I have used the zoom and tried to manipulate natural and overhead light but with limited luck. The steel looks to shiny and key details are lost. Is it futile?

 

Which iPhone do you have?
Camera quality definitely plays a key role.

 

I took these of my three with my iPhone 7, didn’t do anything fancy with settings (mainly because I don’t know how to!)

 

Try using indirect natural light by putting the watch near a window. And place a piece of white paper on the opposite side of the watch from the window; it will scatter some light back towards the watch and reduce shadows. Take lots of photos and delete the crappy ones.

 

I take all my photos with an iPhone, now an 8 plus. (and it shows, I’m sure)

finding good, indirect daylight is the best for bringing out the dial colors in an authentic manner. Incandescent and especially fluorescent lighting both seem to really shift the look of a watch away from what my eye truly sees.

I have found that holding the camera back away from the watch a bit will allow for better focus of the subject watch itself. Then, cropping the image to the size you want gives decent results, and makes the image look like a closeup, if that’s what your aiming to do. And what Dan S says- take several pictures and pitch the bad ones.

 

Every thread needs pictures... iPhone 8 Plus cropped to a custom aspect ratio..

 

There are clip on macro lenses that can take really great close up photos.

 

Have a look here
https://omegaforums.net/threads/light-boxes-and-photography-setup.32303/
you can see my set up

 

Pulling the phone further away and zooming will give a more natural perspective and not make the watch appear larger than it is. As said before, indirect or diffused light is your friend- but too shady and it can make the dial appear dull and lifeless. Sometimes extreme raking lighting can be nicely dramatic like early morning light across a dial.
You can pick a point on the watch for the camera for focus and it will also adjust metering (pick the brightest spot and the rest gets darker, pick the darkest and the highlights will blow out). Sadly as it’s a snap & shoot it doesn’t allow you to control the metering and it will override your adjustment sometimes. But take a few and one will come out well.

Some of my quick grabs with the above method.



Below I s a good example of keep tapping the screen to try and get the phone to get the right focus and metering, it changes color cast and contrast as it sees fit- so your fighting with it but ...tap, click- tap click- it will refocus and remeter- then you’ll finally get one.

 

moment lens is a great investment

 

I use an app called ProCam. It allows you to basically take manual control of your iPhone camera and adjust all the settings like you would on a DSLR. Super useful! Also, I don’t know why, but I’m particularly fond of how Instagram lets you edit photos. Their options are great when adjusting them in post:

 

The more you can get your light to be filtered, the better it will look. Kind of acts as a polarizing filter to help reduce glare. Time of day also changes the color, early morning will have more blue, later in the day day will be more red. I like to use tree shadows that have some patches of sunlight that are coming through and use the edge of those patches.

Or a window with indirect light as @Dan S mentioned.

These are with my IPhone 8 plus.

Trees:




Window:

 

Also, use the self timing function so the camera isn't shaking when you take a shot.

 

As someone who makes his living as a photographer, I really appreciate all the tips people have come up with to troubleshoot their photography. Just like the professionals I've worked with and learned from there's a lot of trial and error people have led to their knowledge base.

Snapseed is a great little app for adjusting exposure and white balance, which is the main problem I have with the iPhone camera.

 

My pics are usually very bad. I have an 8plus which from what I read is supposed to be at least a different camera. I mean they have filmed entire movies using the iPhone 8plus. I should give myself a lesson on the phones camera I have no idea what options are available although I have taken some nice pics of my cat in the animal lovers thread

 

Easy. Every watch I shoot in the car... Best light

 

i often take picture at 3:00 PM to get enough day light

 

Thanks for this thread. Just learned a lot!

Started using my iPad because it is easier for me to see the details on the screen.

 

The in-phone editing suite makes all the difference. Play around w those sliders.

 

Here is the one setting I always do and is needed.
Bring UP the exposure and shadow. You’ll get a much much cleaner and clearer photo. That tiny sensor in our phone won’t capture all that glorious light. Give it a boost.