My goal was to create a "Hero Photo" of this vintage Omega Seamaster watch by using a dark grey background and a piece of driftwood (with some red accents) as a prop. This composition brings out the watch very beautifully.
Studio setup
After I had "created" the shot in my mind, I set up my studio setting. What I used - Fujifilm X-H2 camera, Fujifilm 80mm macro lens, Aputure LED 200W light, Lee white diffusion, white foam-cardboard reflectors, IKEA black glossy glass, small RBG light to create red accents, table, tripod, "helping hands" clamps, Sirui C-stand, light stands (for diffusion sheet).
There are multiple ways to create such a photo. I chose to shoot from a high angle, about 70 degrees. I chose this angle to decrease the effect of the diffusion scrim light reflected on the watch dial. The lower the angle, the more washed out the dial would be. When using a lower angle, the light reflects on the metal parts of the dial, such as the logo and applied hour markers. Choosing the correct angle is also important to bring out some details and depth of the dial on this watch. Top lower-angle light creates nice shadows and highlights around sunken subdials.
I also didn't want to use a flag (an example photo when using black cardboard as a flag), to block out the diffusion from the dial because it drastically changes how the dial looks. Not what I was looking for.
Creating a gradient background
My main light was at full power and angled down at 45 degrees behind the LEE white diffusion scrim. The distance from the scrim dictates how large the gradient will appear as a reflection on the black glass. Also, I moved around the light to multiple positions to find the best "center spotlight" position that appeared on the glass.
My IKEA glass had scratches and to speed up the workflow in post-production, I decided to blur out the background using a wider aperture on the lens. This also meant I had to use the focus stacking technique to get a sharp image of the watch. The final shot shows that the furthest part of the driftwood is left blurry.
Taking the photos of the watch
It was clear that I had to make a combined photo. One photo was impossible because the RBG LED light would also affect the watch's exposure. So, I took the first focus-stacked image (70 photos at f/2.8) of the watch and the scene how I wanted the final shot to look. With the second photo (also 70 photos at f/2.8), I used the RGB light (positioned at the top edge of the IKEA glass) to paint some parts of the driftwood.
After I had taken the photos, I continued with basic editing in Camera Raw and exported RAW files to JPGs. I used Helicon Focus to stitch these photos. This could be done in Photoshop too, but Helicon Focus performs much faster and I find results better.
After that, I used Photoshop and masking technique to "paint" the red accents into the main shot on the driftwood. I think red added some fine nuances to this photo and worked well with a gold watch.
And this is how it's done!
Btw, I took BTS photos later, that's why the watch has another strap haha.