Hey you guys who take photos with that nice blue background… what’re you using for the background and where can I buy some? My olive green isn’t the best for some types of flies and it’s time to go blue. Thanks.
Diane
I just have a sheet of heavier specialty paper from the craft store…set me back about 29 cents…
I dunno, that price is kind of steep. Anyone got a cheaper solution?
Diane; Steep as the price may be “G”. It works well. Just make sure you face the dull side of the paper toward the camera, and set it back a piece from the vice. Have Fun. Jax
I use felt sheets that I got at the craft store. This is a harder felt, not the soft stuff. Costs about 6 times as much as the paper but doesn’t reflect light. They are more rigid than paper and easier to use sometimes. I like to use blue or gray, depending on the colors in the fly.
For less than 29cents, if you have a color printer at home, you could make a file using your favorite drawing program, fill in with your favorite color, and print it out.
I have used blue tissue paper out of a gift that my wife received too. Also cut some cloth from an old shirt. Used a bath towel too.
Or go into “paint” in windows and fill the screen with your fav color and set up for a pic in front of your pc.
Except that the glass front of the monitor will reflect the flash. Like trying to take a flash picture through a window.
Printing a full page in color? Would probably use at least $.29 worth of ink.
Check out http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=30495
for many other suggestions.
but do it at work and save the ink in your home printer :D:D
Norm, Thats as bad as using the color plotter at work to print full size topo maps from the USGS. There are just despicable people out there! :rolleyes:
I use 2mm sheets of foam from the craft store. Works for me…
Brad
Foam gave me bad reflection, but that’s not to say it cant be done.
Here’s a pic of mine…4.0 mp camera, macro mode, no flash, under a “natural” light, with the blue paper background…
If you want to get some really nice pictures of flies, reels, rods, etc. you can always build a light tent.
PVC pipe, a white sheet, colored poster board from Michaels or other crafts stores, come cheap lights.
Here’s a site that shows how simple it is.
http://www.eyefetch.com/tutorial-light-tent-101.aspx
I built mine from a tutorial on Pbase (the site is down right not, but you can Google up building a light tent and find the Pbase site when it’s back up.)
These are some pictures I took of a couple Farlow fly reels and then flies some friends tied.
I’ve used scrap booking paper, crumpled velvet for backgrounds too. The possibilities are limitless.
Why would you use your flash in macro mode? See other poster re: lite tents etc.
Not necessarily your flash, but a glass monitor won’t allow your light sources to diffuse (like the light tent), so if any reflections appear on the glass, they will almost surely blow out your image.
That’s my solution too! 8T 
Depends on the subject for the shoot, of course, but I often like a simple black towel.
It doesn’t “bounce” light back into the camera, but lets the subject stand alone.
Here’s a few examples from the near past… (Stuff from my wood shop)
But see how the black towel makes things “pop” ?
I would like to get a slave flash for my Olympus 560, but it costs as much as the camera did. I use contruction paper or a towel for a background. My autofocus wants to key on what’s behind the subject in macro shots. Need to read the book again I guess.:mrgreen:
gl, try moving your background farther from the subject…