Neal Osborn
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Paging Cameron Mortenson . . .
In the mean time, enjoy this article http://www.flyfishohio.com/Fly_Box_Porn_Cameron.htm
I am “pretty good” at midge fishing but not enough to comment with authority.
Dusty – Ben will work you my friend. First thing he taught me was to take the camera OFF AUTO mode and learn to shoot ONLY in MANUAL (for everything including white balance). It is great advice! Without that discipline I would never understand Kelvin, metering and white balance the way I do now. Notice how my recent fly pics have great color and make you wonder “how?”. That is full throttle manual. Get to know your camera like your fly rod. My wife always asks me, “how did you know to do that” when taking pictures. The answer is simple, I know because I’ve done it a hundred times and when where and why to change a setting. Auto settings can be great but only after you understand when to use them and when to tweak or flat out override. For example, kid shots probably need auto mode because of the tempo of action but if you know how to shoot manual then you will know how to adjust the auto settings in a flash and get better pictures faster without being a Griswald.
I’m still learning myself!!!
If I may . . . go to the library and spend about 1-2 hours just reading some introductory art books. Get a certain picture in your mind’s eye that you want to capture and then spend the next two weeks focusing on nothing else but that picture. Shoot as many shots as necessary until you get close then ask what you could do better. Each variable plays a part in getting the final shot. At least that’s what I did and why I have focused only on macro photography for the past year. In fact, most of the good shots recently are simple recreations from art books like chapter 1 or 2 on “the basics of lighting”. Simple really is better in most situations – trick is learning your darn camera and how to make the complex look basic. Now I’m starting to understand competing Kelvin and foreground vs background lighting and that is like going from an 8-box to a 64-box of Crayons. The more advanced skills translate to artistic expression. Unfortunately my outdoor shooting skills are greatly lacking but with the knowledge I’ve learned so far it will be much easier to cross over.
It’s like fly fishing, learn about loading a rod before understanding why you like a rod. And be very careful about what you read on the internet – most people are posers and just regurgitate stuff they read from someone else (or they copy other people’s style to perfection but don’t know how to cross over when the variables are changed). This board is a blessing because there are so many professionals in different areas willing to openly help a guy out.
Thanks Y’all. I will be posting another tutorial soon on how to take better pictures with an entry level DSLR. I appreciate the interest in this new technique. It has taken me about 4 months to work out the lighting and white balance and now I’m starting to have fun.
Moving toward my ultimate goal of artistic fashion photography of fly tying.
Matt, I love your control of light and shadows 🙂 Especially picture three. Nice depth. Thanks for sharing.
Edit:
Shannon, there is already a wonderful program for disabled vets and fly tying. Ben Cochran from this board is doing some great photographs on the flies they tie. BTW, ever thought how you would thread a bobbin with only one arm? How about start a jam knot or a whip finish? How about tie in marabou at the tail (can’t do pinch wrap with one arm). These guys are freaking amazing, seriousloy. If I’m not mistaken, there will be a book on this in the future. If they sell the flies, I will buy them all. Think about it.
PM Ben Cochran if you have questions.
It was down river from here (about 2 lbs best guess).
If you had the green canoe then yes, I did see you guys. And yes, that was me in the woods with the tube on my back.
Dude, I thought that was you guys (were you in the canoe?). I should have said something. I was at the bend where we saw the rubber float parade last year.
BTW, I personally saw a guy catch a striper at the Devil’s Race Track on Saturday (between 285 and the big bend) – he was using a spinning rod in that deep deep pool and he caught it on a big white minnow pattern. It wasn’t a huge striper but they are definitely there to a small degree as carry overs.
