Archive for Photography: Lighting
One Light Fly Art
Posted by: | CommentsI grabbed this shot the other day after tying a dozen Big Eye Baitfish flies. The technique is really simple. The trick is to place the background far from the subject; here it was about 8 feet from the fly vise. You want a simple base, like a black cloth; here I used a black felt cover. The lighting is from the top; here I used a hot lamp with a simple white cloth diffuser, hand held about 2 feet above the fly vise at about a 45 degree angle in front of the subject. The key is to keep the light on the subject and to do that you can use a rim of black cloth or even a cardboard circle (it’s called a snoot for those that aren’t familiar with the terminology). The camera is of course triggered on a time delay so you have time to walk over and hold up the light. A little manipulation with software, especially the black slider, and you are done. I added a vignette for effect, but that is optional.
Fashion Chicks
Posted by: | CommentsHere are a few images from a recent workshop on macro photography. The attendees were by no means fly fishers so instead the props included little micro fuzzy chicks. We had a blast shooting and staging these little guys and the final images turned out well. I thought it would be fun to post them here to give you ideas on how to position your flies in creative ways.
Little Fashion Chicks
White Balance Correction Techniques – And The HL Midge
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“Y’all have created a monster. I’m pretty impressed with this result, considering it’s a waterproof snapshot camera.” – Abe Mathews -
This is a guest host fly tying tutorial and also a lesson on how to correct white balance using computer software. The guest, Abe Mathews, shows us how to tie the HL Midge. This was originally posted on The Itinerant Angler (www.itinerantangler.com). It is a great looking midge pattern and Abe does a great job detailing the tying steps. He used a Pentax Optio W60 waterproof point-and-shoot camera for this series. We had been discussing white balance and the challenges of getting truly corrected color out of a point-and-shoot camera for on-the-bench tying instruction. As you know, those incandescent and fluorescent bulbs can really throw off the auto white balance. However, there are some good techniques to help combat this situation before shooting and some even more powerful tips and tricks to correct color in the computer once the shoot is over. With that in mind, let’s look at Abe’s great tutorial and my follow up comments on white balance correction.
***The original Tutorial***
***The HL Midge (Hobby Lobby Midge)***
Understanding Reflection
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Reflections on Reflection
This is a quick post to help you better understand reflection as it relates to product photography. We all want to get cool shots of our reels and gadgets for various reasons. Maybe it’s for a quick post on the internet or maybe you need to showcase a product you built yourself. If you are lucky you might have a acquired an new or even antique reel that you want to showcase. By following a few basic photography principles and knowing a bit about light reflection you can better compose your shots.
First, let’s look at a very informative picture provided by David Briggs http://www.huevaluechroma.com/index.php. This is one of the most important teaching tools I stumbled across when starting out and I printed this out and literally taped it to my studio for about three months. This is art and photography 101. Learn about each topic on the image and then practice as much as it takes until you can not only recognize each of these in your own images but be able to recreate it using a fly or reel/rod in place of the cue ball. For example, look at the metal bead head in the photograph following the cue ball image; can you map out these elements on the bead? They are all there – rounded metal on flies or reels or rods is like a microscope into what the photographer was doing at the time of the shot. You will notice that the photographer used three flash light sources.
http://www.huevaluechroma.com/index.php
Professional Fly Photography by Ben Cochran
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I am very excited to have professional photographer Ben Cochran do a blog entry here at FAS. Ben is a wealth of photographic knowledge and also an experienced fly fisher and fly tier. I have been wanting to showcase other people’s work and thought this would be an excellent way to bring together some of the fundamentals we have been discussing in recent posts. With this in mind, Ben will answer a series of questions in relation to general fly photography and offer his advice on certain principles to consider in your own photography. Feel free to post questions for Ben at the end of this blog.
And let’s not forget the wonderful flies themselves! These streamer flies were tied by master fly tier Robert Schreiner from Philadelphia.
Ben’s bio and introduction . . .
White Balance and ISO for Fly Photography
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Incorrect White Balance
Correct White Balance
How to Make a Macro Photography Art Studio
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Macro art studios come in all shapes and sizes. They range in complexity from the simple table top and hot lamp setup to the advanced fully functional studio with all the bells and whistles. My own is an example of the later. You will figure out your needs as you progress. For example, I started with a simple single-light setup on my tying bench but as time went on I developed an interest in creative lighting which required a much larger working space. I read a lot about studio setups and searched the internet for examples of professional photography studios. Out of this research came a few common themes like a sloped back wall for placing backgrounds, a broad working floor, a long front end, and plenty of places to hang props, lights, and modifiers. I played around with many different ideas until one day I got the idea for a PVC base. The rest is history. Seriously, making my own devoted studio was the foundation for advancing my fly art photography. You need a place to create.
Why PVC? Because it is sturdy, durable, portable and cheap. You can modify it to your spacial limitations and it is very easy to cut and shape. And my wife loves it because I can break it all down and store in the closet when not in use.
For most people, a basic light tent is about all you need to get fine shots of your macro subjects. The style like the one shown below is highly recommended. You can find these at any photography store or eBay. However, I require a much bigger and more functional setup because I generally don’t use hot lamps. Instead, I am exploring off camera flash and creative lighting.
Neal’s 10 C’s of Photography
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A while back I made a checklist list for photography because I found myself needing a quick assessment for my pictures. When starting out you don’t always know what questions to ask yourself in order to make adjustments. Furthermore, we often see wonderful pictures posted on the internet and want to create similar images ourselves but don’t know how to go about breaking down a shot into parts for examination. Like fly fishing, there is a lot going on – By knowing the basics you can better look at a scene and have at least a starting point on what fly to choose and what leader to use, the rest of time we are adjusting on the water as the day progresses.
At first, it is common to shoot a bunch of pictures, load them on the computer and then stare aimlessly wondering if you like the result. However, if you have a checklist memorized, you can quickly hone in on what is wrong with a picture and either make adjustments or ask higher level questions of others to help you out. Instead of asking, “do you like this picture, what would you do differently?”, you can now say, “I am having trouble with the white balance in this picture and the composition seems wrong, I think I should have used f/10 instead of f/4, maybe a shorter focal length lens, what do you think?” By thinking in this way, you can produce better quality images in less time and become more efficient at post production (i.e. waste less of your valuable time).
