Photographing your fish

[Pacman]

Gents, let's put a few tips together on photographing our captures :cool:

We spend a lot of money and wait a long time for our captures but I see a lot of pictures that totally ruin the scene (for me) Below I have listed some pictures from this forum, please don't think for a second I'm having a dig at one person, I'm not I promise, but with a little forethought they could have been so much better :cool:

Weed camos best ever carp, a superb looking fish and well done that man.....but all the crap behind it totally ruins the picture, it takes the focus off the fish

1281

Karls 17lb river caught carp, a cracking fish, but poor photo

http://www.craftycarping.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1278&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1308323837

and here one of mine:o a 22lber I caught, asked a guy fishing near me to take the pic and he didn't bother getting down with me and I look like a dwarf :D

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b370/cresswell/IMG_0207.jpg


So, here's my tips and hopefully plenty of others will add.

1) Have a look what the background will be
2) Have everything read BEFORE the capture. I have an adaptor that screws into a bank stick that holds my camera. If things aren't ready, leave the fish in the net and organise yourself.
3) Practise, it's not easy doing self takes, so practise is the key. Have a go just holding a bag or something and in time you'll know what height you need, how close etc etc.
4) If someone else taking the picture make sure their shadow doesn't fall onto you.
5) Take your time, the fish can survive out of water for longer than you think. That doesn't mean it's ok to have out for a long time, it means don't rush and do it properly.

[Marc]

Good post!
What sort of adaptor do you use? is it a clip on one or do you have to screw it on each time and fine tune where it points?
I'm making a bracket for an air release like this:
1282
I want to put it on a bank stick but don't want to have to screw it on each time i use it so i'm trying to come up with a way of it slotting in the exact same place each time.
How do others do this?

[Pacman]

It's a simple bracket that screws into the bank stick and the camera:cool: I got it made at work by one of the engineers. At first it took some getting used to setting but now is easy, I use a Canon Powershot S5 and it has a flip round screen which helps for the self takes :cool:

[CrazedCarper]

If im getting what your saying right Marc,,thats the kit i have and the adaptor on the bottom can be fitted and stay on without having to loosen it when attaching a bankstick etc so your not fiddling with the firing pin thing!

Yea,, good post Pacman, if your using a self take kit like in the piccy or have a self timer on your camera your using then best thing to do is set your camera up where desired (choosing your backdrop as pacman said) and mark where the mat goes with a couple of pegs, take a few "Test" pics to make sure your dead centre etc and jobs a good'un.

If your not to great and getting things spot on then theres plenty of editing programmes you can crop off the outside of pics and do all sorts of great things with them as illustrated below..

Pacmans Pic:
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q318/BISON_bucket/IMG_0207.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q318/BISON_bucket/funny2.png

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q318/BISON_bucket/funny3.png


:clol: got to love photoshop!!!

[karl]

reason my photo is poor is took it with phone camera as did not have self take kit at the time, (have one now though):tu:

very good post though :tu: :tu:

[pikeman23]

One tip i was always given was use a neutral background :tu:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff43/flattie123/pike2.jpg

Always puts the focus onto the fish :tu:

[Marc]

If im getting what your saying right Marc,,thats the kit i have and the adaptor on the bottom can be fitted and stay on without having to loosen it when attaching a bankstick etc so your not fiddling with the firing pin thing!


I see what your saying, Im going to make it so that stays with the camera but I don't want to leave my camera out all session so I want to remove it from the banksick when not in use and be able to re attach it quickly knowing it's pointing in the exact same place as when I set it up at the start of the session.

[karl]

when i used a camera on a bank stick i used an extending one,

set your hight then mark it with tape on the inner stick then remove from bank stick when not in use,

when you do want it put inner bank stick back in place upto the marker tape sorted same hight every time.

[Marc]

That's a good idea, Have a high 5!
I guess you mark the tape so you get the direction the same aswell, good thinking :)

[John]

Ive one of the camera kits also, not used it as yet, but like pacman i have a powershot camera with the flip round screen so you can see yourself, this has to be a massive advantage.

I will be using mine with a tripod that blingy gave to me, so if the camera needs to be put in the bivvy etc, its just a simple case of marking the ground so it goes in exactly the same position as before, or if not, use the screen to make sure its right :cool:

[CrazedCarper]

Also Marc, you can get quick release's for banksticks,, pro-logic i think do some :cool:

[keith wright]

I ve started to use a bankstick with a prologic quick release so I can leave my bank stick in situ and just remove my camera...

[Marc]

I didn't know if the prologic adaptors rotated or not when locked it place, I had thought of that.
I'm half way through making mine at the moment, should be pretty smart :) pics tonight when I'm done.

[CrazedCarper]

If i remember correctly they rotate about 45 degrees to unlock but stay locked in place and dont rotate,, look forward to the pics!!

[keith wright]

noticed no ones mentioned the position of the sun during daytime takes, i like to have the sun behind the camera man at all time and not the person holding the fish... also be careful of shadows casting on to the fish from nearby overhanging trees and bushes..

[John]

I think big fingers are another problem, 1 that sticks in my mind is Si (northerncarpers) fish at stanwick last year, half the fish is covered by his fingers, so make sure you get your fingers tucked in so your showing more of the fish. :cool:

http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/15/94/94/78/dscf0010.jpg