HOW TO SHOOT FLIES ON A BUDGET

EQUIPMENT

For this tutorial I used my Olympus Stylus 770SW waterproof point-and-shoot.

The micro studio is the same as shown above.

No flash was used.

Gear:  point-and-shoot camera, a Gorilla tripod (about $10 at Office Max), a halogen hot lamp, tissue paper wrapped around the hot lamp to create a light diffuser/soft-light, a second lamp focused on the white background, the background is white poster board ($2.99 at the craft store).  That’s it.

Things you need to know:  get out your camera manual and learn how to set macro mode and how many macro modes you have available (more later, they are not all the same), know if you can adjust ISO and white balance (most can), and know how to set the delay timer (very important – you need to use delay to negate camera shake).  You won’t be using flash (most of time it is shut off in macro mode anyway).  Go to the links above to learn more.

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SETUP

1.  Screw the micro Gorilla tripod to the base of your camera.

2.  Put fly tying vise as far from the background as practically possible, about 2 feet here.

3.  Take a hot light (halogen used here, it costs about $8 at Office Max).  I see them at many stores.  Or use whatever is available.  Wrap tissue paper over the light to soften.

4.  Take a second hot light and focus it on the white background, the brighter the better.

5.  Adjust the camera/tripod until the fly fills the screen and/or you have the composition desired.  Remember to keep the plane of the camera perpendicular to the table (i.e. not skewed from the plane of the fly).

6.  Get ready to adjust the camera settings.  This is the learning curve part.

7.  Turn on macro mode.  I use macro-s for fine detail.

8.  Adjust your white balance.  This is tricky!  You can use auto most of the time and then post modify in PS elements etc.  I usually choose “cloudy day” based on experience.  Notice the difference in screen color on the LCD with the two different WB settings.  Find one that works for your setting.

9.  Set the delay timer to on (very important). All your pictures should be shot on delay because it allows the camera to settle before shooting which negates blur.  Remember in macro mode fine details will be enhanced.

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THE WINNERS

Electric Chicken Boobie Fly

Blood Seaducer

Not bad for a point-and-shoot.  Again, it is not the camera but the principles that create good pictures.

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TROUBLESHOOTING

They don’t necessarily come out looking good.  Here are some examples of bad images and what I did to correct.  It’s kind of like baking – add a pinch here and there.

To much neon glow and the background is grainy.  I changed the ISO from 800 to 200 and moved the light.

Better

The eyes are too dark, loss of midtones, poor detail in the middle of the fly.

I moved the light toward the front, the eyes are better lit but the fly is blown and hot.

I moved the light again and the middle is better but the eyes are too dark again, aagghh.

I changed the ISO but it was too bright.

One last adjustment and I settled on this as the final image.