Background Colour

[DNicolson]

I have come back to photographing my flies after a few years.
It is amazing how much I am having to relearn, but it is coming back.
One point I would like some opinions on, the preferred background colour.
I notice that William Anderson uses blue. I have been using a pale green myself.
Some others use a rather neutral grey.
One thing I do prefer for displaying individual flies, a plain background, I use card
from a stationary suppliers. All and any comments will be appreciated.

[Soft-hackle]

Hi Donald,
Blue, like William uses, seems to be best because most flies don't have a lot of blue in them. They look somewhat like they are against the sky. I've noticed gray backgrounds tend to swallow up certain flies, especially gray ones. One could use various colors depending upon the color of the fly and lightness of the fly. However, that said, if you want to use only one color, that deep cyan/blue color seems best.

Mark

[William Anderson]

I really like this type of photo to show a fly. It takes 2-3 shots to get all the information, but they add something that is missing from the single profile pic.

http://ukflydressing.proboards.com/inde ... hread=5899

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22747613@N ... otostream/

In terms of just the background. I like the variety. I just seem to have found the way that rings true for me.

w

[Ruard]

Hi Donald,

I like a background that tells also something. The blue one could be good to show all the ins and outs of a fly but it also for me makes too clean a picture. If you upload your pictures as big as your monitor then you can see all the details of the tying and sometimes more than I want.

If you take a picture of a landscape or of a river and your setup is so that there is a meter/yard between the fly and the background then the fly is spot on and the background unsharp. That's the way I do it and want it. Naturally it is my way, everybody chooses his own way.

Greeting

[Johnno]

I take pics of flies to show them for the purposes of sharing a pattern with others so they can maybe use it somehow, so will use a blue background - mainly because it is the best neutral background colour and shows the fly to it's best. Its what they use in 90% of the fly books I have and so that tells me something. I really like pics with different backgrounds or with little dioramas going on. But I'll stick to what I have worked out works for me. If I have a fly with blue in it, I'll use a green bacground.

[Norm Frechette]

heres my take on fly photography

http://flytyingnewandold.blogspot.com/2 ... raphy.html

strictly my point of view, yours will be different

[CreationBear]

Use multiple light sources - 1 above & 1 below is good or 1 above & 1 on each side.

Nice article and website. A question: what kind of light do you use for "fill"? I'm most curious about your setup using a light from "below" since both my vise and tying light are clamped to my flytying table.

[hankaye]

Norm, Howdy;

Liked your article...short, concise, and to the point...
Good ideas for the backgrounds. will have to remember to stop by the big box stores next time I head North outta the valley.

hank

[kanutripr]

I'm with Johnno on the blue and green. It seems you can get the most consistent results with these colours and they're great when you are documenting. I have a light blue blanket I use sometimes for a background, It seems to absorb light better and give less bounce. Of course being a crazy person I only use that sometimes. I usually try to pick a couple of interesting backgrounds, take a few pics, change the lighting a little, in general waste a lot of time then just delete the ones I don't like. Thank goodness for digital! It is a certainty that different colours react differently with different other colours and there's a system if you wish that artists use when painting to get the results they want. When they paint trees aren't always green and the sky isn't always blue. They use a mix of colours that fool the eye but you still know what they are trying to convey. It just comes down to personal taste and what your goal is.

Here are two pics of a fly I just did. It is just a lesson fly that was in my vise. The set up is identical in both, the only difference is one was taken at night and the other in daylight.

[hankaye]

Vicki, Howdy;

The only OTHER difference I see then the difference between day and Night is the background ...

hank

PS. Beautiful fly , really like that feather used for the backwards pointing part on the upper part...