Help wit fly macro photos please
- This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Jun 4, 2010 at 11:38 am by
.
-
Posts
-
Picked up a used macro lens this past w/e at a yard sale and I’m trying to find the sweet spot in the lens. Please let me know which photo works best and anything I could do/try to make them better. This is a late 60’s Doak Salmon Fly taken at 105mm, 85mm and 60mm then cropped and levels adjusted, thanks.
105mm
85mm
60mm
Focal length wise, I think all work. My problem that the lighting seems to be coming from above and to the camera right, which leaves the fly looking too dark.
I have never attempted this type of photography so I don’t know how the lighting is typcally done, but I would look at moving it if this were my first attempts.
My $0.02
I second what Zach mentions about paper. I use this a lot with my shots. Lighting is crucial in macro photography. A wrong angle or light source throws the image out of whack.
One thing I particularly noticed is your white balance. It could be the background you are using, but with macro photography I like to set my white balance so that my whites are truly whites 😉 The tan/yellowish background in this shot does not highlight your fly very well. Try using a custom white balance and making sure it is set properly. It can make a huge difference. Here are a few examples. The callibaetis were taken last week.
Also, you may want to consider a light box if you are not using one.
Image done with smoke.
Thanks everyone, the light source was actually coming from the left and no flash was used, the angle of the backdrop, which is curved as well, may have acted as a bounce for the lighting. Pretty new to this type of work and these were just quick down and dirty test snaps just to have a place to start from. Will work with various setting to give it more DOF and bring out the detail as well.
Could for sure use front fill. Just use white paper, poster board, tshirt, whatever you’ve got to bring some light back into the front of the fly. Otherwise good start.
http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.
http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox InstagramDear Fishnbanjo (SLG),
It is always a pleasure to see you post here. I have been away for some time and just saw this post. Good to see you stretching your wings with fly photography. How many curse words have you said since you got that new lens, LOL. Macro fly photography is certainly challenging, but knowing a few fundamental “rules” can greatly increase your odds of getting keeper shots. The comments above are all very good and I won’t add to that line directly. However, I can provide a few tips and tricks to get better diffused front fill on your flies. And it’s all about front fill!!!
The main problem in your shots is the lack of front lighting. I’ll explain below.
Feel free to review my post on this subject here http://flyartstudio.com/wordpress/?p=187. This particular post deals with the fundamentals of getting a good basic fly shot, but the latter part has a few tricks for reflector fill.
1. Are you using on-camera or off-camera flash? What is your camera body and flash brand?
2. Ditch the copper bowl. Metal throws a harsh light and the copper is creating a slight tint to your shot which competes with your white balance. Instead, use cloth or even toilet paper to diffuse your flash.
3. Front fill can be accomplished in many ways, but the simplest method is to bounce the light from an Ott light or tying light using a white card made from cardboard and covered with cheap drawer lining sticky paper. This is covered in more detail in the link above.
4. You can then “add” bounce light to the front using a silver or white cake pan liner.
The final image will look something like this. Not bad for one Ott light and two home-made reflectors.
The same technique of refection can be added to back-lit fly shots taken in natural sunlight. This technique will trick the camera and provide good front fill.
5. Capturing glossy flies is very difficult, but you can often get a fairly good result by diffusing your flash with toilet paper.
6. Avoid shooting “at night” in your house. Instead, wake up early and stage your flies next to a window, preferably a north facing window and simply let Mother Nature give you the front light. Then just diffuse the light with a white shirt or bed sheet or buy a $8 mini diffuser at your local camera store. One of the biggest problems with fly tiers is the tendency to shoot at night after the family is asleep. In that situation, you only have flash and ambient light to get the shot.
Here is an example of a staged fly shot next to a window early in the morning with great natural lighting and no flash.
7. Shoot in the garden or even a small flower pot. Some of my best macro photography is done in my backyard with minimal flash, typically early in the morning.
Example
8. The “sweet spot” on your lens will typically be somewhere in the middle of the focal range. Worry less about this and more about positioning the lens to get the best range of sharpness throughout the fly. In other words, shoot the fly at a 90 degree angle instead of tangential and you will avoid the depth of field issues inherent to macro photography.
9. Go buy a $5 black tile/slate from Home Depot. Simply lay the fly on the slate and move the background far away, like 8 feet. Focus on the fly and direct the flash at the fly. Use a shutter speed like around 1 second. Then laugh out loud at the cool artsy shots you can get. Remember, this technique works best with “black” or dark images because it is way easier to get a black background vs a white or colored background. Also, computer software is helpful to burn (i.e. dodge-and-burn tool) the dark areas, but that is a topic for another time.
Example
10. Finally, remember that the hardest fly shot to master is the simple “white” product shot. You need lots of directional flash in order to capture the fly fibers while avoiding clipping the highlights in the white background. Therefore, I always recommend people start with black backgrounds first and then move to darker colors like purple/brown/blue before trying to do the fashion high key white stuff. Trust me, you will feel better about your results early on and build confidence.
Example. If you look closely at the black eyes in this shot you will count a total of 10 flash units, including two soft boxes and a ring flash.
So what is the easiest, fastest, best way to get good fly photographs without learning all the fundamentals ::)A RING FLASH!
I am so very glad I started this, both the topic and shooting macro. As most here know I have NHL and to be blunt I can’t do most of what I’d like to do and photography is one that I can do.
I have mostly done long range landscape and nature stuff but when I can’t get out due to my health I despise sitting about as that fosters sadness which is self defeating and in order to bat it away I pick up my camera and you can take only so many shots of your dog before he gets bored.
I enjoy looking at my fly collection and have seen wonderful shots of flies here, and elsewhere, but until picking up this lens never tried this.
I have 2 flashes, both Nikon’s, an SB 800 and an SB 900, no onboard flash on my camera bodies, D3 and D3x, I use a Manfrotto 3251 Pro tripod (058 model previously and renamed again as 058B) with a Novoflex ClassicBall 3 so I have a very stable platform to shoot from.
I can’t thank everyone enough for sharing their shots, techniques and suggestions it gives me much pleasure and look forward to trying all of what has been suggested. Thank you for your kindness.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.