Could anyone advise as to the best way to take pics of flies.I have a 8mp digital camera and cannot get a good closeup pic of these,no matter what i do.
do you have it on Macro mode?
and do you have a white background and lots of light?
If you use the “search” form on this FAOL website you will find several good articles written by Al Campbell.
Most small point and shoot digi cameras have a “macro” mode that makes surprisingly good photos with available light.
If you work indoors you will have to set the camera’s “white balance” setting to “incandescent”
If you want to progress beyond that you might want to build a “light tent.” Al (and others) have suggested using a gallon plastic bottle. Cut holes in the bottle so the vise jaws can be inside the plastic jug, with the jug oriented horizontally. Cut out the bottom of the jug so the camera will see (perhaps) a sky blue background made with construction paper. Put a few small “study” lights around the jug. Take some photos.
If your camera has a “manual exposure” mode, experiment with it.
Beyond that you would need studio lighting, which is expensive. A pair of 400 watt umbrella strobes from Alien Bees is about $600 bucks.
A pair of top-of-the-line professional strobe lights would cost about $3000
If you are working with a digital camera (not film), regardless quality, you absolutely have to edit the images with image editing software, if you don’t want to be disappointed anyway. GIMP (general image manipulation program) is free. And it is very good. And it runs on Windoze, MacIntosh and Linux. Photoshop is better. But it is expensive.
The following photo shows a primitive light tent made with curtain material (sewing store), foam slabs, a hot glue gun, wire hoops and “study” lights. Strobes are better (a lot better). But the incandescent light tent is pretty good. The gallon milk jug light tent is easier to make than this one.
… but beyond that, it can be as simple as you want or as complicated as you need it to be.
I use an Olympus 850SW for all my pixels. It has a couple macro settings. I pick one, leave my fly tying lamp on, put a sheet of green or tan closed cell foam behind the fly for background, and fire away.
Simple as that. My computer, with Adobe for My Pictures, does some rudimentary “auto correction”. Sometimes that improves the image as shot, and sometimes it doesn’t. I choose whichever strikes me as the better pic to post.
John
- Use a tripod for best results. The camera, provided it has a macro setting, is secondary at best.
- Shoot against a neutral background. I use cardstock. I have a bunch of different colors, but 95% of the time I use eggshell blue (which is also my fly tying backdrop).
- Use good light. I have a pair of Daylight lamps, one aimed down and slightly away from the camera (toward the backdrop) and one aimed up and slightly away from the camera. I NEVER use flash for fly photos.
- Adjust the white balance of the camera to reflect the type of light you’re using. Since I use daylight lamps, I use the fluorescent-natural light setting on my Pentax K20D.
I have sold about 60 pictures shot this way, and every fly photo at www.parksflyshop.com was shot with this setup.
I have a inexpensive Canon Powershot A590 with Macro and the Kodak Play Sport without Macro. I take pictures with a good light, or plain old daylight, cool looking back ground of what ever. But, I find if I take the picture a little farther away so it is nice and focused, then crop it in the Photobucket, or whatever photo software you might use.
It’s all about the beer. The more you drink the better your pictures will look!
I like that picture!!!
Here’s what I use. It’s a desktop magnifying light I’m shooting through. It doesn’t magnify the fly much, but it blurs out the background and provides a ring of light around the fly. You can use any background, I used a black coat for the shots below.
Here’s the results:
Don’t go too crazy with the setup. Most computer screens have limited resolutions not to mention that most don’t calibrated their monitors for the best colors and certainly we don’t calibrate to the the specs used by the photographer.
You must be Walter (Walter)!
The best fly photos are while they are in the jaw of a fish. IMHO.
Good tips everyone.
Macro mode, good lighting, background, tripod…
I’ll suggest using the camera’s self timer. If your pushing the shutter release button, there’s a possibility of movement.
IMO, the easiest method to get consistent results with a basic point and shoot camera is with the styrofoam cup method described in this thread … http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?45161-Styrofoam-Cup-Fly-Photography&highlight=styrofoamWith any method, you’ll want to use your macro mode (to get close focus) and probably the self-timer (to prevent camera shake). The cup serves as a light tent / light diffuser and it also holds the camera and fly. Here’s my simple setup. It took me about 20 minutes to build and takes about 2 minutes to setup.
Is styrofoam the best material or would others work as well? For example, milk jug material or more opaque plastic containers?
Do experiment with standard mode instead of macro mode for large flies. The tiny lenses in point and shoot cameras have great depth of field but you do lose some of this in macro mode. This is more problematic for bulky flies like buggers and large flies like bass bugs or large streamers. The result is that more of the fly may appear out of focus. Macro works great for small flies but isn’t always optimal for larger patterns. It doesn’t hurt to experiment.
Also, the autofocus of most point and shoot cameras will focus on the nearest thing in the field of view. This might be the tips of hackle or even the vise. If your camera allows you to select the focus point, choose the area that you want to be in best focus. Many cameras have an option to force them to focus on the center of the view. If your camera has this option you can point the center to the portion of the fly you want in best focus. Some cameras also allow you to select which focus point to use from their multi point AF system so you can frame the fly and select the focus point you want.
How did I take this photo?
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With a styrofoam cup using the method I wrote about…
Here is a depth of field calculator you might find helpful. http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
Will not be of much use when using a p&s even those with manual focus.
And for internet posting it is probably good enough… But it is much too strongly backlit for serious use. The thorax is a complete guess for color. Were there anything in there to be inspected it would not show up…
I have been using a cheap Fujifilm E500 4.1MP point and shoot camera using the marco setting against a white background. While I know I need better lighting the pictures of the flies turn out very well. Almost too well actually. I can see flaws that I cannot see with the naked eye. LOL
