Mohair Yellow Dun

[Old Hat]

Hook: Tiemco 111 #16
Thread: Griffiths 14/0 Claret
Body: Single strand yellow mohair twist
Hackle: Honey dun hen

Sorry, I had a hard time capturing the color of the honey dun hackle. It kept going too light on me but the body and head are fine. Any photographic suggestions?

[letumgo]

I know what you mean. Some flies are just hard to photograph. You may want to try natural sun light.

I like this pattern a lot, but to me, it seems to need a tail. What do you think?

[Old Hat]

Yeah, I was tilting toward the grub look with the segmented body. But, a tail for a mayfly would definitely be needed, but then I'm not sure I would segment the body so much.

[letumgo]

Good point. I love the look of the segmentation by the way. It really is a lovely fly.

[GlassJet]

I had a hard time capturing the color of the honey dun hackle. It kept going too light on me but the body and head are fine. Any photographic suggestions?

Do you shoot in RAW and then fiddle with colour balance etc. in an image manipulation program then output as a jpeg? And do you bracket your exposures? Say a stop or two under, half under, and on the button - looks like you might be over exposing for light coloured hackle? Maybe because of a generalised reading taken from a dark background?

I do that, and shoot with two angle-poise lamps, each with a 60 watt daylight balanced bulb. If / when i get really serious, I'll make a light box, which is very simple. Cardboard box with three sides cut out and tracing paper stuck over. this placed over the fly, and lights directed through the tracing paper. That will diffuse the light source and eliminate the irritating gleam on the metal that holds the flies in my own photos!

Andrew.

[Old Hat]

I shoot in a photo box with natural daylight. Sometimes I'll add a daylight lamp if necessary. I play with different background colors and simple exposure settings on the camera. I don't usually play with the picture in a program other than to border it. The camera usually does a pretty good job but this honey dun hackle has given me problems. It is light but naturally shows a light dun with reddish tips to the feathers which I just haven't gotten to show through. Maybe I will try a lighter background. Your right the hackle is overexposed but the rest of the fly seems fine.

[GlassJet]

Maybe try setting up, then putting a neutral grey card in the position where the fly is (ie in the same light) and taking a reading off that, then sticking with that reading for the photo. That should eliminate any background / colour combinations throwing your meter out. Should also show you the degree to which your meter is inaccurate - it can be a couple of stops on mine, for close up work! But I usually find I can fiddle with brightness, contrast etc in my image program, so shooting exposure isn't so critical - digital photography is far more forgiving than film used to be!

Andrew

[Old Hat]

Thanks Andrew, I'll give it a go.