Background Colour

[kanutripr]

Just look carefully Hank, you'll see it. It's all about the way light is reflected and absorbed. The orange on the blue background pops more (orange and blue are complementary on the colour scale) but is absorbed more on the coloured one. The black on the fly is a blue black and seems to be absorbed more on the the blue background and pops more on the other. Also the sheen on the vise and fly which has more blue colouration is absorbed more on the blue and doesn't stand out as well. Break each part down and you will see.

Gotta go to work. No rest for the wicked.




Vicki

[CreationBear]

Vicki--nice flies and photos...any chance you could describe your light source(s) and where they are positioned?

[Norm Frechette]

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.

i use a cheap clamp on reflector light receptacle from the local big box hardware store. i also use a compact fluorescent daylight bulb in it. see below





here is my photographing setup



if you do not have room for the clamp on light another cheap alternative is to use aluminum foil at the bottom and a light directly above your fly. the foil will reflect the light from above to the under side of the fly

there is a photo in the following link that uses aluminum foil. just click on the picture

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=59439

[CreationBear]

Norm--excellent, the photos really help a lot.

[hankaye]

Norm..., Howdy;

Guess I'll have to join another forum to see the photo...

wonder how maney this will make.....hmmmmmm




hank

[DNicolson]

Thank you, one and all.
A lot of useful information, I'm having a bit of trouble with the eyes at the moment.
I have to use a head mounted magnifier as well as my reading specs,
but they seem to have a very limited advantage at the moment,
I'll have to give the eyes a rest for a wee while,
Nil Desperandum, they seem to come and go, so the rest will
do them good.

[hankaye]

Vicki, Howdy;

Ok, looked alot longer and more at the details.

I can see where the upper pic. allows the colors in the fly reflect more of the given spectrum of each color.
Whereas, in the bottom pic. the multi-colored background grabs some of those frequencies of color that are in the fly.
As only so much of a specific frequency is present the resulting addition of additional items that require the bending of those frequencies and returning
them to the viewer's eye has a tendency to mute or lighten the appearance of those colors.
Those colors not included in the fly remain strong.

This is why I don't care to "go look at paint chips etc. I always get in trouble in that area...

humbly,
hank

[willowhead]

Thankx for posting that Vicki.....as you know, i saw the bottom pic days ago.....but now seeing the above pic (of the same fly/different lighting), it's very interesting to notice the differences. Again, i like the fly, and the pics are great too.

[willowhead]

Btw, i MUCH prefere the lower pic...........just has so much more charactor.....so much more interesting. Not to take anything away from the primary subject matter..........i just don't like steril fly pics, even though that is very often the best way to exact the details of a dressing in a pic. Just rather see a "setting" than look under a microscope.

[kanutripr]

Vicki--nice flies and photos...any chance you could describe your light source(s) and where they are positioned?

The set up for this fly is actually quite a joke. It is just the set up I use for tying. The good thing is I'm lucky to have a dedicated hobby/mess room so I was able to pick the colour that would best go with the lights I have available to provide the best possible lighting for painting at night. So the room is painted a soft satin finish light grayish blue. It goes well with the fancy incandescent lighting I use. The light above the fly is a 100 W clear bulb and the one to the right is a 60 W frosted bulb. I have a clamp on light like the one Norm pictured that I use sometimes and actually would have given a little better light below and to the left but I couldn't be bothered setting it up this time. Excuse the mess, it very rarely gets cleaned up. IMHO that's why doors were invented.



The camera I usually use for indoor work is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 mounted on a tripod, set on automatic but with manual focus. The pics usually come out clearer this way. For smaller flies I use the macro setting but it is fully automatic with this feature so you don't get the benefit of manual focus. I actually really suck at the actual photograph taking I just have other skills and knowledge and opinions related to light and colour theory that (I hope) compensate for this.





Vicki