Commercial Campaign Photography Ideas for Watch Brands

If you’re a watch brand, chances are you’ve dedicated a lot of time in a studio trying to get the perfect product photo to showcase the details of your timepiece. With all of the time that it takes to craft and manufacture watches, you’ll want to get as diverse of an image catalog as possible.

As a lifestyle photographer, I work with talent to produce commercial brand campaign photos that show off the product in the field. By travelling to different photoshoot locations and working with different models, there are an endless amount of ways to photograph a watch brand.

In this blog post, I’m featuring a gallery of lifestyle watch photos on-location featuring professional models. I’ll also walk through what pre-planning steps can help prepare for a smooth photoshoot.

LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY MOOD BOARD

To start off, a photography mood board is an essential tool in the pre-production stage for any planned photoshoot. I like to create and use mood boards in order to flesh out ideas on what I want the final photos to look like. From location to finding a model to editing style, a mood board allows you to not only prepare yourself for production day, but also allows you to communicate with the team involved to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Specifically for watch brands, you might want to take into consideration what style of watch you’re photographing, where would customers wear your watch, does your brand gravitate towards vintage or modern. Working with someone who can produce a customized mood board for each photoshoot and answer those questions can save a lot of confusion as you head into production day.

LOCATIONS FOR WATCH PHOTOGRAPHY

If you plan to do a watch photoshoot outdoors, you’ll want to get familiar with the location in advance to see what parts of the environment the model can interact with and what time of day will be best to shoot your watch brand.

I photograph outdoors using natural light so I usually aim for sunrise or sunset, when the lighting is most cinematic. For lifestyle photography, it’s important to not only think about how the watch will photograph in the final photo, but the actual location of the photoshoot.

In a beach photoshoot I produced with fashion model Austin Lee, we went on the beachfront near the Santa Monica Pier during sunset and blue hour. We got a lot of nice side-lit photos during sunset and even lighting during blue hour.

Rather than just getting close-up photos of the watch, I wanted the viewer to see the actual location of the photoshoot, as it sets the mood for the entire shoot. Leading me to my next point…

CHOOSE WARDROBE THAT FITS THE PHOTOSHOOT

If you’re going to be working with a model, deciding on wardrobe for the photoshoot plays an essential role in the final results of the photo. Regardless of whether or not you want to take close-up photos of a model wearing a watch, the model’s outfit plays an important role in not only matching the location you’re photographing in, but also the overall brand aesthetic.

I produced a city-style photoshoot in Downtown Los Angeles with model Nolan O’Connor, who wore a Timex watch. For the first look, he wore a grey suit which fit perfectly with his Timex watch. Photographing a model wearing a business suit with the watch in the city was a great choice to achieve a more sophisticated, high-end look. 

Conversely, casual clothes work well if you’re looking for something more relatable and natural. In an outdoor lifestyle campaign photoshoot project I did with model Clifton Sneed, his wardrobe was a plain green shirt and a few jackets. The casual style fit well with the environment and theme of the photoshoot, as we were walking on the trail toward the Hollywood sign.

Regardless, the wardrobe should not be too distracting and draw attention away from the watch. For my style of photography, I usually advise on a wardrobe that is either one color or an outfit with a basic pattern like stripes.

POSING TIPS FOR LIFESTYLE WATCH PHOTOGRAPHY

As a creative director, one of the most important things for any photoshoot is directing the model into poses that fit the style of the photoshoot and that show off the product.

When it comes to lifestyle product photography featuring watches, I aim for small, natural movements that draw attention to the wrist. Some go-to poses I like to start with is having the model fix a cuff if they’re wearing a suit, or have them rub the back of their neck with the hand they are wearing the watch on. Once you get some of the main poses down, then you can start to direct the photoshoot just as a regular lifestyle session. Just as I mentioned, make sure that the watch is still in the frame.

Another trick to make your watch photos seem more dynamic is to add another accessory that you can hold with the hand your watch is on. For example, you can direct the model to put on a pair of sunglasses or hold a skateboard. Other accessories help to not only tell the story of the photoshoot you’re producing, but it also introduces natural poses that fit in a lifestyle setting.

FINAL WORDS

Watches are my favorite accessory to photography as a lifestyle product photographer. I enjoy working with models to produce and deliver commercial brand campaign style photos for watch brands and microbrands. 

There are a lot of intricate steps and factors that go into lifestyle photography for products. When mapping out the details of a photography session, I work with a variety of professional camera gear and editing software to make sure that each image is captured to fit a brand campaign. But I hope this blog can serve as a mood board for watch brands who might want ideas on how to photograph their products.

A lot of watch brands will take close-up photos of their watch to show the details of the timepiece. But I also think it’s important to see what your watch will look like when being worn by a model - that way future customers can see what the product looks like in daily life. This is one of the many reasons why I love outdoor lifestyle product photography - creating authentic lifestyle images is one of my favorite ways to capture commercial photography.

Thanks for reading and until next time.

Feel free to explore my website further:

Downtown Los Angeles Lifestyle Photoshoot with Nolan O’Connor

Outdoor Lifestyle Photoshoot in Los Angeles with Clifton Sneed

Santa Monica Sunset Beach Photoshoot with Austin Lee

Downtown LA Watch and Backpack Photoshoot with Deborah Cortez

My Commercial Lifestyle Photography Portfolio for Brands

Travel Photography across Different Countries