Speedmaster + 3D Composite Photo

Realizing this is the better place to post some photography related content 😀

I’ve finally carved out some time to move forward with a photography project that’s been on my mind for a while. I’ve always loved imagery featuring spacefaring gloves and Speedmasters, so I decided to experiment with creating something along those lines myself with 3D tools and photography.

While searching for a suitable 3D glove model for the Comp, I came across an amazing scan of Neil Armstrong’s glove in the Smithsonian archive. I added a bone structure to the model so I could move the fingers and pose it as needed. After previsualizing the composition with a 3D Speedmaster to dial in the angle and perspective, I matched the positioning with my physical 145.012 in-camera.

I’m currently waiting for my 105.012 to return, and once it does, I’ll reshoot to feature it as the proper subject. In the meantime, I couldn’t resist placing one of my other Speedmasters in the scene as a placeholder. I'll continue to explore additional poses and angles and produce a series of prints.

Hope you enjoy it.

Some behind the scenes for a shot like this:

Here is the base geometry of the glove and the 3D model of the stand in Speedmaster to get the framing that I would later try to match in the photo studio (my watchmaking desk).


The bones that i can use to pose the glove in 3D space.
The final render does not include the 3D watch, but does include a shadow on the thumb that will help ground the comped in photograph of the Speedmaster.


This is one of the composite shots where I use a piece of blue tape to get some real reflections to help the watch sit in the scene. A few of these shots were used to introduce reflections in various parts of the watch.


ZWD