"hands of time"

[darb]

ok was a tad idle tonight so decided to try something different. A few Nef's... nothing too special i dont think, just a bit of stuffing around.

Placed my watch on the desk and did some long exposures.

The watch was naturally resting on its side, some i have rotated , some havent. What do you think looks OK exposure wise, and then which orientation do you prefer?

Apart from the 30 second shot, i opened my study door and turned on a hallway light for about 45 seconds to add a bit of ambient light.

The first two were a bit tricky, had to flick the watch to "tme" whilst being on london time so the hands would swing around, then off the lights, focus and click the bulb release. (its the same image, with two orientations.)


"hands of time" 2m30s. (watch hands fast forwarding to london time position for effect.)



"hands of time" 2m30s. (watch hands fast forwarding to london time position for effect.)



"hands of time" - 3 minute exposure



"hands of time" - 2 minute exposure



"hands of time" - 30 second exposure.

[leek]

Some interesting shots Brad... It's fun / good to experiment...

I really like the first couple and probably prefer the portrait orientation.

Is that your computer monitor reflecting in the first couple of shots (blue light at about 5 o'oclock on the watch)?

The only thing I could think of improving would be to make the surface that the watch is resting on less visible... You could maybe do this by sitting the watch up vertically and cropping out some of the strap... I think clear space (or boke) to the left and right of the watch face would help the shot...

[KerryPierce]

Interesting shots, darb. Like Leek, I prefer the portrait orientation. The blur of the hands is quite suggestive of time flying, which I assume is what you wanted.

[sirhc55]

Shot #2 is possibly the best, and has been said before the removal of the ”stuff” on the left would improve the shot.

I do like very much the last shot - the darkness of time, my only suggestion would be to clone out the reflection of the hour dots.

Very nice

[Manta]

#2 does it for me too Darb, minus the blue reflection. I also think I'd prefer it straight on, rather than slightly turned to the right. Maybe try mounting it on a stick or something. Maybe a perspective adjustment in PS?

[-=Monty=-]

How did you have the shuttert open for 3 mins?

I thought that you had to have your finger on the button the whole time when using BULB?

[stormygirl]

I'm going to be different and say I like the first one the best! Why? I'm not so sure! But the second in portrait, just doesn't look quite right IMHO!

Very nice shots, though, and an interesting experiment. I only wish I had time to do this kind of thing!

Nice watch too!

[darb]

did the bulb using Nikon infra red remote and just timed it with a stop watch (no not the one i was photographing, heh.) ... one press starts the shot, another press finishes it. (then you wait for the NR to complete.) ... so just watched tv in another room while the shots were going through.

Yeah the blue was a bit of a shame, i can clone that out i guess.

as for the other tips and answers, all taken onboard ... if i get time / patience i'll go do things such as darken the desk etc that it sits on.