Watch Pictures

Three words: roasted coffee beans.

Use a 35mm lens if you have a system camera. If you're using a mobile phone; zoom in and move mobile camera away from you wrist accordingly. These two methods will make your watch look as natural as possible on your wrist - and true to it's relative size on you wrist. Go outside or near a large window to capture the image. 

One of the few things I found useful from the Dink was this article

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/how-to-take-better-photos-of-your-watches-without-buying-a-new-camera

Bright overcast days are great for watch pics.

No easy way, unfortunately. Learn and study photography (or any pictorial artform). Look at lots of watch photos, make a list and try to find out why you like them. Then reverse-engineer the photos to your own specific tastes

Besides the great advice above, try taking photos during the late afternoon where sunlight is warmer and less intense. It's not called the "Golden Hour" for nothing. 😉

I forgot to mention that there is a reason besides car brand flexing that photos inside cars are so common. A car cabin tends to block direct light while side windows allow ambient light in, plus the interior is usually pretty devoid of objects to appear in reflections.

Here are my few recommendations 

1. Save money for a luxury watch and with that money instead of buying an expensive watch hire a professional photographer to take few hundred wrist shot per watch and post them over time. 
2. Draw inspiration from fellow crunchers like @JaeBust @Catskinner @SurferJohn to name a few who come up with creative ways of taking awesome shot of their massive watch collection
3. Do a lot of reading or youtube videos. Who has time for that?
4. Or like me just twist your wrist till your can see the dial without any reflection and use the phone. I like to see all watches no matter how good you framed your shot. 
    

Another tip for using your phone is to zoom in before taking the shot,  so the subject is more compressed. Many phone lenses are wide angle and digitally zooming in as far as you can helps with distortion control. You might lose some quality with this, but it will look more natural. 

Also, as others have said, lighting is key. Flat/soft light as seen on overcast days, shade, or indirect lighting  helps for a lot of things, but also learn to play with any light. Move the watch around to see how it interacts with whatever light you have. When you see an angle you like, shoot it. Have fun exploring!

hey man, i like taking pict with my camera. i learn a few things in youtube (like bark and jack, teddy balldassare, etc) and mix it with my avaible props. i usually take my pict in flatlay style. here is some tips if you like my style:

1. use 3 generic softbox light (this is important)
2. use a plain background with neutral colour
3. mix and match a few props near the watch
4. usually i use 35mm lens because i got limited budget
5. learn the composition from another watch photographer from ig, etc
6. tilt the dial slightly from the light source to prevent reflection

here are a few example from what i do

Bah, my collection is hardly massive. Or maybe I'm very good at self deception?

Anyway, you gave here a good advise about saving money. I'm using a very old digital camera and it's really not worth it to upgrade to better and pricier models. 

A light diffuser, one of those umbrella lights, or a lightbox, anything that makes light softer, and a tripod. Those two things will improve your photography game considerably.

Just be yourself, take real shots of you and your watch.  It doesn’t require anything fancy at all.

Great photos! Interesting how good it looks when you allow a bit of glare on part of the crystal. Going to try that myself... Though I never spill my coffee beans 😁 

Thx, i found a little glare on that crystal to be attractive. Lol that coffe beans is just for a prop, i keep a few beans for photograph session

I use my iPhone trial and error technique! 🫣

Go to the grocery store!  No kidding, the wrist shots I take while pushing the cart while my wife compares prices (on every damn thing that goes into the cart!) always seem to come out well 😂

Most of my shots are from my cell phone with a 1.4-1.7 magnification on the lens. I usually correct the framing and cut down the highlights. Mostly just shoot and post, we are interested in seeing your stuff. All the best. 

Thank you for all the advice! I’m looking at some vintage watches that need some good shots to do them justice. I’m really only interested in sharing with the community, but I still want shots that can be appreciated.

Photographer here. Unless you're doing this professional, ie paid, I'd keep it simple like Surfer John has said.  

Most important is light: I usually stand next to my bedroom window, with the shades partially open. That creates a nice softbox for no money. I angle the watch dial to get a good light with little to no reflection.  

I use my Google Pixel 6.  I'm astounded by the quality of photos from a phone nowadays. For casual pics, no need to get out my Nikon d850 or Sony mirrorless! I use the x2 zoom function to reduce lens distortion (wider angles mean more corner distortion).  

Edit: Professional pics are made in the edit, not the camera.  I use a simple app called Snapseed. It has easy one click filters for a vintage look. Lot's of cool options here. You can also clean up the pic with cropping, adjust brightness, etc.  

This is for fun, so I wouldn't fuss about it too much :-).  

Carl

Step 1:

Get 50 years of professional photography experience. Learn to perfect your lighting, camera settings, background style and image composition. Invest tens of thousands of dollars in the camera, lenses and lighting gear.

Step 2:

Use iphone.

All jokes aside here's a tip:

Use the zoom and move the camera further away from the watch. It will give a more natural feel and the watch sizing will feel more true to life. Example:

Same watch, same wrist - but look how huge the watch looks in that top photo. That's because the camera is closer in that one.

Simple trick: use a cheap tripod, or rest your phone on something firm, and use a 3 second timer.