The Captain “lens” a few tips for taking the perfect pic on your next on-water adventure.
You’ve just landed the fish of a lifetime. There’s only one thing left to do: take a photo that does the big girl justice. But it’s not as easy as it looks. You don’t have a stable platform, fish don’t pose for photos and boats in salty environments and delicate camera equipment go together like jalapeños and fellatio. Never fear, The Captain has a few basic tips that’ll have you taking better photos instantly.
TIP#1: USE THE SUN
Photography is all about light, and the sun is one seriously large light source – use it to your full advantage. In the middle of the day, it’ll make your fish shots sparkle; in the early morning and late afternoon, it’ll emit a beautiful warm light and cast dramatic colours in the clouds. Traditionally, you want light directly hitting your subject. Try the opposite, though, and you might be surprised by the outcome. Often you’ll need a flash to pull off this manoeuvre.
TIP#2: NEVER MISS A BEAT
You don’t need to shoot in manual mode to take awesome photos. We like to use aperture or shutter priority modes (Av and Tv on Canon cameras). This lets you select the aperture or shutter speed you want, while still allowing the camera to automatically control the other settings. (If that was gobbledegook to you, leave it in auto – as it’s really all about capturing the moment.)
TIP#3: COMPOSE YOUR SHOT
It doesn’t matter how nice your light is or how much your camera is worth, your composition (how you frame/ compose your subject) will make or break your images. Some photographers say you can’t teach composition, and that might be the case, but there are basic tricks that will help your composition infinitely. The simplest is The Rule of Thirds. This one’s easy: imagine when you look down the lens that the image is broken up into thirds – horizontal ones and vertical ones. You want to compose your subject along one of these lines, or where they intersect. For example, take an angler fighting a fish at the bow of a boat; instead of putting the fisho smack-bang in the middle of the frame, line up the horizon with one of the horizontal thirds and the angler with one of the vertical thirds.
TIP#4: GO CANDID
There are enough contrived and overly set-up fishing photos in the world. Stay on your toes and try to capture a candid moment.
TIP#5: GET CREATIVE
When it comes to ‘grip and grins’, you don’t have to stand there like a noob with a cheesy grin on your face. Mix it up, get creative and try something original!
TIP #6: GET HIGH, GET LOW – THEN GO EVEN LOWER
Dramatic angles always work well in photography because it’s a unique perspective people aren’t used to seeing. Using a helicopter or drone really adds wow-factor. Getting low to ground (or water) level
is great for establishing the surrounding environment. Then get even lower! Fish and boats belong in the water – jump in and shoot them!
TIP#7: GO WIDE & GO TIGHT
Using a wide-angle lens is great for capturing the landscape and surrounds. It’s also quite dynamic to
the eye – not to mention, great in tight spaces. Using a long lens and focusing on a small detail or element of your environment is great for intriguing your audience, too.
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