Chasing after that elusive Perfect Pic of a Lure

[LaPala]

Here's just something I compiled of the way I took lure pictures. A long winded one so bare with me or just skip it

Setting up the "Studio"

As illustrated in Diagram attached, the background(backdrop) I used a piece of white signage acrylic. The bend should not be a 90 degree bend but a very gradual curve to avoid it showing as a line in picture. The suface is wet-sanded with 240 grit to make it matte. It's improtant to have the surface matted to avoid glares in the background. You can substitute with big piece of white drawing paper as well or in any other color but I like white as it doesn't distract/subtlely affect the color of the lure. In addition, it will reflect light from below to illuminate the bottom half of lures as well. I have placed a lamp behind the backdrop as well. As the acrylic can let the light thru, the background is kept very "white" & the slightly extra light from behind & below creates a subdued shadow & lights up the bottom part of the lure. Next, cut out a matte black color board to cover the lights from your camera except where the backdrop & lure is. If light reaches your camera it'll create flares or confuse the auto exposure. Best if you can have the whole light stuff enclosed in a box with just the opening for the backdrop.

Now, the lamps. I use 4 Osram 6500K PLC lamps 26 watt each (cheapest alternative to expensive true spectrum studio light) which is equivalent to 150 watt of fluorescent light. The key is to use all lamps with the same color tempreture. 6500K is daylight spectrum which I prefer. The light is shielded with a piece of fine white nylon which I got from my friends photo studio, but u can substituted with any fine white cloth/nylon, white acrylic signage board or anything you can come up with that can diffuse the light. This is so the lights will NOT produce spot lighting but a soft diffused light. The lights are arranged, one exactly on top and slightly to the front of the lure; the other 2 right and left. Adjust the height/distance of the right & left light so one is slightly stronger(closer) this gives a more 3D look to the lure. You can opt for a 4th light below & behind the backdrop. Omitting this will just give u a slightly darker bottom part of the lure but the reflected light from board should still be enough to keep the bottom part of lure well illuminated (if u use a white backdrop). It's just an overkill on my part. Play a bit with the light positions so it illuminates the whole lure and the shadows are to your liking.

Taking The (Digital) Photo

Use the custom white balance in your digital camera to shot with all lights on & check the results, the background should be white, else adjust to match. Now if you're using Photoshop CS (8.0), shot in RAW mode of your camera so when you convert you can fine tune the color tempreture to make sure the background color is true to life.

(Note: If your digicam is a more basic model and don't have these functions, just disregard this.)

Next place a Black/18% Gray/White card on the board & take a sample shot to help you during curves adjustment in Photoshop. This is so u can use the eyedropper in the Photoshop curves dialogue & just click on the sample card & apply that correction to all subsequent lure photo. Use a curves adjustment layer to do this so later you can just use this sample shot & click-drag the adjustment layer to ur lure shot.

(Note: again if u do not plan to edit in Phostoshop just disregard this, or if this explanation doesn't make sense to u then you are not familiar enough with Photoshop , I can't help u here since I do not intend to digress into a detail explanation on Photoshop techniques)

Now, lets get on to the actual shooting itself. Camera must be on tripod & I prefer to use tele & zoom in on the lure. Use timer or cable release/remote if u have one. Just shoot a couple of test shot to get the right exposure. DO NOT USE THE FLASH ON THE CAMERA, we worked so hard till now setting up the lighting!!! You do not want to spoil it now by having your camera emit a harsh flash here. If u can control the exposure on your digicam, opt for longer shutter speed rather than opening up the f/stop to get the correct exposure as smaller aperture will give u better depth of field. But do not worry too much about depth of field in a digital camera as it's usually enough to cover the whole lure. (Note: for more basic digicams, an easy way to tell the camera to go for longer exposure is to switch it to "night scene" mode or whatever ur camera wants to call it.) If you have a histogram function (see this article: Understanding Histogram if u don't know what a histogram function in digital camera really means on your camera), check it after the test shot and adjust the exposure and "shot to the right"; meaning have the histogram slightly biased toward the right hand side by adjusting the speed & f/stop (here's why I recommend this: Expose "Right" ). Just to be sure, focus on the eyes of the lure, if eyes are blur, it gives the impression of the whole photo being out of focus, if the eyes are crystal clear it doesn't matter if other parts are slightly out of focus. But I doubt you have a long enough tele lens to get that, it'll have to be like at least a 500mm lens to get that effect for a lure shot with digital (unless u're the lucky bast$%# who owns a full frame DSLR, but then you won't be reading this anyway since I assume you would know ur photography to be buying such a beast ).

That's about it. I've omitted in explaining a lot of details, just giving u the low-down. Just catch me in TU Chat or Yahoo Messenger if u have any questions. There are other ways of getting a good lure photo; this is just one method to make it consistant instead of relying on natural lighting which can be finicky at times. There are still other ways to do it but this is a DIY al cheapo style which u can rig up in an evening. But if you know your photography, you can surely come up with more innovative ways of getting that perfect shot.

Hope this helps a bit for those who are trying to get that perfect shot for their creations. Please correct me if you find any inaccuracy in this information or wish to share with us ur method of getting a perfect lure photo.

[esoxlucius]

Great stuff.

I have just struggled with this.

[Markell]

Thanks for the post LP. Might want to move this one to the tutorial section.

[LaPala]

Well guys, I thought this would generate some discussion on how to get a better photo. Anyway glad this is of some value to u guys. Cheers.

[Skeeter]

LaPala,

This is great stuff. I couldn't really add anything to this because I am just awful at taking pictures. Nothing I have done comes out as well as the picture that you took of my bait. You can bet that I will be trying your suggestions. If my pictures would turn out half as good as the ones that you take I would be more than happy.

Skeeter

[Lure--Prof]

Ditto Skeeter

This needs to be a tutorial

Dean

[dvowell]

LaPala,

As I've stated before, I'm a photojournalist who shoots for a daily paper and the Associated Press and I freelance a lot on the side. What you have described here is essentailly the same as commecially available product "softboxes" (not to be confused with the softbox you attach to strobes and/or other lighter gear). It is also a whole lot cheaper as the commercial ones can run into the hundreds of dollars.

Exposure and focus are everything and the comment about the eyes is dead on the money, it's just how the human mind processes an image. FWIW, I shoot a lot of lure pics with a macro lens, but that's just me.

I do have a few of those monster lenses and DSLR's you mentioned, so I can be hired out to do some lure photography for ya!

Thanks for sharing this, I'm sure it will help a LOT of people here and remember, as I've said before, it's the photographer, not the camera that makes the photo. With that being said, make sure you use a quality digital camera. Buy one from the camera people (Nikon, Canon) and avoid those made by electronics or computer firms. The quality is far superior as you are getting optical grade glass instead of *gasp* plastic lenses.

[LaPala]

I knew there must be some pros amongst us in this foto thingy Thanks for your input dvowel. One day when I think my lure is up to standards, I'd like to send them to you for a photo session Maybe you'd have one of those 645 sets too

PS: I'd go with the macro lens too if I have those beast that you have but I've only got a compact so the macro capabilities aren't that desirable and the accurate focusing a macro requires is just not worth fiddling with by eyeballing it on the lousy LCD resolution after switching to manual focusing.

[dvowell]

LaPala,

I'm always up for a new photo challenge. Maybe we can turn your baits into the stars they've always wanted to be! :-D

If anyone here ever has any questions relating to photos of anything, not just lures, just shoot me a PM and I'll help you out!

-D

[RiverMan]

Holy Smokes Lapala....of course I wouldn't expect anything less from you. I lay mine on the scanner and hit "start", lol.

[LaPala]

Replaced. However the design has been upgraded

[LaPala]

Weird attachment still doesn't show when it says it's already uploaded?

Here's it

[Delw]

I am looking at a d80 nikon right now OUCH, I like the sony d100 the canon reble xti is ok. but right now its a toss up between a sony and the nikon d-80.

I was big into the slr 35mm stuff and have a few contax, one nikon and 2 yashicas with really nice 1000 mirror lens and a fantastic marco lens haha all are useless for the web and I couldnt get 200 bucks out of all film camera's combined.

dvowell

which one do you like better the d80 nikon or the sony d100, yeah I know your going to say the d200 nikon but I dont have 2500 to spend lol its sweet I used it at a camera store and they put the pics on a pc and photo shop for me.

with the new digital slr cameras you dont even need a light tent to take good pics

[LaPala]

Nikon. They have a longer history of making camera and that alone would sway my choice. Now if you're going after Canon or Nikon, it'll be another Devcon Vs Etex issue

[MaddoxBay]

We have a Canon Rebel (8MP) and its been a good camera. The quaility of the picture comes from the lenses. Get as good of glass as you can afford. Most likely you will spend more on the lenses than the camera.

My next lense will be a Canon 70-200mm L lense. I am going to have to save for that one.

[patentist]

Great explanation LaPala. Is there a page somewhere that shows some of your lure pictures I'm new to the site so I might have missed a previous reference to your pages or photo album.

Bob

[Delw]

Oh what a difference a good camera will make