Fly photography

This forum is for the discussion of photographic equipment used to photograph fish, tackle and flies. Please share with us what you use to do this.

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jimmyboo
Sport
Posts: 26
Joined: 01/05/12 04:55

Fly photography

#1

Post by jimmyboo »

Hello Gents,
Not really good at photography, but want to start taking pics of my flies. Whats an affordable, quality set up? Thank you for your help
Jim

chugbug
Guide
Posts: 167
Joined: 08/24/19 13:41
Location: New Orleans

Re: Fly photography

#2

Post by chugbug »

Three affordable options....
There may be many others...

Flies Photo Gadget ($40), for use with any macro compatible phone or point & shoot (or DSLR)
http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php? ... to-gadget/

If you have a DSLR and want to macro-ize it, the cheap lens extenders ($10) do work. Just get one compatible with your camera body & lens .
https://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Macro-M ... er&sr=8-16

I use an old Nikon "micro" 55mm 2.8 lens, just to be a little different. I don't use special lighting and do it hand held at f/5.6 or 8 and 1/100 second. I saw one last year for $70 at a used camera counter (retail).

Both the extender and the old used lenses force you to manually focus and manually expose.


Image

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TimM
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Joined: 09/16/11 18:00

Re: Fly photography

#3

Post by TimM »

That's a really nice shot.

I have a work camera that takes a video of a scene varying the focus to catch everything in the scene. Afterward it post processes the video into a photo.

Super helpful for closeup macro photos where it's hard to get everything in focus at once. The exposure takes a second or two so very hard to do handheld. I always use a tripod or balance on a surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2a7C4GsTWY

chugbug
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Joined: 08/24/19 13:41
Location: New Orleans

Re: Fly photography

#4

Post by chugbug »

Thanks Tim.
Photostacking is neat stuff. Haven't tried it yet.

cutthroatseeker
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 04/16/21 16:43

Re: Fly photography

#5

Post by cutthroatseeker »

TimM wrote:
09/20/20 22:45
I have a work camera that takes a video of a scene varying the focus to catch everything in the scene. Afterward it post processes the video into a photo.
I have a Nikon Z6ii that I add some simple macro tubes to in order to increase focal distance for the macro effect for most flies. If I ever need a #32 to fill the frame I've also got a bellows with an old manual 50mm reverse-mounted.

The camera has this awesome option to highlight the areas of a photo that are in focus so I can bracket the focus from front to back pretty easily based on the size of the fly and the depth of field. Depending on the fly I will take 3-5 shots and use an HDR stacking programme to put them all together.

Still it can be a challenge. My old eyes missed that the fibres on the far side of this one never got shot in focus until I stacked them. It's all about that attention to detail....

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Morten

Re: Fly photography

#6

Post by Morten »

A mini folding lightbox, can be had for a few dollars, and is super easy to use with the right lens. I used an old Micro Nikkor 55 mm 3.5 and my D300 crop frame for the Photoes shown here.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164271209769?h ... BMvtHo-9Jg

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Image

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quashnet
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Re: Fly photography

#7

Post by quashnet »

Several decades ago I had access to a Nikon stereo dissecting microscope with mounted 35mm camera back at the scientific research institution where I worked. The scope was kept in its own small room, and was supposed to be used for research documentation only. One day I had dry flies by Art Flick and Elsie Darbee on the stage. I could literally see how each separate turn of hackle and each thread wrap was placed as I photographed the flies. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, a prominent researcher entered the room, escorting visiting dignitaries from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Harris knew me well and sized up the situation at a glance. "Here we have one of our young staff members working with delicate entomology specimens," he proclaimed. "Let's not interrupt his work," he added, as he ushered the mucky-mucks out the door. But that was long ago... Now it's easy to just take an iPhone and click away to get good overall views. To address depth-of-field issues when photographing dry flies, shoot from a few inches away and then crop the image (plus do any needed color-correction or sharpening) by using a software program like Pixelmator.

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dale
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Re: Fly photography

#8

Post by dale »

There's a thread on the flymph forum, started by Lance Hidy, about his dad's flies, with a possible update on the Leisenring/Hidy book. There are some great photos of Pete Hidy's flies using focus stacking, which enables increasing depth of field.

Dale

upstate
Master Guide
Posts: 490
Joined: 12/30/11 08:38
Location: New york

Re: Fly photography

#9

Post by upstate »

Image

Not really hard at all! My tablet is my camera,my tying lamp for the light and the backroundd is usually my coffee cup,.
Tom

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pittendrigh
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Re: Fly photography

#10

Post by pittendrigh »

How obsessive do you aspire to be?
This is a maybe 20 exposure focus stack.

I made a light tent with a white plexiglass floor, clear vinyl tubes and a curtain, two umbrella strobes (Aklien Bees)
and a slave flash shining up from below the pluxiglass.

A Cognisys focusing rail with their software, combined with the camera on a tripod tethered to my computer with Entangle allows me to shoot multiple exposures, each one focused slightly further away.

Zerene Stacker examines each pixel position for each exposure and chooses the sharpest one, to make one stacked image from many source images.

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