Photographing flies

[Torbjörn Tapani]

How would you go about photographing flies? Not bugs. The ones you use for fly fishing.

I was asked to produce a couple of medium sized prints with a fly taking most of the frame. Zonkers if that means anything to you. Better if it's nicer to look at than a pure product shot.

I have regular lenses a 105 macro and some speedlights but how would you do it?

[Colorado David]

I would set up a hand painted muslin backdrop, put a pool of light on it, set up a fly-tying vise with the subject fly clamped in the jaws in front, and set a couple of strobes on the fly.  Shoot with a good macro lens to get the proper image size.  Here are two examples of mine.

[jferrari]

David those look very nice but I wonder if you could edit out the vise in PS? I find it a bit distracting. The flies are very nice.    - Jim

[Colorado David]

Most fly fishers would expect to see the vice.  I have a photo of another fly laying on a House of Hardy fishing bag with a bamboo rod displayed with it.  It is part of a bigger composition so it wouldn't have the image size the OP was asking for.  I have a couple of lapel pins that are flies actually tied on hooks made for lapel pins.  They have a stud on the back of the hook.  I suppose you could tie whatever pattern you wanted on this type of hook and then figure out how to suspend it in front of the background.  We're pretty far afield from the original request at this point.  Another option might be to clamp a long needle in the fly tying vice, put the fly on top of the needle and then clone it out in post.

[Torbjörn Tapani]

Nice images. Any diffusion or reflectors used? A behind the scene shot perhaps?

I kinda like the idea of suspending a fly in front of the background, that could work. A vice would be expected and that might be the safe shot.

I don't know yet what patterns I'm dealing with but I can set up some test shots with my own flies for starters. But they would not do well in print  :-)

[NancyP]

Is the fly hook made of steel? You might be able to stick a tiny supermagnet on clear fishing line, hang the fishing line/ magnet vertically in front of the desired background, then plop the fly onto the magnet. Photo. Clone out line.