What have you tied today?

[Lochan_load]

It's worth seeing a few times like the really sparse one with the red head, flies like that are often the ones that do the damage.
It's amazing how changing the background can totally change the look of a fly, i tend to use either my hand (for easiness) or the back of a jungle cock cape I've got that's grey/brown, these seem to give the most 'real' representation of the actual colour of the flies. I think the blue background looks a bit like 80's school photo backgrounds  :worried

[loch coulter]

lovely flies, 3rd from last photo looks the best, imho :

[corsican dave]

beautiful tying. shows mine up for the clumsy lumps they are! I like the 4th one down from the top in terms of focus, depth etc. do you have a macro setting on your camera? seems to give me a good depth of field. I use a background of black foam which doesn't reflect too much light. there's fluorescent lighting from the top and a bright halogen desk lamp from the side and slightly above. no flash; found that burned everything out. by semi-pressing the shutter button, I get a pre-focus. I also used the 2 second timer, so I wasn't touching the camera when it fired, even though it's on a desk-top tripod. i'm using a little lumix dmc-ft3 point & pray.

not saying mine are in any way perfect, btw: just letting you know what I did! i'm sure a proper photographer will be along soon... :

[claytonmcnie]

beautiful tying. shows mine up for the clumsy lumps they are! I like the 4th one down from the top in terms of focus, depth etc. do you have a macro setting on your camera? seems to give me a good depth of field. I use a background of black foam which doesn't reflect too much light. there's fluorescent lighting from the top and a bright halogen desk lamp from the side and slightly above. no flash; found that burned everything out. by semi-pressing the shutter button, I get a pre-focus. I also used the 2 second timer, so I wasn't touching the camera when it fired, even though it's on a desk-top tripod. i'm using a little lumix dmc-ft3 point & pray.

not saying mine are in any way perfect, btw: just letting you know what I did! i'm sure a proper photographer will be along soon... :

It's a Nikon D3200 but bought a macro lens, sat for 3 hours today with instructions so getting a little better. Seem to remember a while back, article on the lighting from admin and his set up. Think the lighting is what I need to look at next

[claytonmcnie]

Can also press half down on auto or manual focus but sometimes looks great in viewfinder but then can be out of focus or, really precise.

[corsican dave]

playing around with cougars today: this is a bit of a "toad cougar". I have no idea what the 'leg' feathers are. I found them at the bottom of the box! I may see if I can knot them for the next effort

[Lochan_load]

They look a bit like ostrich hackles Dave, is it is they should knot fine, quite a wirey stem

[corsican dave]

here's the mark II version, complete with an alien's-eye view

[SoldierPmr]

Dave you should do a fly tying bible for progressive tiers  :

[claytonmcnie]

Hopefully here's a step by step of how I tie. Same as many other people.
Start the thread away from the hook and take up to somewhere between the point and barb.(up to you)
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Tie in the tail, I use coq de Leon dark/light pardo extensively.
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Tie in your preferred body, this is stripped quil.
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Wrap up towards eye but leave a decent space.
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Tie in hackle this is a brahma hen by whiting.
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Take a few turns to suit yourself, and tidy eye area a little.
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Cut the wing slips, I use a razor blade a lot, pick an area on blade (like the base of the letter A) this helps to keep both slips the same size.
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This is the point that I do a little different from the talented davie mcphail, line up the points the same way, but except for sedge patterns I fold over the two slips before presenting to the shank of hook. This way I can line up the slips easier.
[attachimg=8]

Now use standard pinch and loop and take a few turns towards the eye if you want the wing to stand out, or a turn or two towards the bend if you want wing to lie a little lower.
[attachimg=9]
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Form the head.
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Varnish, I like Sally hansens,  two coats. This head is too big and made an arse of the varnish, but the wing is ok, concentrating too much on the fotos.
[attachimg=12]

Hope this helps a little.