Teach me your lume shot secrets
- I have a Google Pixel 4 and they just have really good cameras. Not only that, they have a feature called NightSight for taking photos at night or in dim light without a flash. That's what I used for this one. It makes photos appear brighter. You just have to hold the phone still for a couple seconds. I can tell I must have moved bc there is a little squiggle on the second hand by the lollipop counterbalance. 
Thanks for your insight! I'll have to give a few of those a try.yinzburgher wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:40 am
- I wipe away dust and grease, usually with my shirt.
- I often take about a dozen photos and pick the best one. It just increases your odds of getting a good one.
- For a photo like this, I sometimes use a photo editor. There's no secret sauce to this that I know of. We all know what looks good......we're full-time watch appreciators. I don't bother with filters, I just mess around with brightness, contrast, etc to try to make it look better than the original. I don't worry about it looking perfect. It's just for fun.
- I charged up the lume with a LED flashlight. Often times (especially with killer Seiko lume) if you take a photo right away, the lume has a kind of fuzzy halo effect......there's probably a fancy photography name for this. But if you wait a minute or two before you snap a pic, it typically looks much "cleaner", and doesn't have that blurriness even though the lume isn't quite as bright.
- Whether or not your phone has a feature like NighSight, I think these photos turn out best when all the lights are off in the room but there is maybe some dim ambient light coming from another room. Or you can have a very dim light on in the room but put your body (and camera) in between the light source and the watch.
- I try to take the photos at angles that minimize reflections....especially off of polished bezels....and particularly of my ugly mug.
I used budget phones for years. One of the main reasons I finally decided to spend the money to get a decent phone was bc I was seeing everyone post killer watch pics on forums and mine were very mediocre. Taking better pictures of my watches then became one way to enjoy my watches more. For those of you with budget phones, you could consider upgrading to one with an really good camera. Even if it means buying one less watch to afford the upgrade, you might find taking better photos one way to enjoy your watches more.
I think that's all I got. If anyone else has any tips, ideas, etc....please add them. I'm always curious how watch forum people take such great photos.
If your phone doesn't have a Night Sight feature but has manual or "pro" controls, you can slow down the shutter speed to achieve a similar result. There is more to it than that, but it would be arduous to replicate everything Google's Night Sight does.Miggyd87 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:44 amThanks for your insight! I'll have to give a few of those a try.yinzburgher wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:40 am
- I wipe away dust and grease, usually with my shirt.
- I often take about a dozen photos and pick the best one. It just increases your odds of getting a good one.
- For a photo like this, I sometimes use a photo editor. There's no secret sauce to this that I know of. We all know what looks good......we're full-time watch appreciators. I don't bother with filters, I just mess around with brightness, contrast, etc to try to make it look better than the original. I don't worry about it looking perfect. It's just for fun.
- I charged up the lume with a LED flashlight. Often times (especially with killer Seiko lume) if you take a photo right away, the lume has a kind of fuzzy halo effect......there's probably a fancy photography name for this. But if you wait a minute or two before you snap a pic, it typically looks much "cleaner", and doesn't have that blurriness even though the lume isn't quite as bright.
- Whether or not your phone has a feature like NighSight, I think these photos turn out best when all the lights are off in the room but there is maybe some dim ambient light coming from another room. Or you can have a very dim light on in the room but put your body (and camera) in between the light source and the watch.
- I try to take the photos at angles that minimize reflections....especially off of polished bezels....and particularly of my ugly mug.
I used budget phones for years. One of the main reasons I finally decided to spend the money to get a decent phone was bc I was seeing everyone post killer watch pics on forums and mine were very mediocre. Taking better pictures of my watches then became one way to enjoy my watches more. For those of you with budget phones, you could consider upgrading to one with an really good camera. Even if it means buying one less watch to afford the upgrade, you might find taking better photos one way to enjoy your watches more.
I think that's all I got. If anyone else has any tips, ideas, etc....please add them. I'm always curious how watch forum people take such great photos.
What should the shutter speed be set to? I would love a bit of a "how to lume shots with manual camera controls on your phone"ManOnTime wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:50 amIf your phone doesn't have a Night Sight feature but has manual or "pro" controls, you can slow down the shutter speed to achieve a similar result. There is more to it than that, but it would be arduous to replicate everything Google's Night Sight does.Miggyd87 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:44 amThanks for your insight! I'll have to give a few of those a try.yinzburgher wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:40 am
- I wipe away dust and grease, usually with my shirt.
- I often take about a dozen photos and pick the best one. It just increases your odds of getting a good one.
- For a photo like this, I sometimes use a photo editor. There's no secret sauce to this that I know of. We all know what looks good......we're full-time watch appreciators. I don't bother with filters, I just mess around with brightness, contrast, etc to try to make it look better than the original. I don't worry about it looking perfect. It's just for fun.
- I charged up the lume with a LED flashlight. Often times (especially with killer Seiko lume) if you take a photo right away, the lume has a kind of fuzzy halo effect......there's probably a fancy photography name for this. But if you wait a minute or two before you snap a pic, it typically looks much "cleaner", and doesn't have that blurriness even though the lume isn't quite as bright.
- Whether or not your phone has a feature like NighSight, I think these photos turn out best when all the lights are off in the room but there is maybe some dim ambient light coming from another room. Or you can have a very dim light on in the room but put your body (and camera) in between the light source and the watch.
- I try to take the photos at angles that minimize reflections....especially off of polished bezels....and particularly of my ugly mug.
I used budget phones for years. One of the main reasons I finally decided to spend the money to get a decent phone was bc I was seeing everyone post killer watch pics on forums and mine were very mediocre. Taking better pictures of my watches then became one way to enjoy my watches more. For those of you with budget phones, you could consider upgrading to one with an really good camera. Even if it means buying one less watch to afford the upgrade, you might find taking better photos one way to enjoy your watches more.
I think that's all I got. If anyone else has any tips, ideas, etc....please add them. I'm always curious how watch forum people take such great photos.
Something like this may help. Don't put too much weight in my suggestion as I haven't taken anything other than a cell phone picture in months
. We keep something similar in the camera bag when we travel (used to travel).
