Photographing Flies. More than pressing the button.

[Crackaig 0]

Once you have tied the perfect fly you may want to immortalise it in pixels, before you hang it in a bush. This is the process I use. It doesn't end with pushing the shutter realise. If you were to take the photo on film you would have almost as many adjustments to make, if you did the full process.

 

Take the shot of your arranged flies. Many of you will have seen my simple set up for this. Just a piece of card stuck to my tying light. For the technical minded the photo I'm using here was taken f8, 1/80 iso 800 in RAW. Also I use Photostrop CS5 (No thats not a spelling mistake).

So then download the shot. I use Abobe Bridge. Give the file a name and download.

Once downloaded the files open in Bridge.

From there you need to open them in Camera Raw and make the adjustments you need. Things like removing any colour cast and getting the exposure right.

You can also crop at this stage if you wish. I usually do it later. The important thing is that you always do it at the same stage.

Once adjusted to something you are happy with click Open Image. It will open in Photoshop.

First thing I do here is adjust the levels. (Ctrl + L) Select the white eye dropper (the one on the right of the three) and select the background.

When you are happy with that you can crop to the size you want. Then use Ctrl+0 to zoom to the largest size that fits on your screen. This is when you can remove any blemishes marks or any bits you don't like with either the Clone Tool or Healing Tool.

Then to sharpen it to give it real zing. Start by going to Layers, Duplicate Layer. Then Filters, now you can use the pre set filters but far better is to select Others, High Pass

Adjust the slider until the images just starts to show. You can over do it very easily. This image only needed 0.5 on the scale.

In the Layers Palette bottom right you will see both layers.

In the box at the top of the palette change the setting to "Overlay"

All that is left to do now is Flatten Image.

Then you just need to save the image, and you are ready to upload to one of the photo hosting sites or direct to here.

 

It doesn't take long to do all this when you get used to the work flow, Are the results worth the effort? Well if you have just spent ages tying the perfect fly, don't let it down with the photo.

Cheers,

C.

[kentuckytroutbum 0]

Crackaig-

 

Thanks for posting your processing and post production work flow. Its interesting to see the process and flow that different photographers use to manipulate

their digital images. I am wondering why you chose to shoot at ISO 800, assuming that you used a tripod and shutter release?

 

Thanks again.

 

Bill

[Chase Creek 0]

Very nice explaination of post processing. I use Picasa 3, which is free from Google, and Cyberlink PhotoDirector 3, for post processing.

[Crackaig 0]

Bill,

Unfortunately I don't have the space to set up a tripod. ISO 800 was to give me the shutter speed to hand hold it. For some time I have been trying to come up with a design of camera mount that will fit on to my tying table. There is a camera mount available for the J vice but no way will it hold the weight of my camera.

Cheers,

C.

[kentuckytroutbum 0]

C-

 

Have you seen the Gorillapod? They are available in different sizes with various load capacities, and are great for sitting the camera on a relatively flat surface.

Just a thought.

 

Bill

[mikechell 0]

They make camera holders that can clamp onto your car window ... or any other surface. I am thinking you could clamp it to your tying table and have a solid camera stand.

[Chefben4 0]

Very cool blurb! Thanks for sharing!

[kentuckytroutbum 0]

B&H Photo is running a special on Adobe Lightroom 4 software for $119. I just ordered to use in processing photos. LR4 is a simpler (?) version of Photoshop which is easier to use, and has a powerful Library tool for organizing your photos. All enhancements are non-destructive to the original image. LR4 is optimized for photographers and the process they use to manipulate photos. FYI. Here is the link:

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/845955-REG/Adobe_65165061_Photoshop_Lightroom_4_Software.html?cm_mmc=EML-_-Newsletter_Newsletter-_-130430-_-BannerM-Retail-AdobeBanner

 

Bill

 

P.S. B&H has great instructional videos on the their website (click on InDepth Event tab) and YouTube. Most videos run about 1 hour to 2 hours, and are a great resource on a variety of photo topics. No, I don't work for B&H or Adobe!

[flytire 0]

lots of photos would benefit if the photographer would learn how to manage light and the focus button

 

i use free software called "photofiltre"

 

it does what i want it to do.

 

i'm only taking a photo of a fly not something for national geographics

[flysmallie 0]

That's a good deal on Lightroom and it is an awesome tool. I use it, Elements and CS3 just depending on what I want to do or how serious the photo is. Photoshop Elements is a very simple program to use. Gives you the file management you need and has plenty of tools to edit your photos. Not as robust as LR but still worth the money.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Good tutorial on your workflow Crack. I have used both Photoshop and Lightroom. Photoshop has a lot of tools and was designed both for photographers and commercial artists. Lightroom was developed after Photoshop specifically for photographers. The adjustments are easy and upfront and do what in Photoshop takes layers and finding the tools to do it. Having the workflow down makes it easier but Lightroom is really fast and has options to apply settings to a number of photos, which is handy when shot under the same lighting/conditions. I still use Photoshop but mostly for "fixing" photos compared to just processing them in Lightroom. I recently took a dreary grey sky out of an image a friend of mine sent me of his two daughters and replaced it with a nice blue sky with some soft white clouds and then I cloned out the telephone pole. He was so happy he paid me and wouldn't take no for an answer when I told him he didn't have to do that.

I agree that if you take the time to tie photograph quality flies, you may as well take the time to process/develop them to their maximum potential and the Adobe softwares are ideal for that.

 

Kirk

[Crackaig 0]

For me for now I simply can't afford to get an additional program so Photoshop will have to do. Some of my landscape shots I use Photomatix on as well. When using this though I keep it very gentle. It is easy to take an image way over the top.

 

Some people have objected to using Photoshop at all. Saying when it was film there was no adjustment. I reply, "You have never done any colour printing have you?" That simple work flow just makes similar adjustments to the image as a colour enlarger does when printing from a negative.

 

The last photo course I did, with the Open University, was based on Elements. At that time elements didn't handle RAW files. I found it very frustrating and went back to full CS5 after the course. The latest version of Elements, I believe, does had facility for camera RAW but I would only be buying what I have already.

 

The announcement from Adobe that they will no longer be selling software in hard copy form is worrying. Now you will have to download it with a limited time licence.

Cheers,

C.

[kentuckytroutbum 0]

Crackaig-

 

I've heard and read that "Photomatics" is great for final processing of HDR images, after adjustments in PS. Would you mind sharing your thoughts and experiences on that program?

 

Also, I hadn't heard that Adobe was going to stop selling CDs. I do know that some of Adobe's software can be tried for 30 days, and then its buy it or let it expire (date stamping). Autodesk has done a similar try & buy program with their AutoCAD software. My LR4 CD is due here any day now. Want to install it and compare with Canon's DPP program.

 

Bill

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

...Some people have objected to using Photoshop at all. Saying when it was film there was no adjustment. I reply, "You have never done any colour printing have you?" That simple work flow just makes similar adjustments to the image as a colour enlarger does when printing from a negative...

Cheers,

C.

 

Yeah, actually film users and the real photographers that did their own developing did a lot in the darkroom. It was an art in itself and if those naysayers would read any Ansel Adams books, you will learn that much of his success was his skill in the darkroom and taking the images and enhancing them for print.

That being said, there are some horrendous images people put out of Photoshop mostly from over saturation among others; just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

Kirk

[Crackaig 0]

Spot on Kirk.

 

Apparently Ansel Adams had a print made once, and there was slight cropping at the edges. He went ballistic with the printer. "I'll edit my photos... not you he said.

 

Cheers,

C.