Disclaimer: I hereby confess that I only just made it into the novice point and shoot bracket so please direct negative criticism regarding this method to someone who gives a plop.
BUT any constructive comments or preferred methods are most welcomed.
I shoot my flies against a sheet of A3 paper or other suitable white background
I have always used artificial light (daylight lamp) to light the subject ‘cos it just seems to be at night that I get the time but I’m sure natural light would be much better.
I leave the White Balance set at Auto White Balance (AWB)
I then use the EV (Exposure Value) feature on my camera to slow down the shutter speed so that the camera doesn’t underexpose the image and give me a darker or blueish background.
The EV range on my camera is as below ;
-2 • • -1 • • 0 • • +1 • • +2 and my typical setting for my lighting set up is around the +1 range for a decent exposure. (each dot equates to a 1/3 exposure increment)
Note that you can thumb through these range settings when focusing on the subject to give you an idea of how the finished shot will look.
Reducing shutter speed increases any chance blurring due to handshake so use a tri/bipod or similar and I use the 2 second self timer to further help reduce movement.
Some examples of the same shot moving up the EV scale.
Obviously using photo editing software can further enhance things by manipulating the ‘levels’ slider but it’s nice to be in the ball park with the initial shot.
Due to me not having Photoshop on my laptop (long story) I just use bad old ‘PAINT’ to publish the final shot;
Find photo you want to use
Select ‘open with’ PAINT
Reduce picture ( by percentage) to a manageable size
Use ‘select’ to find rectangular select box then drag over fly picture
Remove external unwantedness by selecting ‘CROP’
Add any text and save a copy
Add to post via ‘Tinypic’ note your new file will upload very quickly – much happiness.
Iain
