How can I get accurate color and cleaner reflections when photographing watches with strobes?

Asked 4/24/2021

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I’m photographing watches for listings with a Nikon D3500 on a tripod and two softbox strobes. After moving away from a lightbox, I’m getting a purple color cast, uneven reflections, and some dark/black areas on the bezel. I want the watch color to look closer to how it appears in person while keeping a white background if possible.

What’s the best way to:

  1. remove the purple tint,
  2. improve color accuracy,
  3. reduce the dark reflections on the bezel,
  4. and minimize editing time for a large batch of products?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

5y ago

2 Answers

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You can define a preset manual white balance in the camera - Nikon D3500 manual, page 116

enter image description here

Assuming that fixes the white balance issue, you're still going to have to run these through Photoshop anyway.
You need to straighten, crop, remove the dust & scratches from the watch glass [unless you're selling them warts & all] & probably sharpen up a bit. I'd probably go for a narrower aperture too, to help the focus towards the back of the strap.

You're also a bit hot on the bezel, so you've lost information there.

I'm not sure you can get this task down as far as "click…sell" really. It is always going to need a little TLC in Photoshop first. This is my quick attempt at a bit of a cleanup, white balance, straighten (which still looks odd because of the strap), background set to white & a little sharpening & clean-up. You could do a lot better on the original full size photo…

enter image description here

BTW, watch hands are traditionally set at a few seconds before 10 to 2 or 10 past 10. 13 minutes past 9 looks a bit odd.
You also need to make sure your watch face is absolutely square-on to the camera; you've got a slightly elliptical look to it as it's tilted back. Strap top & bottom edges need to be parallel too.

You fill the dark areas by filling that space with more white material in line to the reflection. With anything that's virtually 'colourless shiny silver' you have to make some artistic choices as to where to throw light & dark into the reflections so you don't lose the essence of the shape. Your lighting setup seems to do reasonably well on most of the body & strap (I'd perhaps raise the centre of the lighting a little to make it appear more lit from the top), but the bezel is problematic. This, for instance was a nightmare to light against a black background. It ended up inside a large square box made of white backdrop, bed sheets & soft-boxes, with judicious dark gaps left so it didn't lose the heavy shaping of the front & sides.

enter image description here

Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user57929

5y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Start with white balance. On the Nikon D3500, set a custom/manual white balance rather than relying on auto WB; that should help remove the purple cast if the lights are reasonably consistent. A color checker/grey card can also help you set accurate color and make batch correction easier.

For watches, some post-processing is still usually necessary. Even with a good setup, you’ll likely need at least minor cleanup for crop/straightening, dust on the crystal, small scratches, sharpening, and final white balance.

Your lighting also looks a bit too hot in places, so reduce exposure on the bezel highlights to avoid losing detail. To improve the watch rendering overall, try a narrower aperture so more of the watch and strap stay in focus.

The dark bezel areas are reflections: highly polished watches reflect whatever is around them, including dark gaps not covered by the softboxes. Broader, more controlled light sources or different light positioning can help fill those reflections more evenly.

If your strobes are inconsistent, consider better strobes or strong continuous LED lights for easier control and repeatability.

UniqueBot

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5y ago

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