets darker) and therefore focusing becomes more difficult. With enough other ambient light, not such a problem. When you work with flash, the camera needs to be adjusted for the much higher light intensity during the flash, than with just ambient light. Once you know that, and things are adjusted (aperture flash-intensity etc), flash is just as easy to work with. As said before, with digital photography you can shoot as many pictures as you like to get it right. In a photo-studio big flash-lights have what is called "working-light", often the same flash-lamp, but on a low output. This give the photographer enough light to see what he does, but as soon as he releases the shutter, the full flash comes on. This saves heat / energy and gives longer lifespan of the flash-light.

Personally I much rather work with flash, but a continues lamps, be it LED or incandescent, have for sure their "conveniences".

[AlexanderB]

Bob, I personally doubt that a flash will help here unless you use $$$ equipment like Roland pointed out. It is a question of getting a proper lighting situation with little reflection. Again, I consider the dots no problem at all as long as you take the pictures for documentation purposes and if you don't want to win a prize. So an LED ring light is worth the investment if you already have a DSLR. If you use a regular flash you may run into heavy reflections as well. Different but as nasty.

The challenge you have with light regarding watch or movement photography is that you like to have some kind of evenly lighted situation. The LED ring comes close but... produce the nasty dots. I will also try the idea of merely using white paper as a diffusor before I start the fancy stuff. I probably have a first result this weekend.

Cheers Alexander

 

 

 

[Endeavor]

Alexander......gaffer tape is your biggest friend. You can make all kinds of trials with it. Paper may be a very good idea !

Edited April 7, 2016 by Endeavor

[bobm12]

Thank you guys. I'm trawling the net as we speak for that magic LED ring to fit my camera! I can't really wait to start shooting away!

Cheers,

Bob

[Endeavor]

@bobm12 Can't wait to see all your Rolex's next to the Vostok

 

Edited April 7, 2016 by Endeavor

[AlexanderB]

Are you serious?

Here u r!

[Endeavor]

I've got this Vostok coming; Rolex vs Vostok........

 

[AlexanderB]

But I need to add something: this picture was taken months ago with not the care I would do right now:

• There is dust all over the place, especially at the date loupe.
• Nasty reflections.
• Uneven lighting situation.

Let's see if I can get this done better!

Cheers Alexander

[AlexanderB]

Your picture is much better but I like my watch better

[Endeavor]

Pfff....... wait and see how much bang I get for my buck!

[AlexanderB]

I was able to build a little diffusor for my LED ring light. I cut a 2mm plastic ring first with my regular fretsaw (quick and dirty). I was more than astonished to still see the dots. I scratched my head and thought "Why can't I see the dots while they are still extremely visible on the picture?" I really had to look very hard until it dawned me: the dots were still "visible" to the screws because what the screws reflected were the opposite LEDs. I was so close to the movement thet the LEDs shone from the side. The diffusor disc didn't cover them! Ahhhh! So I quickly cute a stripe of paper and built an 1 inch high tube which I sticked to my contraption and now the results were perfect! I don't have too much time this weekend but I will prepare a simple paper diffusor attachted to some plywood frame.

So what I can say is that a simple paper diffusor works perfectly. Easy to build with no machinery at all. I may as will stick with my mockup for a while. It works.

Cheers Alexander

 

[bobm12]

YES!! That's what I call a perfect picture! Excellent work Alexander!

BTW, could you explain it more in detail, that diffusor to me? I think I have an idea: you put some paper over the LED ring? But, did you do it directly or has some separation from the actual ring in the final attempt? The plywood thing threw me off a little though. I'm not sure if I got it right...

Thanks in advance,

Cheers,

Bob

[AlexanderB]

Thank you Bob,

here are some pictures of the diffusor. I think a picture tells more than a thousand words.

Below are two pictures I took of my Breitling Transocean Unitime. It is evitend that I need to spent much more tome on preparation to get all the dust form the watch. The camera also reveals all the tiny little scratches. On the other hand it also gives a vivid impression on the really beautiful dial.

First photo: F16, 1s
Second photo F25, 3.2s

That's why the second hand is blurred. Both pictures were taken with support of the LED ring light.

I think I do have to do a lot more testing to find the propers light. And I have to do a lot more cleaning / dust removal.

Cheers Alexander

 

Edited April 9, 2016 by AlexanderB