Flats Fly Swap

[Chefben4 0]

Lil Dave!

 

Decided to do a craft fur shrimp variant as one of the patterns. Hope this works!

 

 

[Chefben4 0]

Eaglerapids..

 

Do you mind giving me some advice on photographing flies? I have a decent camera (g7) and have really been wanting to get better photos. Yours are just awesome. and thats an understatement! PM is fine if you'd like.

[JaxFlyTyer 0]

Jax, hang in there, I hope everything works out for you. There is still plenty of time in this swap.

Thank you! I'm so pleased to say that I came home tonight and got incredible news that lifted the huge weight from my shoulders. Still not out of the woods but getting closer! Time to start tying!

[Li'lDave 0]

Nice tie ben!

 

And glad you had a win today jax... good stuff

[Eaglerapids 0]

Chefben, did you take the photos on your blog? If so you are doing pretty good, you just need to control the light a little better. I have never shot with the G7 but it should be easily up to the task.

Especially shooting macro, you should always be on the tripod. On top of that I always shoot with the mirror locked up and on a 2 second delay and I fire the shutter with a remote. Camera shake of any kind is the biggest enemy.

You need to decide what kind of lighting to use whether it be some sort of continuous lighting or flashes. I started out with halogen work lights but they were very hot and I gradually have transitioned to flashes. Basicly you want to get away from any direct light from the hotshoe of the camera. This is a very harsh light and leaves shadows on the background.

Let me describe what I'm doing and then we can discuss alternatives. I have one flash camera left, another on camera right and another on the background. I also have a slave I can fire from above but usually I bounce the camera left flash from a reflector above the fly and use the sub flash. I have a piece of cardboard on either side of the fly just out of the frame to try to keep the flashes that light the fly from hitting the background and then light it with it's own flash. Two of the flashes are fired with cheap Cactus V2 radio triggers and the Metz 60 CT-4 (the camera left flash) is fired from the PC connector on the camera. Generally, all are fired manually and I dink around experimenting with their power output and distance from the subject to balance the light. This sounds kinda complicated and it does take a certain amount of equipment to do it this way but you don't have to start like this, I sure didn't.........

 

to be continued...

[Chefben4 0]

Chefben, did you take the photos on your blog? If so you are doing pretty good, you just need to control the light a little better. I have never shot with the G7 but it should be easily up to the task.

Especially shooting macro, you should always be on the tripod. On top of that I always shoot with the mirror locked up and on a 2 second delay and I fire the shutter with a remote. Camera shake of any kind is the biggest enemy.

You need to decide what kind of lighting to use whether it be some sort of continuous lighting or flashes. I started out with halogen work lights but they were very hot and I gradually have transitioned to flashes. Basicly you want to get away from any direct light from the hotshoe of the camera. This is a very harsh light and leaves shadows on the background.

Let me describe what I'm doing and then we can discuss alternatives. I have one flash camera left, another on camera right and another on the background. I also have a slave I can fire from above but usually I bounce the camera left flash from a reflector above the fly and use the sub flash. I have a piece of cardboard on either side of the fly just out of the frame to try to keep the flashes that light the fly from hitting the background and then light it with it's own flash. Two of the flashes are fired with cheap Cactus V2 radio triggers and the Metz 60 CT-4 (the camera left flash) is fired from the PC connector on the camera. Generally, all are fired manually and I dink around experimenting with their power output and distance from the subject to balance the light. This sounds kinda complicated and it does take a certain amount of equipment to do it this way but you don't have to start like this, I sure didn't.........

 

to be continued...

 

Thanks for the detailed response so far! I did take the pictures on my blog. Did those with the G7. The pics I posted tonight were just off my droid because I was lazy.

 

Sounds to me like the cheapest and easiest solution for me (I have a lot of photography to learn) is halogen lighting. One thing I have struggle with is background. What color works the best, what to use, etc.

[Eaglerapids 0]

Ok,now this would be a good way to get going.

http://www.thelashop.com/16-photo-cube-studio-light-tent-box-5500k-bulbs-kit.html

For $50 you'd be in the running and you would have backgrounds. This is kinda how I got started but I made the tent myself, it didn't look very nice but it worked and these lights would be better than halogen. Halogen lights are very bright but man they get hot. The advantage to this is with continuous lighting what you see is what you get, there can be a lot of fiddling with flashes but you have even more control. For instance, I can do more with my background because it is separated more from the main lights and I have more room for props. On the other hand it has taken me years to collect the gear I have.

With the light tent you could be up and running in no time and gradually get the other stuff after you found out what works for you.

There is a lot of other stuff we can talk about and we haven't even gotten to post processing, but this should get you going and if you have any other questions feel free to ask. Like flyfishing and tying it's pretty easy to get me talking about photography:-).

 

You know, I'd say use what looks good to you for backgrounds, blue always seems to work as well as shades of gray. I like to find a color that works with the particular fly I'm photographing and I like to mix it up.I have had a hard time with orange, I have seen some photos where it worked but I have never gotten it to work for me, yet. Experimenting is fun and with digital it's easy to do and cheap. Don't be afraid to take a lot of shots!

[Li'lDave 0]

Half done

 

Need more marabou and eyes... The swap is really starting to look good guys!

[Chefben4 0]

Ok,now this would be a good way to get going.

http://www.thelashop.com/16-photo-cube-studio-light-tent-box-5500k-bulbs-kit.html

For $50 you'd be in the running and you would have backgrounds. This is kinda how I got started but I made the tent myself, it didn't look very nice but it worked and these lights would be better than halogen. Halogen lights are very bright but man they get hot. The advantage to this is with continuous lighting what you see is what you get, there can be a lot of fiddling with flashes but you have even more control. For instance, I can do more with my background because it is separated more from the main lights and I have more room for props. On the other hand it has taken me years to collect the gear I have.

With the light tent you could be up and running in no time and gradually get the other stuff after you found out what works for you.

There is a lot of other stuff we can talk about and we haven't even gotten to post processing, but this should get you going and if you have any other questions feel free to ask. Like flyfishing and tying it's pretty easy to get me talking about photography:-).

 

You know, I'd say use what looks good to you for backgrounds, blue always seems to work as well as shades of gray. I like to find a color that works with the particular fly I'm photographing and I like to mix it up.I have had a hard time with orange, I have seen some photos where it worked but I have never gotten it to work for me, yet. Experimenting is fun and with digital it's easy to do and cheap. Don't be afraid to take a lot of shots!

 

 

That looks like a great start for me! My uncle actually gave me the G7 for free along with a Wide Angle Lens because he upgraded. Its been a good starter for me. Ive been reading a lot stuff and just trying to understand the basics of the camera and digital photography. My dad tells me I am too young (26) to appreciate what it used to be like with film! Now I can snap 100 photos of a fly if I want and it costs me nothing but time. I appreciate the help. I am going order one of the tents and go from there!

[Eaglerapids 0]

Good luck, I'm looking forward to seeing your pics:-).

[JaxFlyTyer 0]

Not to stray too far but that's a nice little light tent Eagle. I'd love to get the Nikon 105 macro and a ring flash.

[Chefben4 0]

Not to stray too far but that's a nice little light tent Eagle. I'd love to get the Nikon 105 macro and a ring flash.

 

I ordered one this morning from amazon prime. It was in the same price range, had great reviews, and it will be at my house in time for me to expieriment this weekend!

 

Now I have offically driven this post off topic

[Eaglerapids 0]

That would be an awesome lens Jax. I shoot the Pentax K20D and I take my macro shots with the old Vivitar Series 1 105/2.5 macro and use extension tubes with it on the small stuff. The lens was made by Kiron for Vivitar and as I understand it Kiron was formed by a bunch of Nikon engineers who broke off to to start their own company. It's an all metal and glass old school lens, heavy and built like a tank and I love it. But then dedicated macro lenses are almost always the sharpest lens you can get, that's their function. My kid shoots Nikon and he has their 60mm macro and it's bleeding sharp.

Congrats Chefben!

[Li'lDave 0]

Sounds to me like Ben needs to take photos of the set of flies for us all as practice

[Chefben4 0]

Just may have too!

 

Good practice, none the less!