WEEKLY PRESS – Fly Photography 101 by Fly Fish Food

This time around on the Mermaid Weekly Press: Fly Fish Food’s Fly Photography 101

I was stoked when I read that Fly Fish Food had this vlog post in the works. Shout out to TFM for the release notification.

The video is almost half and hour in length, but well worth the watch. I recommend watching it at least 2x through. Short on time? No fear. Here are some stamps to help you navigate.

00:00 – Video Starts

07:15 – Backgrounds & Surfaces

09:30 – Composition

11:00 – Nerdy Settings

15:20 – Common Pitfalls

19:40 – Comparing Images

22:05 – Video Considerations

24:35 – Budget Setup

27:09 – Video Ends

Common pitfalls: I feel these are worth pointing out. 1) Get close and/or crop! Makes it hard to see the details if you don’t and most people don’t. 2) Throw more light on it! It’s cheap. It’s easy. Hit up the local thrift store with five bucks. Lots of people don’t do this! 3) Fly is in the frame but the focus is in the background! Use focus features on the camera and get that sucker crystal clear. 4) If the eye of the hook is in focus, then peaches and cream.

Number 4 is something I hear applies to fish photos; get the eye in focus.

My personal notes: Keep still, use a tripod. Aperture priority at F22 – F5ish. Short on light? Might need to open up the aperture a little more. Problem is you’re so close (with a macro lens) if you’re open at f2.8 (which is the biggest his lens gets), your focal plane will be so shallow that only a small section of your fly is going to be in focus. Want a low ISO and shut down your aperture with lots of light, but shudder might have to stay open for a couple seconds (where the tripod comes into play).

Check out the full Fly Fish Food post with their notes here