dvowell

When shooting in macro mode, some form of stabilization device is a MUST unless you are using a macro flash set up of some sort (ring flash or the like). You are shooting at extreme ratios and usually with slow shutter speeds, so every little movement (sometimes even your pulse) can throw a photo off. Tripods all the way for macro...all you really need is a small table top one if you are shooting a point-and-shoot...plus it's a really handy size for shooting baits/molds. -Danny

Hey Jim, I buy the stuff at Hobby Lobby and I've heard of it being carried at many other hobby/craft type stores as well! Good luck finding it locally! -D

I agree and disagree with the no flash rule that's being taunted here. For most users, no flash is just great...however; I shoot all of my baits (and other objects) in a product softbox and use monolights (esentially large, high powered flash units) on the outside of the box and get near shadowless photos as a result. I bought my box, but making them is fairly easy and you don't have to use monolights. You can use regular flashes or just regular old tungsten lights if you want, just make sure you have a reflector on them to direct the light. I believe Lapala (maybe?) or someone else posted a pic here one time of how to make a box...if not, just check out any photo supply store or ebay and you'll be able to find a small one for not a lot of cash. You can change out the backgrounds really easy in them as well. Now, I personally feel that using the flash units with my box gives me the utmost in flexibility...I've created various attachments for them and can pretty much put the light exactly where I want it. All of this being said, nothing beats natural light...you'd be surprised at what you can do just using window light. WATCH YOUR EXPOSURE when shooting with digital point and shoots (or any camera for that matter) against an all white background. It will fool your light meter in the camera!

Hey LaPala! Good to see you back, I heard you had some computer problems. I look forward to reading more of your insightful posts. -Danny

I've thought about this a lot and I wouldn't consider myself a custom lure maker...I just make lures. Now, here's the catch, I have made what I consider custom lures on occasion. To me, a custom lure is one that is ordered a certain way...you have to create it based upon the criteria set forth by the customer or the person requesting it (could even be you). Any lure that follows a set pattern can not be custom. This simply means, if you have a certain pattern you use to cut/carve your cranks and they all maintain the same shape/design...these cease to be custom once you start producing them in numbers. I suppose the same could be said for paint jobs as well. If you have a certain pattern you paint over and over, it isn't custom. So, as I've said, I'm just a lure maker, though I have built a few custom baits that I haven't duplicated at all. Hope this is as clear as mud and provides a little food for thought. -Danny

This is just fantastic, Blades. When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with my dad in the shop (he built furniture instead of lures, though) and they are some of my most fond memories. Glad to see this, it has made my day.

A photo contest would be pretty cool! Of course I would say that...

In my opinion, that is one of the most amazing pieces of work I have seen here. There are so many great cranks on this site, but very few truly stellar jointed cranks and this is one of them. Simply stellar. I'm almost speechless. Well, not quite, I've typed this!

Thanks a ton for posting this. It was a great read for me this morning as I prepare for the daily work schedule. I definately like the story-telling aspect and that's a beautiful fish! Congratulations! -Danny

I've used lead shot, but not for my main ballast. I still use egg sinkers for my main ballast, but sometimes I'll put some shot just ahed of it to give the bait a bit more nose-down attitude. I typically only do this on my deepest diving baits.

Hi there, I have two Paasche Millenium airbrushes, but I also have the Airbrush City GD102 and I can tell you from my personal experience it handles the createx paints better than the Paasche brushes. Now, you still need to thin the Createx, but not quite as much. Is it built as well as the Passche brushes? No and it doesn't feel as good in my hands, either so I don't use it that much anymore, but I do use it a lot for detail work as I'm happy with the results. Clean-up with it is really easy with it. For the money, I think it's worth it...but before I forget, even though it is gravity feed, you'll probably need a little more PSI to push the paint than you would with a "name brand" gravity feed brush. Hope this helps a bit. -Danny

You'll catch fish on both of them, but I especially like your popper. I think it would be a great bait to throw on a farm pond, or anywhere for that matter. You did a really nice job foiling the crankbait. I hope you'll continue to build lures and keep us all updated on how you are doing with them. Welcome to the 'family'!

Chirmy, Funny you should mention that... Sorry about it being b&w in advance...This was taken a few weeks ago during the halloween game

Chirmy, Actually, you're right! I hate the Jags and the Titans just haven't had much the past couple of years. Of course, I did get PAID to go to the SuperBowl in 2000...can't beat that with a flippin' stick! :grin: I've always been a Broncos fan!

With the TU football pool continuing and all the talk of cameras that goes on from time to time here, I thought I'd share a little bit of what I have to do. Most of you know I'm a news photographer, so this is what gets in the way of my bait making on Sunday afternoons. I hope the moderators don't mind, but I thought I'd share a few photos from the Titans-Jaguars game from this past weekend. I've kept the file size pretty small. These aren't necessarily 'oh-my-God' award winning sports photos, but a good representation of the type of games I shoot. I hope everyone enjoys! -D

A lot of people here know that I am a photojournalist, so cameras are something I know quite a bit about. Here's the best advice I can give you: Stick to a camera made by a CAMERA company and not one made by a computer company. The glass used in the lenses is usually of a higher quality, which is far more important that megapixels. On the topic of megapixels, don't get caught up in the numbers game. More is not always better. I have seen 3 megapixel cameras that produce better images than 6 megapixel cameras. Why? I personally believe it has more to do with the bit-depth at which the image is captured. This is just a hypothetical, so if my numbers are wrong here, don't get too upset...but let's suppose a 3 megapixel camera captures an image at 32-bit depth while the 6 captures at 16...you begin to see the picture. *warning personal opinion approaching* IMHO, when it comes to point-n-shoot cameras, which is where the largest market is for digital cameras, the megapixel count is more of a marketing ploy, e.g., mine has MORE! *personal opinion mode off now* As has been stated, get one with a good optical zoom. If the camera you buy has a digital zoom option, turn it off so you don't accidentally use it. What digital zoom does, in effect, is crop your image and then interpolate the data to fill up the remainder of the file generated. This leads to lots of noise and pixellation. (noise is the digital equivalent of film grain) I don't use point-n-shoots, but I do play with them frequently in order to help others make informed purchases. Currently, I'm a pretty large fan of the Nikon Coolpix and Canon Powershot lines. If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask me! -Danny

I was wondering about some of the powder paints...but I might try the blue spike-it dip. It's something I would tend to use for myself from time to time as well. Great ideas, gang! Thanks a ton! -Danny

Nova, I agree completely with you on the quality issue, but I also know this bait will never be fished with. It's going to be a desk ornament done in the guy's alma mater colors. I appreciate all the responses so far, though.

Greetings all, I have what may be a strange question. Is there any source for blue-colored treble hooks? I have a guy who wants a special bait made, but he wants blue treble hooks instead of red, bronze or what have you. If anyone can help me out with this, I'd be highly appreciative. Thanks in advance. -Danny

Welcome, Woo. Hope you enjoy it, too! -D

Welcome Jamo! For your first time, not too bad at all. It's like anything else you do in life, the more you practice, the better you'll get at it! I hope you keep it up!

I don't use a VL, but seeing as so many people do, I'd think a tutorial on adjusting the brush might be a great thing for the site! Just a suggestion. -D

The easiest way to get the effect you are looking for is during the initial shoot. If you don't have the money to spend on several different lights, I highly suggest shooting the photo outdoors in natural light. If there is anyway possible, try to have your jighead positioned *away* from your background, that way you can control where the shadows will fall and keep them out of your frame. If it is too close, you'll have shadows for sure. Now, check your digital camera manual and see if you have a feature called exposure compensation, or something of that nature. The automatic light meter inside of your camera can and, most likely, will be fooled by the white background (if you'd like a technical explination for this, just PM me). To make up for this, use the exposure compensation and set it for soemthing like +.7 or +1.0, or even higher. Shot several frames at several + settings until you get a nice white, or something very close to it. In your photo editing software (in your case Paint Shop Pro), select the curves function and you should be able to select a white point, a mid point and a shadow (black) point. Use the white point tool and click somewhere on the white. You can then adjust contrast out and it should be no problem. If you need any more help with this, please do not hesitate to ask. -Danny

I must echo the sentiments here, please everyone, stay safe. The town I live in in Kentucky got pummeled before the storm and then afterwards...I've had to be out in it documenting everything that went on and was nearly swept up by rapid moving flood waters on several occasions (some of my photos are on usatoday.com and cnn.com). BUT, this is NOTHING compared to New Oreleans or anywhere on the coast. Absolutely, NOTHING. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by the hurricane. If there's anything I can do for any member of our community here that may be impacted, please, please, let me know. Stay safe and be smart, everyone. -Danny

Hey everyone, I have a little tip that might or might not help some of you out when it comes to mixing and/or thinning paint. We've all experienced it. Not enough jars. I've figured out that the plastic canisters that 35mm film comes in work great, but only if you use the Fuji ones. The lid on the fuji canisters snap in very tight and do not let any liquid escape at all. Great for putting some paint and thinning agent in and shaking like mad! You can then write on the canister with a sharpie, labeling the color, mix date, etc. WARNING: Do not try with lacquer based paint. I'm sure you all know that, but acetone or lacquer thinner will eat these. Works great with acrylics (Createx or Wal-Mart, etc.) Hope this helps someone out! -D