Outdoor Lifestyle Product Photography for Watch Brands: Ideas for Watch Photo Campaigns
Over the course of my photography journey, I have grown to love photographing watches outdoors with models. As a street and travel photographer, I enjoy incorporating interesting environments into all of my photos with natural light.
I come across a lot of product photos of watches in a staged studio that utilize macrophotography in order to showcase specific features of the watch (the dial, the logo, the strap, etc.) While I have experimented and enjoyed that style of photography, I like to take timepieces outdoors in locations like the beach and the city, and photograph them being worn by models.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing a selection of my favorite watch photos and discussing some tips that can be useful when putting together a photoshoot for a lifestyle watch campaign. At the end of this blog post, I will include links to some of the specific photoshoots if you’d like to learn about the behind-the-scenes that went into a specific photoshoot session.
What Kind Of Watch Are You Photographing?
The first thing that might be important to think about is what kind of watch you are taking photos of. You might approach a photoshoot for a smart watch designed for fitness differently than you would a dress watch meant for fashion or a dive watch. The difference in not only the physical design of the watch, but also the function is a great starting point in developing a photoshoot concept.
Learning more about the story and ethics behind the watch brand and design can also influence the concept of the photoshoot. For example, watch brands that focus on sustainability or even donate to environmental charities can impact how you like to photograph the watch. For me, I like to shoot outdoors and in natural light, which by itself can align well with watches that support eco-friendly initiatives.
Lastly, it’s also helpful to consider the materials of the watch you’re photographing. A watch made from recycled wood will photograph differently than a stainless steel watch and can impact the concept you want to create for the watch campaign.
These are just a few ideas to keep in mind before moving onto the mood board:
Creating a Conceptual Mood Board
Mood boards are one of my favorite parts of a photoshoot because it’s a great way to organize and flesh out all of my thoughts into a cohesive visual document. You can add whatever ideas, quotes, patterns into a mood board, but here are a few things I like to consider - especially when I know I’ll be producing a lifestyle watch photoshoot.
Style of the Photoshoot: Is the photoshoot geared towards glamour and high-end fashion? Or is it going to be rustic and natural? Do you want the mood to be playful and upbeat, or moody and serious? (I generally try to aim for a more peaceful and natural lifestyle ambiance in an outdoor environment).
Lighting: Are you going to use artificial light for the watch photoshoot or natural light? Will you be shooting indoors or outdoors? And what time of day do you want to photograph the watch (I photograph outdoors and in natural light - usually during sunrise or sunset and blue hour).
Solo Watch Photos vs. Working with Models: If you are going to be taking lifestyle photos with a model wearing the watch, then it’s helpful that they also see the mood board because it can give them ideas of wardrobe and poses they can come up with.
Location: I like to add at least one location in my mood board. If you have the exact location where it’d be best to shoot, then definitely include it. But otherwise a general location (like a beach or a downtown city) is a great starting point.
Choosing An Outdoor Location
Based on the watch you’re photographing and the mood board that you’ve developed, you can look for nearby locations that will work for the watch photoshoot.
As I previously mentioned, I like to photograph products outdoors and in natural light. This not only impacts where I want to photograph a lifestyle watch campaign, but also when. When I want to photograph a watch with warm tones and more contrast, then I’ll produce the photoshoot when the sun is out. If I’m aiming for more even tones and less shadows, then I’ll photograph in a spot that is shady, during overcast weather, or blue hour.
Another thing I like to consider when photographing a watch (and most lifestyle product photoshoots) is the different textures in a natural environment. For example: if you’re photographing at the beach, it might be useful to play with the texture of the sand, the rocks, and the water. I like to make the most out of one location.
Choosing The Right Wardrobe
For lifestyle watch photoshoots when I’m working with a model, I want to make sure that the wardrobe fits the aesthetic of the photoshoot. The wardrobe that a model wears can greatly affect how the watch is perceived in the final photo.
In the photos below, Nolan O’Connor is wearing the same watch with two different wardrobe options. The beige suit paired with the watch makes the accessory look more formal, whereas the white beach shirt makes the watch look more casual.
Although I actually prefer the photos with the suit, I usually gravitate towards more casual clothing and neutral colors - it makes the scene seem a lot more organic and natural rather than like a fashion campaign. There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to wardrobe, but it’s important to think about intention when producing any kind of photoshoot.
Utilize Other Props for the Photoshoot
While the watch might be the main accessory you’re trying to capture, it can be useful to use other props and accessories to better tell the story of the product photography campaign. For example, if you’re going for a luxury watch photography campaign at a cafe, maybe you want to use a cup of coffee or a newspaper with the watch in frame.
If you’re taking photos of a dress watch in the city, then you can feature a backpack or a briefcase in the image to add to the story.
I work with models for most of my lifestyle photoshoots and when they wear a watch, I’ll sometimes have them interact with/hold other props and products in order to make the scene look more authentic. In the photo below, Clifton is carrying a blue backpack in this outdoor shoot. Rather than just having him pose with a watch, the image looks more dynamic and authentic in this environment.
Experiment with Different Compositions
One thing I love about lifestyle photoshoots is that I can experiment with different compositions to showcase a product or scene from different viewpoints. When it comes to watches, I like to take close up photos of a model wearing a watch, a portrait of the model where you can see their face, and then full body shots where the watch might not look like the focal point of the image, but is still visible in the frame.
As a photographer, it’s useful for me to play around with different focal lengths to achieve the desired final image.
When it comes to the close-up studio product shots for watches, it’s good to be able to master macrophotography and highlight the technical details of the watch (the dial, the strap, the logo, etc.) But when I incorporate a lifestyle element to the photos, I like to showcase how a model interacts with the environment while wearing the watch.
Photographing The Watch Dial
Delving deeper into the specific anatomy of a watch, the dial is one of the most important features of the product to properly photograph - and can sometimes be the trickiest.
Since I photograph outdoors and usually don’t use additional equipment to manually diffuse the light, I don’t have control over how harsh the sun is and the direction that the light is facing. When I work with models, I’ll ask them to move around the location experiment and see where the dial can be seen and not be affected by a glare.
One of the reasons why I love to photograph on overcast days is because the clouds diffuse the sunlight and not only makes the image softer, but easier to evenly expose with the model’s face.
While I don’t always aim for perfect exposure on the watch in each photo, I still want to make sure that I have plenty of photos to choose from where you can see the detail of the watch dial and the clock hands.
Posing with Watches for Lifestyle Photography
If the lifestyle watch campaign features a model, then it’s good to have a few posing ideas in mind to bring to the shoot (I like to try and feature some of these poses in the mood board).
One of the most common photos I see are close-ups of someone (the model or photographer) taking a down-angle photo of their wrist with the watch on it - so I’ll exclude it from this list.
Some go-to poses I like to feature in my lifestyle photoshoots are:
A model fixing the cuff of their shirt with the hand that has the watch on it
A model rubbing the back of their neck with either hand
A model fixing the dial of their watch
A model putting on or taking off an accessory like sunglasses
