RWI photo contest for novices; with prizes!

[PHicks]

RWI photo contest for novices; with prizes!

Ever wanted to learn how to take slick watch pics but thought that while balance was a racial slur? Well now is your chance.

This competition is for noobs or members that have previously posted a few pictures on RWI but have never been happy with the results.

Our resident experts are going to help you change that dull looking snapshot into a thing of beauty! Be it recommendations on presentation or how to enhance your shots with free photo editors. They may even show you how your shots can be improved with edited examples.

Scoring, by the dynamic duo Daytona4Me and Pix, will be based on how much you have learned over the period of this topic (about a month) rather than what wizz-bang equipment you have.

This all started when I gave LevelManRoger a hard time about his out-of-focus shots. After some playful debate we decided to make this into a RWI competition. We agreed to throw in some rather nice prizes and naturally excluded ourselves from winning them. Pix graciously offered our third prize.

The prizes:

U-BOAT by LevelManRoger, this is the picture that started the whole topic. Definitely room for improvement here. This watch has a quartz movement and is brand new.

Bell & Ross BR02 by Me. Basic 21j auto movement, used, but in nice shape.

Dupont Roller by Pix. Nice picture Pix, notice the depth of field.

You can edit your shots as often as you like so dig out that point-n-shoot camera, get clicking, learn from the experts and re-post. The sooner you post the better are your chances!

If you wish to test the water by submitting a picture for comment or editing assistance then go ahead. Only posts that comply with the rules below will be eligible for the prizes.


Ok, the [blink:2bxxc2su]Rules[/blink:2bxxc2su]:
1) You must have previously posted a picture on RWI. Include this picture and label it BEFORE
OR
You must have 10 or less posts prior to submitting to this topic.

2) You can edit your post as many times as you like but each time you edit it you must label it LUME-EDIT1, EDIT2 etc and leave the previous pics intact so we can see the difference.

3) When editing copy/paste the previous post into a new one and add the changes. This makes it easier for everyone to follow whats going on.

4) The pictures:

* One comparison photo demonstrating your new skills taken of the original watch with a similar composition. Label it AFTER. 10 points. (noobs can skip this, you'll get the average score)

* Three 'Set design' pictures of any watch you choose taken from different angles. Label them SET1,SET2,SET3. 20 points.

* One watch related picture demonstrating composition, originality and artistic flare. Label it FLARE. 10 points.

* One lume shot (consideration will be given for watches that have lousy lume). Label it LUME. 5 points.

5) All entries must include a description of the camera, ancillary equipment and any picture editing that you did.

6) Try to keep pictures to 640x480 for the sake of everyone.

7) Shipping to the winners is free but don't expect us to cover any customs issues!


We're looking forward to having some great fun with this. Pix and I will do some follow up posts explaining how you can download free editing software and fix up those pics!

Good luck!

 

[Pix]

It sounds like we're going to have fun

Reviews and pictures make this place live, and the more we have, the happiest I live :lol:

Here's a link to the Free software I suggest to use for editing your pictures (let's call that studio treatment), for those who don't have Photoshop (unbeatable for correcting your pics) : it's called PHOTOFILTRE and is delivered in several languages.

http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm

This software will enable most of us to drastically improve our pictures after they've been shot. I'll be glad to give advices whenever requested to the participants, at my humble level. I'm not practising a lot with Photofiltre, but if we all use the same software, we're going to be able to exchange tricks and hints in this very thread.

And here's the link to Pug's fantastic (and easy) tutorial on how to prepare for taking good base pictures :
How to photograph watches (part 1)
How to photograph watches (part 2)
How to photograph watches (part 3)

As you see, no need for any expensive material : just be creative and patient (take several shots of the same scene and keep the best of it before a "studio" treatment)

Important tips :
- clean your watch (use a microfiber cloth, or simply the cloth you use for your glasses)
- never use flashlights
- stabilize your camera either with a tripod...or with some CDs
- have enough light (natural light is probably the best) or use a lamp, but avoid direct light reflection on your watch, and the best thing for this is to use a light tent (can be a simple white plastic bag... :mrgreen: )
- use the macro feature of your camera, full automatic mode is enough to start. Also it's recommended to use the delayed release of your camera, that will avoid unwanted movements while pressing the button
- set your camera to its maximum resolution : the highest, the easier it will be to reframe your picture in your software afterwards. Reframing is an easy way to focus on small details of your watch, even if your camera is not that good at macroshooting.


- lume shots : the best results are given after you placed your watch under a lamp for 10-15 seconds, then use the manual feature of your camera : dark room, long exposure time (15 seconds for my camera) and aperture according to the results you expect : biggest (F2.6 on my cam) if you want depth in your picture, smallest (F8 on my cam) if you want everything to be sharp.

 

[PHicks]

Pix introduced me to Photofiltre the other day and I have to say it's a great product, especially since it's free!

For us watch fans the greatest benefit seems to be the ability to select a section of the picture and edit it without effecting the rest of the shot. This is particularly helpful when glare has made the dial of your watch look washed out. The following is the B&R that I posted as a prize before it was edited:

After a few minutes of editing it came out like this:

What I discovered is that you need to start with the overall picture. Adjust the gamma, contrast, brightness etc to your liking. Now use the Ellipse tool to grab the dial. Adjust the gamma correction again to play with just the dial. You can use the Polygon tool to grab awkward shapes. I found that after step 1 the bottom part of the strap did not match the upper part so I used the Polygon to select the strap and fix that. Last step was to fix the dust specs. I used the 'Clone Stamp' tool to grab a good spot and copy it to the spec.

Another free product worth taking a look at is Picassa, from Google. It's editing functionality is pretty basic but it's good at managing all the pictures on your PC. One neat edit function is the 'straighten'. This allows you to make small rotational corrections when you take a picture that's slightly rotated.

Give it a try and post your results.

 

[Pix]

The first parameters I usually use to improve my picture are the contrast and the saturation. this can be found under the adjust menu.

Usually dark blacks please the eye, so that's where I'm correcting the contrast on PHicks picture. By 30%.


Also to get a conform picture, I reframe it to focus on what's important. Select a rectangle as close as possible from 640x480. Then paste the result as a new picture and resize the new picture to exactly 640x480. The software will slightly shrink or expand your image. It is very important to be as close to a rectangle shape as possible, otherwise your shot will get weird proportions.




Here's the result I'm happy with. Bad colours or white balance are never an issue. The most important is to get a sharp image from the beginning.

 

[fakemaster]

People better start entering or I'll unleash some photographic horror on you.

[think:2b3uqlyo]That pen looks awful familar.[/think:2b3uqlyo]

 

[Pix]

That pen wasn't used by my wife, so I thought it would please some members here...

FM, if you want to win it, I'd be glad to see you join the contest

 

[daytona4me]

@fakemaster

You already have! LOL :lol:
I couldn't help myself...hehe

Lord forgive me and be with the starving pigmies

 

[PHicks]

People better start entering or I'll unleash some photographic horror on you.

Thank's for the support Fakey. Let's see some of those horror pic's everyone; I recall a couple of months ago a picture with a nice reflection of the photographer. Trouble is he had no clothes on! Ahhh!

Has anyone downloaded PhotoFiltre yet? You won't be disappointed, it's a 100x better than your average editor and it's free. Try it out and post your before and after.

For all you noobies out there why not step out of the shadows and give it a try. What's the worst thing that can happen? Roger and I are totally novice photographer's but we set ourselves up for a fall and can take the heat (I think).

 

[spider87]

Can I still enter? Also, if I enter can I win if no one else enters? lol The entries seem a little sparse..

 

[CHOB]

Am I DQed due to the number of posts I have made?

 

[CHOB]

Am I DQed due to the number of posts I have made?

NM. It's late and I need to read more clearly. Thanks. Bed Time

 

[spider87]

Here's my entries:

My first pic: (only a little clear because it was taking with a nice video camera)


With an older 3.1 MP EasyShot:



When does the contest end and what not?

Haha however you get to see my hands and what not in the side of the watch It's just a bit reflective haha.

Hope you like anyway let me know..

 

[alvinado]

My Entry

1) Before and After
Before:My first Picture on RWI

Some editing. Give me some chance, The photo was not taken well to begin with

After: Same watch, but equipped with better skills.

2)Set Design
Set 1: Deepsea!

Set 2: My Darling Sea Dweller Again

Set 3: Another angle of my Sea Dweller

3)Flare-LV cardholder with My Hublot on a canvas setting...

4)Lumeshoteepsea

5)Equipment:
Camera:Casio Exilim 6.0 Megapixel, just your everyday camera
Software: Photoshop. Used some basic tools like sharpen and auto colors

 

[spider87]

Nice lume shot! Where did you get your sea-dweller and how much did you pay for it AND have you had any problems with it?

Thanks,
Alex

 

[PHicks]

@alviando is tops at the moment since he has tried hardest to comply with the rules!

It takes a lot of balls to submit your first shots and so I commend you!

I'm no expert but I would suggest that you took these shots with a flash. This tends to make everything have a lot of glare. To get a really good shot you need to switch off the flash. This means that you will need a longer exposure which can induce blur from camera shake. If you don't have a tripod then you can improvise by trying to hold the camera steady by locking your hands against something solid. Automatic exposure should take care of the reduced light. The next step is to provide some artificial light. The easiest trick is to get an old lamp and put a pillow case over it. The objective is to create some diffuse light without setting fire to the pillow case. The shots you took are in focus so that's not an issue.

I would be really interested to see if you can do this, I'm sure that you can get some better results. If you're successful then you may well light the path for some other members to give it a try (every pun intended). Just try one shot to start with and we can take it from there. My expertise dwindles quickly but fortunately we have people like Pix on hand.

@Spider87 - Your shot looks (to me) as if you had a some camera shake plus my comments about flash. If you hold the camera free hand then the very act of clicking the shutter tends to make the camera move. If you have the option of a delayed release on your camera you can try that; click! and then 2 seconds later the camera takes the picture. By this time your unintended motion has been negated (hopefully). You sure have some serious zoom on that video camera of yours. If this isn't an option then I would suggest zooming back a little and trying the 'arm rest' technique. Remember that you can always 'crop' a picture. Most modern cameras have incredible resolution so cropping a picture to size shouldn't be an issue.

@Chob - If you're issue is number of posts then don't be concerned. Our intent was to prevent seasoned members from hi-jacking the topic and cleaning up on the prizes. If you're daytime job is photographer for one of the daily newspapers I think we will spot this. Rules are made to be broken!

Oh, the competition will run for about a month. We didn't want to set a date because we know that a lot of newcomers take a little encouragement to start posting and we wanted to ensure that this topic is all about you!

 

[Spirit]

Can I enter?
:mrgreen:



j/k
lol


@Alviando:
...I like your shots of your "darling" Sea-Dweller the most, but as PHicks told ya, do not use the flash. it will improve your shots alot =)

That brown Hublot is stunning! Very beautiful! ..But make sure the camera has the watch in focus, and not something else (there, the focus went all to the LV cardholder)
...Place the camera a little bit far away from the watch, and it should help too...nice lume shot of the DSSD!

Cheers,
Spirit.

 

[daytona4me]

Guys,, try this... when you have good daylight coming in,, take a plain white piece of heavier card stock (not too thick) and prop it up against something (1/2 way) and place your watch on the other 1/2. In essense you are getting a white base and backdrop. The natural light (so long as it is not glaring on the watch or paper will be good. Next is most important... Put your camera on a small tripod, this is a must!! See these two links...

[blink:1ncj6jkr]$5.00 at walmart http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=4383944
$15.00 at walmart http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... d=10899533[/blink:1ncj6jkr]

I own the $15.00 one and I love it!

Once you have it on a tripod,, throw it on aperture priority mode, disable flash, set your timer to 2 second delay ,, focus,, click your button and step back to avoid being caught in a glare. Read up on depth of field and you will understand a little more why this is important.

Next step.. polarized filters.. hehe.. :twisted:

 

[daytona4me]

People who are wanting to get started taking photos should look at this special.
It is a really good deal and will allow you to start taking some really nice photos immediately and for a cheap price!

You get a photo tent, tripod (I would replace it) and 2 lights ( I would add 1 above it too)

$32.99 http://www.handhelditems.com/studio-min ... 12162.html

I really like this one $110 http://www.handhelditems.com/combo-blac ... 12571.html

 

[fakemaster]

I warned you guys.

 

[alvinado]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will make some better photos while I get some time off work!