Photographing Flies

[Donald Nicolson]

Usually when photographing flies I use Daylight
lamps, but I've noticed in various BBs, people say they use Quartz Halogen or Reflecting bulbs. What is your opinion.
I'm having doubts because I began to have worries about the colour reproduction on some pictures I took recently.
Of course it could be old age.

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Donald/Scotland

[Hans Weilenmann]

Donald,

In your post you wrote "Daylight". I am taking this to mean ambient light, though of course it might also be you mean "daylight" temperature lamps.

While ambient light has a lot going for it in many situations, it also makes properly lighting the fly quite tricky and next to impossible to keep the exposures consistent across a range of shots. I quickly decided to pass up on relying on what the weather gods would throw at me, and moved indoors to a setup with lamps. I prefer to shoot when it suits me, not hoping for good weather. How do you spell fly photography? C-O-N-T-R-O-L

In the days of film to get the light temperature was a critical component. With digital cameras this is no longer the case. Get the object lit correctly with whichever lamps make the most sense in lighting terms (color temperature not the issue), and use the camera's manual white balance to ensure the colors come out true.

Cheers,
Hans W

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=== You have a friend in Low Places === [url=http://www.danica.com/flytier:30b53]http://www.danica.com/flytier[/url:30b53]



[This message has been edited by Hans Weilenmann (edited 09 July 2006).]

[Donald Nicolson]

Hans,
The lamps I'm using have blue glass and are called 'Daylight' lamps.
What I wondered was are they worth the extra cost, would Quarz Halogen or Reflective Spot lamps work just as well?

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Donald/Scotland

[Hans Weilenmann]

Yes Donals, they would/will.

Provided you set the white balance.

Cheers,
Hans W


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=== You have a friend in Low Places ===
http://www.danica.com/flytier

[Ronn Lucas]

Donald, as Hans mentioned, the manual white balance is THE key to true colours. Set up all of the lights wheteher a mix of types of lights or all the same exactly as they will be placed when photographing the flies and manually set the white balance on the camera.

Happy Trails!
Ronn

Having back lighting on the backdrop will eliminate any shadows cause by lighting aim from the front of the fly, when taking pictures. I use some clamp shop lights that use incandescent bulbs, that have natural light spectrum.

I use the clamp shop lights, clamping them to poles that are secured in bucket filled with sand. So I can highlight the fly in the photo, as well as eliminate shadows on the backdrop. I also use general overhead lighting (shaded) for the general lighting over the subject area.

If you really get into this, it helps to have a setup, where you transfer the fly, for the photo shoot, for each phase of the flies construction. Or tie individual flies for each phase of the construction, then do the photo shoot.

~Parnelli

We have to do something about that grouchy face icon, coming up automatically if you forget to select an icon....

[Al Beatty]

Hi Donald,

I use the blue (B) bulbs you describe with my digital camera and of course, set the white balance. Why B bulbs? I never changed to something else when I stopped shooting slide film. I like the extra light/depth of field I get from the 250 watt bulbs. I also set the background back from the fly about 3 feet to avoid shadows. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:93e44]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:93e44]

[TyroneFly]

Donald,

As others have suggested, use the manual (or custom) white balance setting. If you don't mind the extra workflow, shot in RAW and post process.

[This message has been edited by TyroneFly (edited 10 July 2006).]

[Donald Nicolson]

Thanks Hans, Ronn and everyone.
Re-did the flies and there is a big improvement.

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Donald/Scotland

[Donald Nicolson]

This is one of them


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Donald/Scotland




[This message has been edited by Donald Nicolson (edited 17 July 2006).]