Just figured out how to use macro

[Valtyr]

My skills are ever improving when speaking of watch related photography. I guess when you start out with no skill any glimpse of hope is appropriately labeled as an improvement. Well, I always hear Dennis talk about macro (I know what it means) but assumed I was impervious to the need to hit the flower button. Any time I had ever done "Zoom" macro it came out really blurry when trying to focus with the screen. When I took the picture it came out quite clear!!!

Sadly, I know it isn't macro Monday but I hope you can still appreciate my new adventures with some old watches and a new toy. My new Merker safety razor and Art of Shaving shave set wanted to make an appearance with my only German watch. So all will be featured in the following pictures. I just wanted to express some excitement with new and higher quality pictures!

This is from my Breitling:


Here is my Illinois Beau Monde:


My hardest watch to photograph Maurice Lacroix Jours Retrogrades:
Big Date!

Finally an attractive shot of the Retrograde!!!

Beautifully done Eta movement!


My first Swiss watch Gevril GV2 Tonneau


My lovely Maurice Lacroix Peseux 7046 which I already had a nice picture of, but I think these ones are better:



Here is the aforementioned Nomos Glashutte - Club Datum Dunkel with my new German shave supplies:

My first good shot of this difficult to shoot dial!

That gorgeous in-house movement inside the Nomos!


I hope you guys enjoy!

[AtlantaDave]

GREAT photos and congrats on achieving your "AHA!" moment.



Sent from AtlantaDave's iP4 using Tapatalk

[ulackfocus]

Finally an attractive shot of the Retrograde!!!

That's a nice shot. The reflection on the top of the hump where the days are written actually adds a little depth. If your depth of field was just a little better, and I mean only a smidge, the hour & minute hand would have also been in perfect focus too. If you don't mind, I'm going to copy the picture to my iPhoto and play with some settings. Post processing can really do wonders so let's see what happens.

My lovely Maurice Lacroix Peseux 7046 which I already had a nice picture of, but I think these ones are better:

Another good dial shot, and you captured the guilloché very well. This is one that might sharpen up well in iPhoto.

That gorgeous in-house movement inside the Nomos!

Movement shots are tough, but you've certainly made a nice improvement! Once you get some practice in, you'll be posting shots that a few of the serious photographers here will appreciate.

[GoDuke1]

I think you did a great job! I still need to practice more at my photo skills.

[Valtyr]

Thanks Dave and Dennis. Your input is appreciated.

You know... A few years ago I was extremely proficient with Photoshop. The program (6) is on an old hard drive that isn't compatible with my new motherboard so I just haven't used it.

I also noticed a little bit of fuzziness in some areas that would look a lot nicer with a higher DoF or some sharpening with a processing tool.

I think I might make some efforts to get my Photoshop back and get back in this game. I'm very excited about "macro" at the pns level.

[Valtyr]

Hey Chris, thank you for the compliment. I tried the refrigerator trick you taught me about, but it didn't work. The Illinois came out "teeth plaque yellow" (I should have been a professional crayon namer).

What light source are you using in the fridge?

[ulackfocus]

Added a hint of blue tint and increased the color saturation, sharpened it by .03, increased the contrast just a smidge, and decreased the exposure to lessen the glare on the top just a hair:




Sharpened by .16, shadows lessened, exposure decreased a bit and contrast increased a smidge again:




That was just playing around a few seconds with each one. You have a very solid base to work with now, and you'll find that it's even better to process the original picture in your computer.

[Valtyr]

Awesome job Dennis. Specifically on the Retrograde. That looks so dang cool!

[ulackfocus]

Awesome job Dennis. Specifically on the Retrograde. That looks so dang cool!

It wasn't me - I just slid a few adjustments up or down. You gotta have a good base to work with - post processing only helps a bit; it doesn't make bad photos good. The pics were certainly good to start. Looking at the retrograde, I think a little less sharpening would have been better.

Do you use a Mac?

[Valtyr]

No, just a very fast PC.

I'm trying to find a way to get my old Photoshop back again.

Were you going to recommend iphoto?