Intro and question

[callum ross]

Hi,

I thought I had better introduce myself. I am another Australian fly fisher and certainly recognise a few of the other members who post here. I have been lurking for quite some time and thought it only proper to finally register.

I mainly chase trout but do fish a little for salt water and native species. I am keen to try and improve my poor photography skills and enjoy reading what a lot of the experts here have to say.

About 10 years ago I started planing bamboo rods and really enjoy fishing my own rods on small streams. This sort of brings me to my first question. Does anyone have any good tips for photographing rods? I have a lot of trouble with lighting and shadows as well as just general composition.

Cheers,

Callum.

[Zach Matthews]

Welcome Collum.

Zach

[David Anderson]

Hi Callum,

I like to light rods from directly overhead with a large light source or shoot them in full shade if I don’t have lights with me.

Background is also important.

This is a shot of the TCX5 for a Flylife review, it’s shot in shade over a constant background with little detail so the rod (and reel) really stand out.

The next two are about the rod and the environment they’re used in.

This is from a story on the cape where I did a side bar on the then new Zed 9 weight.

And this is a couple double handers on the Tongariro.

Obviously the more background, the less the shot is about the rod.

www.dsaphoto.com

A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.

[bruce norikane]

Greetings Callum,

The late Dave Lewis was a fine rod builder in the states, and his website has many photos of his flyrods.

http://www.performanceflyrods.com/pictures.html

Dave also loved hiking to small streams, so you might also enjoy his “Fine Rods in Beautiful Places” gallery:

http://www.performanceflyrods.com/fineplaces/finerods.html

And he published many fine photo journals:
http://www.performanceflyrods.com/journals.html

[Zach Matthews]

Hey Callum –

Anything that is long and lean like a rod can be difficult to photograph when you’re trying to show the whole thing.  Manufacturers usually shoot their rod shots in clean room type environments with white backgrounds and then they lay those across the length of two pages, sometimes with a break in the middle to show all the features.  

If you’re photographing rods in the field, in my opinion, you can only really zoom down on the butt section or on a specific component you are trying to show.

Here are some examples of how I tend to do it:

Zach

[Bob Riggins]

I am by no means a photographer and use point a shoot cameras, but when I photograph rods I have built, I like to used the pieces to form angles while showing elements of the rod and I like to use fly line to add curved elements.  As you can see from these photos, I have trouble with lighting and shadows.

[callum ross]

Thanks for the suggestions. I do like the pics that have a more in the field aspect to them.

For some reason I have only ever tried photographing the rod in isolation. Having looked at a few of the above images and reviewing some other sites I will have to try and set up some shots with both reels and various backgrounds included.

Cheers,

Callum.

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