Light Ring Questions

[cphubert 0]

I am finally tired of my substandard photo's and looking at a light ring to develop a starting point. Questions, I see everything from 6" to 18" lights and wonder what I need for general purpose use, is 18" to large? I am thinking 12" to 18" Amazon has a  GLOUE 18" dimmable unit with mounts under $60 is this to large for desk top work? Is this the best starting point or do I need to build a light box ? My camera is a Olympus TG if that makes any difference takes nice pictures outdoors but my macro /  fly pictures are very poor, probably a lot to do with the operator. 

[skeet3t 0]

Curious here. I use the macro setting and stack +4 and +10 diopter lenses on the main lens. The fly has a neutral tan background. Example of a fly is shown. Can't find a photo of my setup in the archives but it's a desk with the cloth background on the desk and the wall, two clamp-on lights from harbor Freight with CFL bulbs and a sheer cloth cover to cut the glare.

 

[skeet3t 0]

Got ahead of myself. Looked at Olympus TG and found different models. Could you be a bit more specific? Specs on some TG models show a macro focus down to 1 cm. That is close.

[chugbug27 0]

If it's version 5 or higher it also has FOCUS STACKING....

😮

 

[cphubert 0]

No it's a TG-2 had it a while but found the led light and countdown timer today after looking instructions up on-line. Will start playing with it and the tele converter lens. Going to order a diopter lens and filter set and probably a light ring. My photo skills are horrible just never took it seriously but I want to improve after looking at the posts on this site.

[chugbug27 0]

@cphubert

I did a little hunting, I hope it helps...

Your camera has something called "supermacro" mode, which apparently allows you to get up to 1cm away from an object and take a focused picture. That might be just perfect for a fly picture. You'll need to have the fly well lit, just bring your tying light super close and that might do it.

Supermacro is the mode that has a drawing of a flower with an "s" in the bottom right corner. select that mode. Get really close (too close for comfort) and when you get it in focus or close to focused, click the "ok" button on the back of the camera, once. I think this will lock the focus. Then, just move the camera back and forth until you can see that the fly is focused, hold still, and click your picture. (Hit the ok button after, and it will unlock the focus.) That may be much easier to do with a small tripod moving back and forth, but the tripod might not be necessary.

If it works but only with a tripod, you might do even better with something called a micro rail, it fits on top of a tripod and helps you move the camera ever so slightly into a locked focus field. Amazon $12:

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-16centimeters-Focusing-Close-Up-Compatible/dp/B07XXT5CPP/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=macro+rail+photography&qid=1606609683&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&sr=8-2

[cphubert 0]

2 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

hope it helps...

Thanks Chug! I added it to my cart. I am learning more about the camera than I thought possible basically all I've done is point and shoot on auto or macro, just recently started using a tripod, that and finding the led light & timer has made a improvement.  

[flytire 0]

for what its worth and thats no much these days. i'm just a simple minded hobby photographer

i dont use a light ring for my tying photography nor do i use a light box, styrofoam cup, milk jug etc

i wrote this for another forum

 

i was asked by a member how i do my fly photography. so here is my answer

its nothing fancy but it works for me. I'm sure everybody else is different and that's okay!

i use a nikon coolpix s9900 point and shoot camera

my tripod is a geekoto ct25 pro craftsman

 

my camera settings

1 - aperture mode

2 - flash is off

3 - macro mode is on

4 - f stop = f6.7

5 - 8 megapixels

white balance and iso settings are on automatic

with my camera in macro mode, i still zoom in to fill the frame before i take a photo. i do not stick the camera as close to the subject as i can

my setup

 

 

 

lighting

2 lamps

 

 

hand held auxiliary lighting when i feel its necessary

 

 

 

 

results

 

from my blog

Flytying: New and Old: MY Latest Take on Fly Photography - MY Simple Setup

[flytire 0]

you could add a light diffuser to your olympus tg camera

Compact Digital Camera Accessory FD-1 Flash Diffuser | Others | Olympus (olympus-imaging.com)

or

Photography system "Flies photo gadget" (yr3d.shop)

 

[skeet3t 0]

Flytire, excellent photos- crisp colors and great detail. New camera, Canon EOS Rebel T7, and having to learn all over again.

[cphubert 0]

Thank you Norm, you consistent quality photo's have been what I am try to achieve. You must have a eye and talent for it, I did read your blog about your equipment and process, until you posted that I was sure you had a studio set up.

8 hours ago, flytire said:

results

Your results are excellent I never get the clear crisp details that you achieve on the entire fly, often one part is clear and I loose other details. I have started watching you tube instructions for photography and hopeful that I will see improvement in the near future, at least I can experiment without the expense and burden of developing film, it's easier to delete poor photos.

[Poopdeck 0]

Great set up and a great explanation flytire. I'm not a pro photographer but I have attended photography classes and my job at times entails the taking of pictures that are accurate depictions of the item photographed as they were in a moment of time. In other words a picture as is. Lighting is the key to any accurate picture where shadows can effect clarity. In the majority of cases ligting is as simple as a hand held flashlight  or it can be as complicated as one would like to make it. Your system is perfect. 

CP if portions of your fly are blurry while other portions are vivid is a depth of field (DOF) issue.  DOF is largely based on your aperture (F-stop) setting. The lower the f-stop number the the bigger the aperture. The bigger the aperture hole the lower the  DOF. The higher the f-stop number the smaller the aperture opening. The smaller the aperture hole the higher the DOF. if you want pictures where everything is focused you need to shoot in as high an F-stop as possible. Shutter speed has to be slowed down as you climb the higher F-stop numbers to allow in the correct amount of light through an increasingly smaller aperture hole. Focal length is also mildly important to DOF. If you have the fly within inches or less of the fly you will lose DOF as well. Flytires system is almost fool proof because he sets up farther from the fly, increasing focal length, and uses the zoom feature to bring it in. This is a smart manipulation of an automatic camera to increase DOF. Fortunatly the problems of low DOF are easy to correct when there isn't much DOF needed to photograph a fly, such as flytire does by shooting further from the fly. A pro would probably want to do more but great pictures of flies can be done rather easily as flytire has so adequently shown. You can see his F-stop is set to 6.3 and his entire fly is in focus. 6.3 is a kind of large aperture opening. If you set your camera to automatic flash mode it will most likely default to a fast shutter speed and a wide open aperture, bad for DOF. 

That's my super novice laymans explanation and what works best for me in my job but I know there are some that can take photography to whole new levels. 

[skeet3t 0]

Books-A-Million has a book, Digital Photography for Dummies, written just for me. Good info on depth of field, shutter settings and just about anything else you can think of for digital photography. I highly recommend it. My new camera has specific settings to highlight or blur the background.

[Meeshka 0]

Thanks Flytyer,

Your tying skills and fly photography are second to none.  Great tips and advice!

 

Doug

[skeet3t 0]

Found the photo of my setup as descried earlier. Noticed the cloth covers aren't on the shades. Wife made them from some sheer material a bit finer than cheesecloth.