How to take better photos of your flies
You have just put your last coat of head cement on a fly you tied. You are so pumped because you got it all right, proportions, the head, not stray hairs, nothing is out of place. “Well this would be a good one to post on Facebook”. You put it down on your desk, snap a quick photo and post it up. “Why doesn’t it look as nice as it did in the vise”? Let’s break it down…
LIGHTING
This has been the biggest game changer for me. I use two methods for lighting in my fly photography. One is a $30.00 light box I purchased from Amazon and the other is natural light from outside.
The light box is great for a nice cool light. The LED lighting seems to make fly colors pop. This is a great method for shooting indoors and when you want a nice clean look. I use it for taking fly photos with a black background as well.
My other source of lighting is free, I use natural light from outside. I try to use this when it is over cast conditions as it seems to produce the best results. Using natural light is a great way to show the color in your fly the most accurately in my opinion. It’s how you would see the fly on the river. It also seems to provide more coverage on your subject.
SETTING UP YOUR SHOT
I love this part. It gives me a chance to add a bit of flavor to my photo and gives me a chance to be even more creative. If I’m adding a background to my photo, I like to keep it bland but with a little character as well.
For example, driftwood makes amazing an background for fly photography because it’s dull but the grain in the wood is full of character. Your flies will stand out against this and the eye will be drawn to the fly but the driftwood gives the whole shot a natural and classy look. I also use other wood types and I typically choose them by thinking about what that particular fly would look good against.
Another thing I like to incorporate in my photos at times is some of the material I used to tie the fly. I do this for a couple reasons. First, I just think it looks cool and it’s informative to show what you used to make this art. Second, I like to do it and even add a company packaging to it because its my way of showing respect to the brand that produced the great product that I’m using. Its shows your audience where they can get the same material you used.
CAMERA
I’m using a mirrorless camera paired with a 16mm F1.4 lens. This is an expensive option but a good camera with a dedicated macro lens is your best option for producing high quality results. That being said, with the technology crammed into today’s smartphone cameras I would be hesitant to purchase a professional camera just for fly photography. You can even buy a macro lens for your smartphone that works quite well for this application.
EDITING THE PHOTO
I can sit here and tell you “don’t over edit you photo in post processing” but it doesn’t matter, you will do it anyway. I did it, and it took me a while to learn this but….less is more! If you mess around too much with adjustments like saturation you end up with a finale product that looks fake. I have had people write me after I posted a photo and ask me where a bought a certain product because they have never seen it in that color before. Well, they have seen it, I just messed with the color way too much in editing that it looks completely different.
I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos. It’s a paid subscription software and I only have because me and my wife are photographers. It is an amazing program but it’s not necessary for editing you photos.
and then Add to Home Screen.
