Study Notes

Damn good general photography advice

Damn good general photography advice

Everybody’s creative journey is unique. What works for one person may not for the next. Yet still, there’s a handful of undeniably good general advice that is helpful to anyone...
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5 storytelling tricks for watch photography

5 storytelling tricks for watch photography

One of the most challenging aspects of photography – above and beyond the technical craft of it – is learning how to tell a story with a single flat image. Stories...
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How I gained 10K followers in 10 months

How I gained 10K followers in 10 months

You never forget your first 100 followers (December 23, 2020). It’s hard to believe that only 10 months ago, I innocently started the @watchstudies account to post about the intersection...
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Introducing the Watch Studies 10K Giveaway

Introducing the Watch Studies 10K Giveaway

10,000 thank you's for all the support! My greatest asset is time. My second greatest asset is choice. So when I’m given the privilege to choose how to spend my...
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3 creative uses for Lightroom's selective adjustment tools

3 creative uses for Lightroom's selective adjustment tools

I’ve been using Adobe products for over a decade now and I still manage to discover new ways to do things. It’s not just that new features are being added...
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My iPad Mini photography workflow in 2021

My iPad Mini photography workflow in 2021

If you know my editing process, you know that the iPad Pro sits at the heart of my touch and cloud-based photography workflow. The richness of the touch screen experience,...
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8 watch shots to try when you're out of ideas

8 watch shots to try when you're out of ideas

Post number 300! Last Monday, I published my 300th post. Since starting the @watchstudies account officially on December 19th, 2020, I think I've missed at most 2 days of not posting...
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Shooting watch photography with the iPhone 13 Pro Max

Shooting watch photography with the iPhone 13 Pro Max

Putting the new iPhone 13 Pro Max through its paces. "What camera did you shoot that with?" If you want to see a photographer's blood boil, this might be the...
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4 ways to add a vignette effect to your watch photos

4 ways to add a vignette effect to your watch photos

The thing that always gets me the most when watching another photographer edit a photo (or a designer design something) is how differently everyone does things. And if there was...
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How to use subframing in watch photography

How to use subframing in watch photography

Language is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal. It is the atomic unit of our conversations, our interactions, and fundamentally, our relationships. In the...
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How to create beautiful flatlays with spatial relationships

How to create beautiful flatlays with spatial relationships

Prior to starting Watch Studies, I spent 15+ years as a digital product designer, cutting my creative teeth while designing information architecture and user interfaces that made sites and apps...
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How to shoot the 'once upon a hand' watch shot

How to shoot the 'once upon a hand' watch shot

From the one who inspired the shot and many others, @onceuponatimepiece. Every now and again I come across a shot style and am immediately drawn to it. It’s always a...
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July features: seashells, duffels, and smoke

July features: seashells, duffels, and smoke

Monthly features get more difficult every month. Not only are there more and more shots to sift through (thank you for the 4500+ posts on #watchstudies!), but the calibre of work continues...
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8+ creative ways to use books in watch photography

8+ creative ways to use books in watch photography

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a big book reader. But throw me a hardcover with photos and graphics and you may lose me for a few hours. One such book...
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5 ways for photographers to overcome creative blocks

5 ways for photographers to overcome creative blocks

When that creative idea is just out of reach. We all know that feeling. The coffee is hot. The camera is charged. The watch is polished. You’re all revved up...
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How to add directionality to your watch photos

How to add directionality to your watch photos

I've gone through my career subscribing to the idea that the small things paint the big picture. That is, when you can dial in all the little details to work cohesively...
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Direct Messages with @mediumphormat

Direct Messages with @mediumphormat

One of the best parts about the photography community on Instagram is the circle of creators that share tips and tricks to help accelerate the craft of other creators. And...
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How to use the power of contrast in watch photography

How to use the power of contrast in watch photography

There's something sort of poetic about the idea that humans don't perceive and experience the world as absolutes, but rather as a series of comparative qualities that are relative to the surroundings. What...
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