Will Milne

Hi There is another approach which is cheaper for increasing depth of field( I,m originally from Scotland I like cheap:))) do a google for- "compositing depth of field" it works along the same principle as compositing different exposures +/- for effect. hopre that helps Will

Hi Jim- nice heron:) hope you don't mind I took the liberty of playing with the pics a little to try and get around the bleached look- levels- to get a full black and white color correction- to negatate the blue cast a little dodge and burn to pull out some of the body detail hope that helps Will

Yike- I did'nt realize they grew that large. Thought they were confined to high mountain/less fertile waterbodies. It has always amazed me how different browns could be- from the almost black back/bright red spots in the peaty streams where I grew up to the pale/somber specimens you often see in Manitoba pothole lakes. Interesting to see a rainbow that is'nt regulation silver and pink:). Are they considered a subspecies? Will

Al- The only Halibut I see hereabouts come with chips and vinegar:) . I'm 1000 miles from a coast in most directions. Ty- for the the picture making support - I'm flattered and most appreciative. I do like the idea of seeing folks get along in their photography explorations by simply sharing ideas and tips and seeing where it all leads. Will

Hi Frogfish- Are you looking for step by step tuts/detailed raw processing info specific to that prog? If not- I,ve been using raw exclusively for a while now and Silkpix has been the prog of choice here. Very nice color/reasonably fast on my ancient machine and a well implemented interface. I have processed Sony R1 and Nikon D200 raw files with it and both have been handled very well. I have seen some complaints about shadow posterization but I can honestly say I have not seen that issue arise , so it may be a non Sony/Nikon raw file type issue? Basically with raw the in-camera processing- sharpening/WB etc etc is ignored and you do that in the raw processer.Typically with far more control. I,m sure other progs do the same but in Silkypix- when I have a tweak done for an image WB/Tone Curve/etc etc - I save it as a parameter and simply apply that to each image in that sequence. The big advantage is that you are working with the full dataset from the sensor- whereas with jpeg there is loss from the compression. Typically tone sublty and detail. If you are working towards print use this is a big advantage, more bitdepth , more info, richer images. I save the raw from Silkypix with it's paramaters then output to tiff . That tiff goos down the pipleline and ends up on the web as a jpeg, with appropriate format etc versions saved along the way. hope that helps Will

Some great links -ty here is an off-cam flsh site with some handy info.- http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welco...o-strobist.html Will

Graham- yep one cap would be close to 1:1. Here is size 16 caddis pattern that is close. Been trying to work out a soft lighting look with a single flash/umbrella and slow sync. Need to work on it a bit more. f22 still is'nt enough dof. Comments always welcome. Will

Catfish and bass love these things-I have a couple of patterns I use for our big Catfish up here- might be usefull for tying ref. Will

Great stuff!! I,m curious if you ever looked at HDR for night shots- might be something of interest. Will

Graham- Lol- you leapt way ahead of me-I'm still playing how do I psuedo hack this with what I have / can afford:))- but yep I can see no reason ground spikes etc would,nt work with some testing/refining. I just hand hold my flash/modifier and pump a little flash added light where I think it's needed. My subject matter is most often static. I thing the big issue would be chooosing flash modifiers to dial down/control the shadow effects , especially on your main light but maybe also on on your secondary if your using a multi flash setup.Add some simple white foam core for added relected/controlled fill or black ones to subtract light and you have a field kit:))) I think IMHO getting a setup that works in slow sync mode, so you have a combo of controllable ambiant % and flash % is a good way to go. I,m not a big fan of pure flash as a light source for what we are looking at. hope that makes sense Will

My MC-36/DR-6 Right angle finder arrived:))- wow do they make a difference:) Mirror lockup and magified view for manual focusing is very very cool. slowly refining things down to 1:1 <br> <br> time to set up some fly patterns to shoot Will

Graham- you mentioned reflectors. A setup I have used with my Sony R1 and now use with the D200 with a Nikon SB26 set to slave and a Lumiquest Big Bounce or Wescott Mini Apollo( the latter having slightly harder shadows)- with the d200 on a tripod - set the popup flash to manual/1/128 th power/slow sync. Set the SB-26 to slave/manual and dial down the output to 1/8 th-1/6th The d200 popup flash works to trigger the SB-26 without adding any light to the final image. The SB-26 is now cordless and can be held in the hand to add fill light where it is needed. Reflectors can be set opposite the flash direction to add off axis fill. With the Nikon SB600/800 I,m guessing you could set the poup flash to" commander mode" and get the same functionality . hope that makes sense Will

Hey no fair you folks get to fish for trout:))) pucker up:)) Will

Hi Ty for the warm welcome and kind words. Kodiak - if I can help , I,m certainly happy to do so:) Graham- Yep the d200 was a very recent purchase, so I,m still fiddling with buttons/settings etc. My R1 is a great cam but lacking in macro capability. I picked up Nikon 105 Micro VR. Very sharp and smooth operating lens. I,m finding that for 1:1 or close, I,m not getting as sharp as I would really like/expect. I have a MC-36 remote and DR-6 Right angle finder on the way. Hopefully to kill any mirror slap/triggering induced fuzzines and to make manual focusing a little easier. I'll let you all know how that plays out. Will

Hi Great to see a forum combining fly fishing/tying and photography- all personal interests here. Hope to learn some and share some - if it's usefull to all By way of an intro here is what I have been exploring- A few images Will