Neal Osborn
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I love that fly and have a few that I bought from Orvis. They are killer. Have you figured out how to tie that cinch at the distal tail?
Thanks Kent. Your site is wonderful and the templates were a Godsend when I started tying your pattern. It is killer.
I believe you call that “full pimp” if not mistaken?
I like I like ;D For a teacher you are a good student. Seriously, each picture you post shows vast improvement from the prior. The background is great and I see no obvious hot spots on the fly itself. Very nice instructional fly shot Keith. You might want to tweak the aperture to get the entire fly in focus but otherwise looking great.
Drop me a PM for a trick on tying that aft black foam loop. I fear that the thread is going to cheese wire the foam over time the way it is now tied.
Take Better Pictures from Your Float Tube
The waterproof cameras are a great accessory for the float tube. If you have a non-waterproof camera get a small Otter Box (Otter 1000) http://www.otterbox.com/waterproof-cases/otterbox-1000/. I use the O1000 to protect my cell phone.
Typical shots from a float tube. . . things to avoid and tips on pics
AVOID this shot at all cost!!! This view never works. It is the angler perspective shot – non-fishers will have no idea what is going on. All you see is the line in the water and no depth to the scene.
Instead, employ creative angles of your rod or background. Here, you can clearly see there is a fish on the line and the rod is bending. You can imagine what is going on in the water and it leaves you wondering.
I often see float tube shots like this one with the fish splashing around in the water. Crap! Nobody but you will understand what was going on. Plus, it makes me kinda sea sick.
Then there is the death grip tube picture :-X This shot is the most common and IMO the worst. Try to think about your position – avoid simply grabbing the fish and extending your arm to get the fish in view. For non fishers this shot makes fishing look like a brutal pastime.
Kung foo grip
Another problem I often see is the “upside down” tube shot. Here we are moving toward a better shot because the fish is in the net and the situation is more controlled. However, many people stop there and simply take the picture. Look at the composition – crap! The fish is upside down and the head is facing to the upper right and the reel is off-center. The viewer feels the need to turn their own head to see the shot.
This one is better but now the head is facing the sky
Better, more artsy
Now we got it! ;D Put the fish in the net, take a breath, relax and then remember to turn the head so it is facing the camera. This will always give the best result! We are accustomed to looking at things head first.
Once you learn your camera settings you can take much better float tube shots like this one of a bass. The head is facing the camera, the body is glistening and the creative placement of shadows give the fish depth and separation. Now float tubing looks fun and others might see why you are crazy enough to sit in a tube for hours at a time.
Special thanks to Zach – I learned the technique of facing the fish head toward the camera during his Photography workshop last year. It is a great tip!
Aaron Christensen floating a pond at Callaway Gardens during the SE conclave.
David – the Orvis case also doubles as a fantastic camera flash bag! It can hold 4 hot shoe setups as well as their snoots/grids and batteries. The length is also sufficient for a small umbrella stand.
Float Tubing in Montana – Horseback.
Joel, this picture is for you 😉 Quit yet?
Cheapest boat on the market . . .
I understand what you are saying Mike but that is not really what I was talking about. In the N. Georgia/N. Carolina brook streams you are often hiking in way off the trail to find the fishing holes – with all the rotadendrums and steep hills you can get lost pretty quickly. That can be pretty scary stuff to say the least. For me the GPS would offer a guide to get you back on track. And . . . I would love to mark my spots for when I return the next time because often things look vastly different from summer to fall to winter.
Zach – I am glad you did this article. For those who have not used a GPS before, let me tell you they are awesome. I went fishing with Zach last fall in the mountains in some seriously tough terrain and tight little brook trout streams. We only had basic directions on how to get to the spot and all along Zach was using his handheld GPS to get us there. But that’s not the half of it. Once we finally descended to the river we ended up hiking in a long way and then muddling around for a while. By the time we got back to the original spot we had a long climb up hill back to the car. Using the GPS, he was able to locate the car and we where able to make it out.
I am now a true believer in these little gems and I want one. It has moved way up on the “I-WANT” list.
Thanks for the link Zach. That is a pretty good price for the motors. I like that you can get them without buying all the other accessories.
[s:3rxawjl8]Thanks for the mentorship Ben. You are the master.
OMG!!! What a great idea about the studio. I never really liked having my webpage domain being my full name.
I registered the domain http://www.studiomfa.com. It stands for Man-Cave Fly Art Studio. I cleaned up the webpage and transferred it to the new home. Also, I disabled the ability to leave comments under the blog section because frankly iWeb is horrible at blog entries. In the future I may get better software that will have a more robust blogging capability.
Check out the new site and let me know what you think:
http://www.studiomfa.com[/s:3rxawjl8]
EDIT
GoDaddy informed me today that http://www.flyartstudio.com was available!
Thanks Bob, I appreciate your input knowing how much experience you have with fly tying/fishing. BTW, the first [black BG] shot is magnitudes more difficult to do than the second. It is my favorite so far.
Very keen eye with the “oriental” look. Hahaha, I have been taking pictures of sushi lately and have been very impressed with the perfect simplicity of many of the Japanese photos (and food, yummmmm).
My next thought is to cut off part of the hook so the fly will appear to be on the water surface.
It is tempting to modify the fly in order to get creative effects but I discourage this practice.
Thanks for the input Chad . . . I was hoping you would jump in here. Your fly shots have always inspired me.
I especially like the comments on angle of the fly for the cripple shot. I was playing around with this quite a bit trying to figure out the best way to convey a cripple with shallow depth of field – like “hinting” at a cripple body in back that was struggling to get free.
Here is an en fosse angle. I felt it was a bit “typical” and also my depth of field was off at the tail.
This is the previous shot but cropped out to give more front room to the composition. Now that I see the two shots next to each other at different angles I see what you are saying. I like the original better.
Tim,
ManCaveStudio is just a name I came up with. I tried to copyright the name but apparently some local rock group in the midwest got it first, aagghh. However, the name seems to fit with my goal of doing journalistic/fashion/artistic photography of fly tying. The man cave is an escape from reality and I have always wanted to capture that feeling with macro photoraphy. Big ideas come in small packages. Furthermore, my outdoor photography skills are poor to say the least and there are plenty of guys in the industry doing that already.
I have spent countless hours studying, reading, and shooting to get the puzzle worked out and I have only scratched the surface. I encourage anyone to read, read, read, take notes, and most of all practice. Along the way you will develop your own style. My personal goal is to develop a style of fly photography similar to photojournalism – my mind’s eye has always wanted to tell a story with fly tying. I am always happy to share tips and tricks on general macro photography or answer specific questions after someone has struggled with the puzzle and hits a road block. However, the advanced techniques . . . ::)
