Dances With Fly Tying Materials

Here is a video of me getting pressured into dancing with the boy-scouts with baby Bree when they were doing their presentation on Native American dancing.  And if you're asking me "Kleis what on God's green third rock from the Sun does this have to do with flyfishing?", I would respond with "did you see all the tying materials out there!?"

Time Lapse Photo

Here is a photo I took last night of the moon setting over Pikes Peak that is going to be one of the 140 I shot for a time lapse movie I am putting together for an untitled Colorado flyfishing short. Stay tuned!

Click to enlarge

Snow Day Tying Videos

2012 Flyfishing Film Tour Video

Thanks to the 410 people in attendance that purchased tickets (admission or raffle) Anglers Covey and its partners raised roughly $10,000 for project healing waters!  Here is another short video that Dave Herber put together of the event.  Check it out!    

Anglers Covey Simms Concept Store Clean Up Party

Thanks to Dave Herber for putting this video together and thanks to everyone that helped out at the clean up party!  Big things coming soon with the Simms concept store remodel!  Check it out everyone!

The Purple Haze Is Up!

Film Tour Video: Geofish

All the more reason to get your tickets to the film tour!

Photography And Flyfishing Part 1

What makes a great picture?  Fishing and photography go hand in hand just like fish stories in a fly shop.  Cameras are a necessary piece of equipment in a fisherman's arsenal for one simple reason.  Evidence.  That's right ladies and gents you need a good camera to take good pictures of that huge fish so that your story isn't just a story.  It's cold hard fact.

Yes a good camera is important, but what many people don't understand is that the lens you are using is equally as important.  The camera records the data.  The lens is what sees it.  This means that the image you are framing before you press the shutter release button has to pass through the lens to get to your camera's sensor.  The better the glass the more light is captured, and the sharper the image.  I am far from an expert on the subject, but I have put this theory to the test and I agree with every passionate photographer that claim you invest in lenses and not a camera upgrade if you want better photos.

That's if you own a film camera or a dslr.  Most people will be carrying point and shoot cameras, and even more people will be using their smartphone.  Caution:  many point and shoot cameras in the $100-$200 price range have similar optics and sensor size as a smartphone and obviously aren't worth the investment if you just so happen to have the iphone 4S.  Also let it be known that many point and shoot cameras claim to have incredible zoom distances but that is misleading. 

For instance a camera will say that it has 15x zoom when the actual lens can only zoom up to 7x.  The rest of the claimed 15x is what is referred to as "digital zoom" which is gibberish for cropping.  You read this right.  The additional 8x magnification is actually your camera cropping the image to make it appear as if you are zooming up to 15x. The more you crop an image the more noise you see in the photo.  Try your best to make your purchase based on the optical zoom magnification and the quality of the glass.  If you can't afford a dslr, or don't want to carry one around then don't worry because there are still plenty of other factors that you have control over that can help you make professional looking photos.  

Vibrant color, good light, depth of field, and how the shot is framed are all things that determine what makes an amazing photo.  Notice I didn't mention mega pixels?  More mp's does not mean your camera is better.  I owned a Nikon D40 which has a whopping 6 mp and it took photos that were every bit as good as my D90 which has 12mp.  Again glass is everything and I recommend Nikon cameras over most other brands because Nikon understands what makes great photos, and Nikon has some of the best glass available for hobbyist and professionals.  For more on the megapixel myth check out Ken Rockwell's site here.

As much as vibrancy makes for great photos there is still something to be said for black and white.  Spend some time shooting monochrome to better understand how light affects your photos.  Here is one of my favorite photos of a rainbow I landed on the Arkansas river last year shot in Sepia.

Here is a great shot taken in Elevenmile canyon by my good friend Daniel Zimmerman.

To be continued...