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How to take good trophy shots - tips please

S

Simon Haggis

Senior Member & Supporter
Following on from the PB thread, to me it's interesting how some of the pics are good trophy shots and some are perhaps not quite the desired result of our most memorable moments :eek:

I'm sure there must be some experienced photographers on here who can pass on some basic ground rules we could all benefit from.

I spose my thoughts, having got a good digital slr and done a couple of courses on how to use it, are that:

1) The light is the important thing. If it's daylight, no matter how weak the sun, get the sun behind you shining on the fish.

2) Use a long zoom focus length (like for taking a wide angle landscape shot) and just get physically closer to the fish to fill the frame - it makes the fish look bigger as the lens kind of sucks the image in. It adds about 5lb :)

3) A solid background gives a better shot i.e. don't shoot with the river in the background as to my mind it looks better with vegetation behind (not always mind you, or not always possible)

4) While the barbel is resting in the net set your camera up for a test shot of you posing and clear all the **** that appears in the frame out the way - landing net, unhooking matt, rucksack, chair, bottle of champagne etc all look rubbish if they are in shot. Make sure a tree isn't coming out of your head etc

5) Try and hold the fish safely but not with your hands wrapped all round it. Something I always forget is to hold the fish up a little higher to my face. Best to get low to the ground for fish safety.

6) Use centre frame focus point

I haven't caught any nice barbel to illustrate since I learnt how to use my camera a bit better but now really enjoy taking pics of other people's fish, which is just as well! Here's a couple from a recent Morocco trip of my friend Sam's and one of mine:

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I'm sure experienced photographers can find plenty to criticise but for me I did a couple of evening courses to try and understand what I was doing and I'm pleased my shots have improved a little.

Can anyone advise on camera settings for nightime shots please as I've not had enough experience of captures at night to get any good results so far? I always tend to have the flash too strong or the whole shot is too dark.

Again, apologies for the carp shots but it's the technique and tips I'd appreciate from anyone.

cheers
 
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Stunning photo's Simon. Your mate needs to stop bitting his finger nails ;-)
 
Well here's what i do - 2 alternatives

Method 1
1) Set camera and tripod up
2) focus camera on bankstick
3) Kneel in front of camera
4) press button and hold fish up
5) S**t forgot to set flash :eek:
6) put fish back in net for 5mins
7) start all over again this time remembering to set flash :)
8) Press button again
9) Hold fish up and hope for the best :)

Method 2 ( far better results usually )

1) Phone Mono or Crooky to come and take the photo for me :D

Ian.
 
Shoot some pics with added fill in daylight flash and some without. Fill in flash can add more life to the picture/fish especially when overcast and winter sun. Shoot with flash slightly at an angle and off centre to avoid bounce/reflect back and burnt out white areas on the fish, or sightly angle the fish.
 
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One of the main criticisms of 'fish' photos, is anglers holding them out at 'arms length' to try to make them look bigger.

Keep the fish closer to your body, not only looks better, but is generally in focus better.


Steve
 
I need to get someone else to hold my fish really, apart from not being too photogenic, my size really works against me, every fish I hold looks small!!!
 
Am I the only one that thinks that people should look at the camera and smile rather than looking at the fish?
 
Cool as in Meaning of Life, I'm About to Kiss This Fish (once I've passed a gallstone / the sennapod has worked), have to do this as me mates will call me Willy like that Chocolate Factory geezer.

Yeah.

Really cool.
 
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Paul Boote said:
Cool as in Meaning of Life, I'm About to Kiss This Fish (once I've passed a gallstone / the sennapod has worked), have to do this as me mates will call me Willy like that Chocolate Factory geezer.

Yeah.

Really cool.
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The Chairman on Friday


Quite. I have been fortunate enough to see many of young Paul's trophy shots of the past 40 years - photographs and slides of him holding up unfeasibly large fish and small shapely women to camera, grinning madly as he lowered his head to take a large bite out of them. Never seen in the old slideshows, he tells me, as they might have scared the in-crowd pitbulls.


As ever,

B.B.
 
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they are cracking fish & cracking photo's too. i have actually practiced the self take at home by putting the camera on the work surface & taking a few practice shots, just so i know how far to be away from the camera & how high to set it etc. that coupled with setting it on 15 second delay & 3x multishot, i hope it should be ok.
trouble is im still waiting to catch a fish worthy of trying it out.
those double screen cameras are supposed to be ok..............
http://www.dualscreencameras.co.uk/
 
I seriously cannot understand why someone would look at a fish as if it was a naked supermodel laid in front of them legs akimbo! All these adoring looks??!! If I get a piccy, the fish and or capture means something to me, so I am generally delighted by it and try smile on the pic!!
 
And while we're at it...any advice on taking pics at night time? My pics usually have a dazzling flare in the centre of the photo which is a reflection of light coming off the water on the Barbel. Plus it's shiny under carriage. Really annoying as it partially hides the form of the fish with it's brightness...

It's almost as if I need to change the flash intensity or shoot an alternative angle to avoid the reflection coming back to the lens...
 
Andreas, I've had something similar. I found that it was caused by my camera detecting my face and setting the exposure to said face. As the fish was closer to the camera than my face it was overexposed. See if you can disable face-detect. My current camera has a multi-shot timer, but the exposure and focus is set at the first shot. I have to make sure either the fish is in place for the first shot ... or more usually I hold my open hands in the expected position of the fish for the first shot so the camera has got something to focus on. I have a lot of photos of my empty hands :)
 
Dan Birkett said:
I seriously cannot understand why someone would look at a fish as if it was a naked supermodel laid in front of them legs akimbo! All these adoring looks??!! If I get a piccy, the fish and or capture means something to me, so I am generally delighted by it and try smile on the pic!!
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Oh yeah me too, just feel a bit of an idiot staring at the camera is all.

I'll dig out a pic which shows what I mean in a bit..
 
Dan Birkett said:
Am I the only one that thinks that people should look at the camera and smile rather than looking at the fish?
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No your not Dan , loads of em look as if they have lost a tenner and found a quid , others , you know the longing far away gaze at the fishes head ,just look weird . Smile and be happy !:D
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
No your not Dan , loads of em look as if they have lost a tenner and found a quid , others , you know the longing far away gaze at the fishes head ,just look weird . Smile and be happy !:D
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As Seamus Android on Round the Horn used to say, " And how true those words are even today."


And he was not wrong.

AS ever


Hugo




 
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