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Fly Tying

kargen

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About kargen

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  1. Looks like the last time I posted was ten years ago. Spent most my time in the photography area back then. Been so long since I tied a fly I'm unsure I am getting anything right. Watching a video on knots they had a link to this place and I'm glad I found it again. Had fun and learned a lot last time around and am sure that will happen this time as well. Still doing photography so thought I better share one if I remember how.
  2. The Scott Kelby books are really good. I have several for each version of photoshop I have ended up with over the years. Best thing to do is get a small notebook grab your camera and go out shooting. Record your settings for each shot, and a brief note on conditions (cloudy, sunny all that fun stuff) and just see what works for you. I was always told a very long time ago that film is cheap. With digital it is even cheaper so playing with settings takes nothing but some time.
  3. Grab The Photographers Market 2009. It has a list of all kinds of magazines that are looking for photos. You can find how to submit, what type of photos they take, what they pay and what they need. THey also have a few quick little articles about how to request guidelines and things like that.
  4. Should work okay. Lots of studio photographers do it. Showing the art director an image on a monitor beats the heck out of showing them a polaroid like we used to do. Just be sure your monitor is calibrated so what you see as a well exposed photo really is a well exposed photo.
  5. I use the Tamarac Expedition 5 to carry a lot of my camera gear when traveling. I put in my cleaning kit, back-up batteries, a couple of lenses and other assorted crap. I usually don't carry it though when I am out stomping around and shooting. It stays behind for the most part. I used to have a vest that was made for photographers but I wore it out. Looking to replace it I decided to go with your standard ole vest most fly fishermen use. It is about the same other than the name and didn't cost as much. Probably more durable as well? It has plenty of pockets and pouches, most that I can get to easily and is hard to beat for convenience while actually out and about among the critters. When I get back to the car I just transfer the lenses and stuff back to the camera bag as it offers more protection when traveling. It is amazing how much stuff will fit in one of those vests, and with the bigger lenses in their own cases there are plenty of places to tie them on for a while.
  6. I like shadows in a photo, they help show depth. I'm guessing you had your lights set up kind of like copy light, one left of camera and one right of camera equal distances from the subject. You might try setting one light near your camera and maybe a little above camera. Set the other light off to one side. Looking at the shadow you have se the light to the side about at the angle your left light is at. Set this light back a little farther than the center light, and if you can make it so it isn't so soft as the center light. If the shadow produced is to harsh you can move the side light farther back, or you can put a white card off to the side of the photo opposite the side light to bounce some light back in. You have black and white in your subject so that is going to cause some problems. Your exposure is going to have to be right on to get detail in both the blacks and the whites. You might be able to bounce a little extra light into the dark areas with small mirrors or white cards if you want to take the time to place them.
  7. backlighting wasn't exactly what I meant. I was talking more of any light that puts the face in shadow than actual back lighting. With the hat you are going to get shadows on the face. A white card or a diffused flash will take care of the shadows. You do want some shadows though to show shape and depth on his face. Just not real harsh shadows.
  8. Have him close his eyes real tight before you take the photo. Have him open his eyes on three and snap the photo as soon as he opens his eyes. That will take care of the squinting and narrow look of his eyes caused by the bright light. Alternatively you could but a big black cloth or something just beside the camera and have him look at that. THat also helps cut down on squinting and you don't have to have good timing. If you backlight him have a white card bounce some light back into his face. That will take care of the shadow under the hat. Placing the care below him out of frame works best as you don't get cross shadows, but to either side is also okay if the fill doesn't overpower the rest of the light. Peterjay already mentioned the focus, but I'll repeat anyway because it is very important. I'm not sure what the camera is focusing on but in a couple the eyes look soft. Be sure to focus on the eyes when shooting portraits. I would also give yourself more room in the photo. Back up a bit and don't fill the entire frame. That way when it comes time to make prints you have some wiggle room and can make different sizes from the same photo by adjusting the crop. Backgrounds for the most part look good. THe last one is kind of busy just off the subjects right shoulder and in the third one I might have picked that long grass stem going off on its own, but other than that they do not distract from the subject. THrowing the background out of focus like the first two is a great way to go with complex backgrounds. If the background isn't going to be soft or out of focus try to keep it simple or it could distract from the subject. Northern sky gives you the deepest blues if you are in a position where you can take advantage of that, and as was pointed out earlier you want to avoid harsh sunlight if you can.
  9. Great shots there, I really like the last three but I have a question. How the heck did you keep the camera/tripod from blowing over with all that wind?
  10. kargen

    Glare

    Not sure this will help on something as small as a fly, but we used to spray metal surfaces with either dulling spray, hair spray or deoderant that left a powdery residue on the surface. Used it all the time on the spokes and rims of bicycles and stuff like that. Just a light spray would really knock the glare down. It can also be sprayed on black surfaces where you lose detail to make it look lighter and like there is detail there. Doesn't take much. You might even have something laying amongst all your feathers and other goodies that could be applied to the wire to dull it some.
  11. Not sure about the other stuff but with slide film five stops begins to push what the film can handle unless your exposure is right on.
  12. It is your light source. Each type of light has its own color tempeture. The eye for the most part corrects this for you but your camera is limited in what corrections it can do. If your camera has different white balances you can set one of them will work better than the default.
  13. I shot this caterpillar last summer. Mine isn't exactly a macro shot though.
  14. I think the Taco Bell buying the Liberty Bell in Philly story was probably one of the best all time. I've only pulled one semi good one myself and it was due more to luck than anything else. At college I stayed in the dorms on a floor reserved for pre-vet and veterinary students. Knowing most probably loved animals I put flyers up around in the hall saying the dorms next door were showing Disneys Aristacats and 101 Dalmations. This was before you could rent movies on video tapes so of course some decided they wanted to go. I forget what price I put on the flyer but by blind idiot luck it turned out perfect. I set the time to 7:00. Now the fun lucky part. The dorm next to ours decided to have a talent night that same night starting at 8:00. They were charging people from dorms other than their own whatever price I put on the flyers just by coincedence. Turned out to be a lot of pre-vet students just a bit confused and maybe even slightly upset. They were slightly upset enough that I never fessed up to the prank.
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