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Fly Tying

Will Milne

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Everything posted by Will Milne

  1. Niceley done Andrew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you using a flash only setup/Ambient fill/or??? Will
  2. Glad folks are enjoying the pics- keeps me thinking I'm doing something usefull-ahhh the delusions or perks of working in somewhat isolation:))) John ---I was out yesterday -looking at some of my spots- in particular a flats area where you can see Hex. Limbata burrows and night trails . I was scouting for the upcoming emergence and working out some strategies to deal with the hatch. I have a fully field portable studio, that sets up in 5 mins, plus a field portable micro aquarium that sets up in the same time , both flash lit. So I think I can bring a very controlled system into play, thats what all that fly pattern mucking around was about a while back and some of these new images are the result of - testing out things for the real deal:)) Where I feel weak is with a setup that lets me "run and gun" during the hatch without the need of tripods/etc etc . The stonefly hatch I ran into a few days ago was a good example of running into a situation that required a very fast response, the opportunities were over in seconds......... I ended up collecting some bugs and taking them back to the studio streamside to get the shots, but I did'nt have the chops to get the stones flittering off the ice flows and across the water to the bank- types of images I would dearly like to get. There are many images we DON'T see IMHO because they really require some dedicated attention and carefull equipment selection and tuning to capture. I have sat and watched caddis popping out of the miniscus/mayflies dropping eggs/etc etc . Capturing those dynamic events is very much my goal with all this exploration:)) I'd love to swap notes so feel free to email away- my sig has contact info. Your comments with respect to macro are very appropos. It really is, like a lot of things in photography a "gain here/lose there" scenario. I guess one has to make decisions about where you are willing to lose for what you want to gain and balance that out in relation to what kind of images you hope to make . If you are looking at RRS stuff- I have a RRS BH55 tripod head and it is nothing short of brilliant, beautifully engineered and thought out. I can only assume their other stuff is up to the same standards. Will
  3. Was on a local stream yesterday and bumped into these coming off amongst the broken drifting ice - Pic was taken in my portable studio in the back of my Sienna van:))) Will
  4. Nice pic- wonder what it'll turn into? Will
  5. Neat stuff!!! - we get Ruby Throated Hummers up here in Canada in the summer. You have some lovely species there by the looks of it:). Will
  6. Something to watch out for when evaluating a lens/convertor combo- is chromatic aberations- they tend to be enhanced/magnified by convertor additions- I have a nikor 300 mm AF- EDIF f2.8 astonishingly sharp and produces very very clean images on its own. Add a Nikon 2x convertor - I have the TC-301 and chromatic aberations rear their ugly head. The only software I have found that does a good job of removing them is Capture NX - Nikons own Raw Convertor/Editor. Will
  7. Couple more- First has some back lighting to try and get some translucency in places- I kinda like this muted look/quiet drama- though I sense I am alone:))- This one is your basic ento/tying type thing- All these images are approx 90% of the original files with a lens that goes to 1:1 - I have a bellows on the way:))))))))) weeeeeeehah larger than life size:)))). Will
  8. FlyingPhotographer- I,ve done the camera in aquarium thing - for underwater landscapes mainly- with very mixed sucess. I appreciate the kind words, though I have seen aquatic insects done this way- in fact the micro aquarium idea came from Robert Thompsons work- http://www.robertthompsonphotography.com/Page%2014.htm and more generally my interest in doing much of this macro type work has come from seeing this work a few months ago- http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5972520 and this http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5977406 so I,m following not leading:)))) and as you can see from the links I have a LONGGGGGGGG way to go. One of the major problems with this stuff is the amount of post work that is needed- cleaning up backgrounds and water borne debris. I need to really work on this as my skills are crude at best. . Will
  9. Another stonefly , different species, with a bit more clarity I think? Will
  10. Ty for all the kind words:) Jay - Yep - I will be collecting and working through what I find- I,m hoping to get some "act of hatching " images along the way. Plus some other "lifecyle" type stuff. Flytying- I,m using a pair of nikon sb26's through a diffuser and then cross polarized. Mayflies are on the list:) Dwiltshire- I think thats a great classroom idea- especially if you can work in a field trip- I imagine many of the bugs, especialy pond ones are quite tolerant. Will
  11. Agreed- this is not as easy as I had planned:)))) lol- get bugs/put in mini auariums/fire away he thought:)). Glad you like the lighting it seem to work ok and is easy to setup- so thats a plus:) Ty for the lazy susan idea i'll try that. This damsel was done with two flashes cross polarized so I was able to get f16 which seems a little better, plus I but a flash light on the bug to focus so its a bit more tight I think. for collecting I am 1 1/2 hr drive from my little collecting river- two ice cream pails and a an ice fishing box half full of ice to get them home then into an aquarium that sits in a box with ice in it to avoid temp shock. The aquarium has a filter and three "bubblers" to keep the oxygen levels up. So far no fatalities.- the Damsel- Will
  12. Managed to get out yesterday and collect some nymphs to test out a "new for me" approach. I built some mini aquariums , here is the first tester image. Not sure what I think yet, so could use some input. Though I know I need to work on focus, these guys wont sit still:) Lighting is cross-polarized flash. Will
  13. Duck!! is superb- worthy of building an essay around:))) Will
  14. Great looking images Jay:)) Will
  15. Great looking image!!!!!!!!!!!! I have Photomatrix and have noticed some images work /some look overprocessed. Yours works!!!!!!! Prob with Photomatrix and other HDR approches is the amount of noise created in the process and the tendancy to oversaturate colors. The second issue is the poblem of "auto" tone mapping- while Photomatix offers controls they are very minimal and ....... There are a couple of other avenues to look at- Graduated Neutral Density filters/especialy in combination with polariziing filters will offer great control over "hot" skies. There is also another technique- http://www.guillermoluijk.com/article/nonoise/index_en.htm This fellow has a beta software that I have played with and yike- !!!!! Will
  16. Hi Ethan Many thanks for the info. I suspected mayflies and caddis would light trap fairly well. I will try and build a Malaise for Stoneflies and see how that goes. I do stream sample etc but the trap approach seems like a usefull way of being in more than one place at a time:) Will
  17. Hi I mostly hang out in the photo section- but thought some folks here may have advice/thoughts. on a new project. I am looking at using a light trap- probably a home made Skinner type with battery operated UV light sources. Plan is to trap Moths for a photo project, but I am curious if anyone has used a light trap for collecting Mayflies/Stoneflies etc. If so how usefull was the experiment? ty in advance. Will
  18. LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Walleye shot:) Will ( not anti trout just very very very pro warmwater fly fishing:)))))))
  19. Monty- great post:)- and so very true. John- I think the conundrum is- " do I shoot for stock/filling photo calls or develop a more defined skill - the photo based visual narrative " ? The hero shots and the other cliches fit into the stock part I think and thats fine and there certainly is a demand- " who has a big rainbow/streamer in its mouth vertical shot " stuff. Sounds to me the AD you are dealing with and I suspect quite a few others is desperate for a skilled assignment photographer- " Hey John- can you cover the blah blah blah......- I need 8 images for a peice" IMHO there are few fishing/fly fishing photographers approaching things that way and it is a very marketable and real skill to offer. Nat Geo meets ................. Maybe both the stock and the narrative are both neccessary to go where you seem to be heading:). For me if you are thinking about it- you no longer have a choice but to explore it:))))) Will
  20. Nice work- I love the mental image that you and your daughter did these- kudos to both of you:) Will
  21. Peter- I must say I have really enjoyed seeing these - let us know on how the show goes. Curious- how are you printing them for exhibition? Will
  22. Hi Great Pics John- I really like the approach you have taken with the fishing pics- I suspect it grows out of your other work - nice to see an " essay " approach versus the "killer shot" . Interested to hear your thoughts on that distinction. ps- back "home" ( I left Scotland 32 years ago as a bright eyed and full of piss and vinegar 19 year old) pinning is called trotting- I think they are the same thing- very long tradition there with some highly sophsticated approaches. Will
  23. A couple of images from today- and Will
  24. Great pano:))- I want to go for a walk there:) Will
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