Tick, Tick, Tick

A mechanical pocket watch can make for an interesting subject for some close-up photography.

Gallery: This and That

This watch has a “double hunter” case, which means both the front and the back of the watch case opens. I took advantage of that here to allow for illumination from behind the movement. The watch was set up on a background of black velvet, and a remote flash unit was set up pointing at the back of the watch from the left. The camera’s built in flash triggered the remote flash, and provided light for the watch face. The result are photographs that show off the gears and structure of the movement rather than either all the mechanical innards getting lost in shadow or a flat and uninteresting photo from an on-camera flash. For the photograph of the case exterior, the light primarily comes from an off-camera flash from the side and a white bounce card held above the watch to provide good illumination and show off the design and surface sheen.