You can just pick up your camera, point it at a watch and fire away. But your camera doesn't know what it is photographing and assumes most people are photographing other people so its default settings are for snapshots of people not close ups of watches. Different setting work better for watches but the camera doesn't know you are pointing it towards a watch so that camera cannot automatically move to the best settings for watch photography. You have to make the adjustments yourself.
Proper exposure is a balancing of three basic factors (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed).
ISO (or the older term ASA) means the sensitivity of the film (or sensor in a digital camera) to light. A higher ISO number means a more sensitive film and therefore less light needed to properly expose that film. Back in the days of film photographers used 25 ASA Kodachrome for outdoor scenes, 100 or 200 ASA Kodak film for people, and 400 ASA for sports. You bought a roll of film, put it into your camera and were stuck with that film's ASA for the entire roll. Digital photography is very different because the sensor is more sensitive than film and you can change the camera's ISO setting for each shot you take. Generally both point and shoot cameras and dSLR cameras are set at the default setting of AUTO ISO. This means the camera will automatically adjust the ISO for each image according to the light available so it uses a higher ISO indoors and a lower ISO in bight sunshine outside. Higher ISO bring with it grain (solid even tone surfaces start to look like clumps of sand). You want to find the highest ISO your camera can use without showing obvious grain. The only way to do this is to find the ISO setting in your manual or menu and take your camera off the AUTO ISO setting. Set it for ISO 200 and take some photos, then set it for ISO 400 and take the same photos, then set it for ISO 600 and photograph the same objects, then set it for ISO 800 and photograph the same objects, etc. Then look carefully at your photos and determine the highest ISO you can use without obvious grain. This is the highest light sensitivity you can set your camera for when photographing watches without using a flash.
Aperture is the "hole" in the lens that allows light to enter the camera. A mechanical device behind the lens glass can open different amounts. These are called f-stops. Typically, a point and shoot camera's default will be to try for an f-stop of 4 or 5.6. The maximum (largest opening, most light let into the camera) f-stop of most point and shoot cameras is about 3.5 and the minimum (smallest opening) is about 8. Digital SLRs have a larger range of f-stops available. With a point and shoot camera you want to override your cameras default and use the smallest f-stop (smallest opening) you can because one of the laws of optics dictates that a smaller f-stop will create a larger depth of field for the image of the watch. Depth of field is simply the depth (front to back) of the image which will be in sharp focus. you want your focus to be sharp on the dial and continue sharp back towards the clasp. To achieve this take your camera's shooting mode out of AUTO and set it for A (aperture priority). Look up how to use this mode in our owner's manual. In A mode set the f-stop for the smallest number your camera allows, usually f-8. If you have a dSLR set it for f-11 or f-16. You probably don't need to go down to f-22 and if you go to f-32 you probably will start to lose sharpness in your image due to defraction of the light as it squeezes through the small hole.
Shutter Speed is simply how fast the shutter opens and closes, the speed with with the shutter fires. Most point and shoot cameras will try for a default setting of around 1/125th of a second. The shutter will only be open for 1/125th of a second. Why? Because that is the largest amount of time most humans can keep a camera still! If the shutter is open longer the shaking camera blurs the image. Sports photographers use shutter speeds of 1/400th or 1/500th of a second to "freeze" action. Your watch is not moving. You don't need to "freeze" it but you do need to "freeze" your own shanking hand. Generally, with both point and shoot and dSLRs a shutter speed of around 1/125th of a second will be sufficient to avoid letting hand shake degrade the sharpness of your image, but each person is different and some people can keep a camera still with longer shutter speeds such as 1/60th of a second or even 1/30th of a second. You can also rest your hands on a book or attach the camera to a small tripod to reduce hand shake if needed.
Now we have our three basic factors (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed). You want to take your watch photos at the highest ISO, the smallest Aperture and the highest shutter speed combination which will give you a "properly exposed" image. But is the camera's automatic determination of "properly exposed" exactly what YOU want for this particular watch?
Remember your camera does not know what it is photographing. It is just measuring light and setting itself for average conditions. A close up photo of a watch is not one of those average conditions. The light meter in your camera will set its definition of "proper exposure" as gray (precisely a gray card that reflects 18% of the light striking it). But your watch isn't always 18% gray. It doesn't always reflect 18% of the light falling on it. Your watch may be black or white. Your camera will assume all objects are 18% reflective and set the "proper exposure" of your black watch so it comes out gray in the photo. It will also turn your white watch gray. You have to tell your camera if your subject is more black or more white. You do this by using the exposure compensation button or setting on your camera. Read the owner's manual on how to do this. When you set the camera for - 0.3 or - 0.7 or - 1.0 exposure compensation you are telling the camera that it should darken the image it takes. Conversely, when you set your camera for + 0.3 or + 0.7 or + 1.0 you are telling the camera it should brighten the image it takes. The easiest way to use exposure compensation is to take the image at the camera's recommended exposure and then look at it on the LCD screen on the back of your camera. Then use your camera's exposure compensation feature to either lighten it or darken it a few steps. Then look at the images on your computer screen where you will be able to see the resulting effect better and pick the one you like best.
I hope this helps you use the features in your camera to improve the photos of your watches.
Proper exposure is a balancing of three basic factors (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed).
ISO (or the older term ASA) means the sensitivity of the film (or sensor in a digital camera) to light. A higher ISO number means a more sensitive film and therefore less light needed to properly expose that film. Back in the days of film photographers used 25 ASA Kodachrome for outdoor scenes, 100 or 200 ASA Kodak film for people, and 400 ASA for sports. You bought a roll of film, put it into your camera and were stuck with that film's ASA for the entire roll. Digital photography is very different because the sensor is more sensitive than film and you can change the camera's ISO setting for each shot you take. Generally both point and shoot cameras and dSLR cameras are set at the default setting of AUTO ISO. This means the camera will automatically adjust the ISO for each image according to the light available so it uses a higher ISO indoors and a lower ISO in bight sunshine outside. Higher ISO bring with it grain (solid even tone surfaces start to look like clumps of sand). You want to find the highest ISO your camera can use without showing obvious grain. The only way to do this is to find the ISO setting in your manual or menu and take your camera off the AUTO ISO setting. Set it for ISO 200 and take some photos, then set it for ISO 400 and take the same photos, then set it for ISO 600 and photograph the same objects, then set it for ISO 800 and photograph the same objects, etc. Then look carefully at your photos and determine the highest ISO you can use without obvious grain. This is the highest light sensitivity you can set your camera for when photographing watches without using a flash.
Aperture is the "hole" in the lens that allows light to enter the camera. A mechanical device behind the lens glass can open different amounts. These are called f-stops. Typically, a point and shoot camera's default will be to try for an f-stop of 4 or 5.6. The maximum (largest opening, most light let into the camera) f-stop of most point and shoot cameras is about 3.5 and the minimum (smallest opening) is about 8. Digital SLRs have a larger range of f-stops available. With a point and shoot camera you want to override your cameras default and use the smallest f-stop (smallest opening) you can because one of the laws of optics dictates that a smaller f-stop will create a larger depth of field for the image of the watch. Depth of field is simply the depth (front to back) of the image which will be in sharp focus. you want your focus to be sharp on the dial and continue sharp back towards the clasp. To achieve this take your camera's shooting mode out of AUTO and set it for A (aperture priority). Look up how to use this mode in our owner's manual. In A mode set the f-stop for the smallest number your camera allows, usually f-8. If you have a dSLR set it for f-11 or f-16. You probably don't need to go down to f-22 and if you go to f-32 you probably will start to lose sharpness in your image due to defraction of the light as it squeezes through the small hole.
Shutter Speed is simply how fast the shutter opens and closes, the speed with with the shutter fires. Most point and shoot cameras will try for a default setting of around 1/125th of a second. The shutter will only be open for 1/125th of a second. Why? Because that is the largest amount of time most humans can keep a camera still! If the shutter is open longer the shaking camera blurs the image. Sports photographers use shutter speeds of 1/400th or 1/500th of a second to "freeze" action. Your watch is not moving. You don't need to "freeze" it but you do need to "freeze" your own shanking hand. Generally, with both point and shoot and dSLRs a shutter speed of around 1/125th of a second will be sufficient to avoid letting hand shake degrade the sharpness of your image, but each person is different and some people can keep a camera still with longer shutter speeds such as 1/60th of a second or even 1/30th of a second. You can also rest your hands on a book or attach the camera to a small tripod to reduce hand shake if needed.
Now we have our three basic factors (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed). You want to take your watch photos at the highest ISO, the smallest Aperture and the highest shutter speed combination which will give you a "properly exposed" image. But is the camera's automatic determination of "properly exposed" exactly what YOU want for this particular watch?
Remember your camera does not know what it is photographing. It is just measuring light and setting itself for average conditions. A close up photo of a watch is not one of those average conditions. The light meter in your camera will set its definition of "proper exposure" as gray (precisely a gray card that reflects 18% of the light striking it). But your watch isn't always 18% gray. It doesn't always reflect 18% of the light falling on it. Your watch may be black or white. Your camera will assume all objects are 18% reflective and set the "proper exposure" of your black watch so it comes out gray in the photo. It will also turn your white watch gray. You have to tell your camera if your subject is more black or more white. You do this by using the exposure compensation button or setting on your camera. Read the owner's manual on how to do this. When you set the camera for - 0.3 or - 0.7 or - 1.0 exposure compensation you are telling the camera that it should darken the image it takes. Conversely, when you set your camera for + 0.3 or + 0.7 or + 1.0 you are telling the camera it should brighten the image it takes. The easiest way to use exposure compensation is to take the image at the camera's recommended exposure and then look at it on the LCD screen on the back of your camera. Then use your camera's exposure compensation feature to either lighten it or darken it a few steps. Then look at the images on your computer screen where you will be able to see the resulting effect better and pick the one you like best.
I hope this helps you use the features in your camera to improve the photos of your watches.
