Watch photography - my journey so far

[gerald.d]

The watch magazine tweeted a crop from the stitched movement shot
https://mobile.twitter.com/qp_editors/status/631120048707489796
(On iPad so no idea how to embed that properly)
Full size uncropped is around 10000x8000 pixels so I guess around 60mp equivalent, viewed 100% on a monitor the case would be around 5-6ft across, despite being 1 capture and not stacked there's enough in focus to hold the eye but I would stack if shooting for real and not just a test.
You can see some watch images on my website garysmithphoto.com but obviously they are not full size images.

Some lovely images of watches on your site Gary - thanks for sharing - but I'm not seeing anything remotely close to the magnification (with full depth of focus) that I'm shooting at.

Every image I shoot has the watch face or movement pretty much filling the shorter dimension of the sensor.

That's a print from an IQ180 full frame. Watch is 42mm in diameter. Entire movement is in focus.

I'm intrigued by the capcam but not sure I see the value of such a purchase even if I shot a lot of watches.

Well now that statement makes complete sense. Totally agree that the justification for using the CAPCam for the sort of images in your portfolio might be hard to make. That doesn't however mean it isn't entirely appropriate for what I'm trying to capture.

Like I said in the opening post. High magnification and shallow depth of field, as in the link to the movement crop you posted, is easy - no need for the CAPCam to do that.

Kind regards,


Gerald.

 

[MrSmith]

Some lovely images of watches on your site Gary - thanks for sharing - but I'm not seeing anything remotely close to the magnification (with full depth of focus) that I'm shooting at.

well those website images could be 300mb each (but they are not!)

now i’m on laptop i can embed the 100% crop

so i guess that is getting close to the size you are capturing too but your prints are right at worst case scenario for viewing distance/detail/print size in that people are likely to get really close so a big file is needed, what i’m doing is either printed in a magazine or they are going to hang large banners/ pull-ups so the print dpi is way lower.
i will look at stacking and then shift/stitching if they want to go down that road to print big but it wouldn’t surprise me if a 100mb tiff is enough.

i supply everything unsharpened due to different repro requirements but i’m wondering if your crop is sharpened for inkjet output or you are using one of the stacking methods in helicon focus that tends to make things ‘gritty’? i think it’s method C?

(and thanks for the kind comments re the pics)