Photographing flies
- This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Jan 13, 2009 at 12:45 am by
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I’m sure this has been addressed here before, but I haven’t been able to bring up much when I used the search function.
Mick, LOL, you have more equipment than most professional macro photographers. Especially with the 60/105 combo and and R1C1. Please tell us a bit more about yourself and what you “normally” shoot with this equipment.
BTW, either the 60mm or the 105mmVR on a tripod with the SB-200s off-camera is a perfect starting point for photographing midges and flies. In fact at that size you can easily use the 105 if you have an Fx camera but I find the focal length on my D300 is bit restrictive and so I often use the 60mm for the small stuff (need a tripod though because no VR). Also, for the really small flies you can keep the R-200s on the lens as a ring light and it will light up the subject well – the only caveat for the midges is that you will need to use an aperture of f22 or greater (often I use f32 for midges) and it is like a pinpoint of light so make sure to exposure compensate with the R-200s and also make sure to point the R-200s inward to focus the flash on the subject. Often you will need to post-edit crop in order to get the midge into composition.
All in good time, Lee. Let me get my act together first.
I’ve been fishing on the San Juan for over a decade now, so I’ve tied a fair number of flies down to size 32, and caught fish on them all. I’ve given myself permission not to have to tie any dries below a size 24, so when the fish were hitting those size 26 parachute Adams, I was using flies tied by those little old ladies somewhere in Asia or Africa.
Very helpful, Neal!
As far as myself, I’m a retired psychologist, semipro photographer (meaning I’ve had some things published, but don’t do so regularly), and inveterate gearhead. My wife tells me I’m only interested in hobbies (cycling, fly tying, fly fishing, photography) that have high gear requirements. So while I’ve used the lenses mentioned above, the R1C1 has never been out of the box, until now.
Yesterday I was playing with the 105 (D, not VR) and a 4T closeup lens, handheld on my D200, just to see what it was like. The depth of field was tight. I do have an FX camera, so I’ll pull out the tripod, monoball, and all the trappings, crank down the aperture, turn on the lights and give it a go.
Mick, PM me if you have any questions about the R1C1. That is a sweet gear setup you have – very similar to my own.
Neal
Maybe you can tell us all something about the R1C1 Neal? I came across a second hand a few days ago and thinking about buying it.
I do medical photography in the clinic so I need a portable macro setup that can be handheld. The R1C1 ring flash is worth it’s weight in gold for that application. For fly tying it’s not as much the ring flash per se but the small SB-200’s. They are wonderful off camera flashes for photographing flies. You can buy the SB-200’s separately. If your camera has a master flash capability then you don’t need the SB-800 remote commander that comes with the R1C1 unit (this can be purchased separately as well). The catch is the learning curve – for this reason I usually don’t recommend this setup often.
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