How To: A Crash Course in Taking Good Watch Photos with Your Phone

Anyone who’s been to a watch event – be it a gathering of watch collectors or a product presentation in a boutique – has run into this problem: How do you get a good shot of a watch using only your phone?

It’s not always easy to get the perfect picture without a professional camera setup. However, there are some ways to maximize the effectiveness of your phone all on its own (or with the help of a fellow watch enthusiast and a couple of optional accessories).

The first you need to know is that lighting is, by far, the most crucial factor in watch photography. So, if you’re in a venue with low lighting, this is where your fellow watch aficionados can come in handy.

A phone light can be extremely helpful in challenging lighting situations, so the quickest fix is to get someone nearby to switch theirs on for you. However, there are a few tricks and tweaks that you’ll need to know to make the best of it.

The first thing to consider is distance. Holding the light too close to the watch dial will often result in glare or reflections. Make sure the phone light is at least a few feet away from the watch you’re shooting to create a little diffusion and spread the light over a larger surface area.
 

Next, think about angles. Straight-on, the light will create undesirable reflections or glare, just like a light that’s too close. There are a couple of ways to mitigate this: First, you can try holding the light at a slight angle so that it’s not aimed at the front of the crystal. Alternatively, you can position the watch on its side and place the light a few feet above, slightly tilted down toward the side of the case.

The last aspect of lighting you need to consider is diffusion, especially if you’re in a room with overhead lighting. If that happens, it is more than a little likely you may need to block some of it out. Luckily, this is another case where asking for help from a fellow watch lover is your best course of action.

Grab a white cloth napkin or, in a pinch, a paper cocktail napkin. Have one person hold the napkin above your target. Then, have the other person with the phone light shine it through the napkin from above. Now that you have an at least somewhat diffuse light source, you can shoot with your phone.
 

This makeshift diffuser is particularly helpful if you’re photographing a watch with a domed crystal, especially if it has a dark dial. Any watch with a dark dial and a domed crystal, or a watch without anti-reflective coating on the crystal, is more prone to reflections, so you might have to experiment through trial and error.

If you’re lucky enough to be at an event where the brand or store has supplied a lightbox or photobooth setup, great! These will solve some of the lighting problems mentioned above, but you’ll still need to play with the angles to get the right shot.

At such an event, there will typically be two types of arrangements: fixed setups and adjustable setups. Let’s look at some tips for making the most of either one you encounter.

Depending on the event, the watches you intend to shoot might be fixed in place (i.e., not movable). Ideally, they’ll be set up inside a box made of semi-translucent white polyester-like fabric, with lights positioned outside of the box, giving you diffused light through the fabric. In this situation, you’ll need to play with the angles to get the best shot.
 

Try framing the shot with your phone as you typically would, vertically in front of the watch. If you need to, adjust the focus and exposure. Most phones will allow you to adjust exposure and focus by long pressing on the screen or, as is the case with some Android phones, in Pro mode (you can also try positioning your phone horizontally or at a slight angle).

If you encounter a similar setup with semi-translucent boxes, but you can try on the watches and put your wrist inside for photos (i.e., an adjustable setup), the biggest challenge will be shadows created by the light behind your phone.

Do not shoot from above!
 

Instead, angle your watch-wearing wrist so the timepiece is at roughly a 45-degree angle from the base, meaning the dial should be aimed about halfway between pointing straight up or straight toward you. Your wrist should also be at an angle from the front of the box, not perpendicular to it, so you can fit your phone in there to get the perfect shot.

Some watch events are held in venues, like bars or nightclubs, with moody or dramatic lighting, which is great for a dance floor but not so great for watch photos. In these cases, if you want to get a great shot, you might want to bring in a couple of accessories, like portable tripods or lights.

A tripod may sound like professional equipment, but there are several products made specifically for phone photography, like the Pocket Tripod.

About the size of a credit card but slightly thicker, the Pocket Tripod unfolds to hold your phone steady so you can shoot longer exposures without worrying about any blur coming from your phone moving.
 

Its default angle is almost perfectly suited for shooting a watch on a display stand. It can also come in handy if you need something to stabilize your phone in one spot while you set up a shot with multiple watches or accessories.

There are also several portable LED lights, like the MC from Aputure or the RGB Panel Go from Lume Cube, that are small enough to fit in a jacket pocket.

When choosing one, my advice is to look for a light that has controllable light settings. For instance, you can adjust the Aputure MC light to mimic daylight. Plus, it comes with a semi-translucent diffuser that fits over the LEDs.
 

You can use these lights in the same ways you use a phone light, but since they have built-in diffusion and the ability to control brightness and temperature, you most likely won’t need to do the napkin trick. If you want to learn more about light temperature, dive into the topic here.

The portable tripod and light are the perfect duo to use together. Just lean the light against the tripod instead of putting your phone on it. Keeping the light stationary while moving the watch and/or your phone can allow you to experiment with the way light affects your watch images.

All in all, watch photography can feel intimidating, but we hope these tips and tricks help you understand how to make the most of your phone’s capabilities so you, too, can take the perfect wrist shot.

(Photography by Kathleen McGivney)