Bravo!! Your tips and pics are great and you've inspired me to do better, Thanks.

Yes, that's still my trusty Optio 43WR, and yes, I always shoot at max resolution.... otherwise, what's the point of having a camera with all those megapixels. The main reason I do this is for the occasional glory shot that I want to blow up for a print of 8 x 10 or bigger (BTW I got a great 11 x 14 print of my avatar fish with only 3.4 megapixels worth of data).

The pics I post on this board are only about 0.35 megapixels in size or less.... nice for a computer monitor at 700 x 500 pixels, but only good for a wallet size print.

Most of the guys I fish with have a tendency to take pictures from WAY too far away, using perhaps only 10-25% of the actual picture to capture the real subject at hand. The rest of the 75-90% of the frame is filled with extraneous background/foreground distractions. By using the full resolution capability of the camera when others are taking pics, it allows me to crop out all the useless crap, and still have enough pixels for a decent though somewhat degraded but nonetheless postable pic.

The biggest tip I can offer anybody taking fish pics is zoom in close. Either use the zoom feature on the camera, or nose yourself CLOSER to the subject. Fill the frame with the good stuff. If the fish itself is the subject, try to fill the frame diagonally, corner to corner. If you just compose the shot in a straight, flat horizontal manner, the fish only occupies a long strip in the middle, and you basically waste the upper and lower one third of the frame. A diagonal composition (like the bright hen king) also gives the illusion of the fish swimming off the page toward the viewer.

If you're feeling extra adventuresome, go for the full frame head-shot... obviously one of my favorites. Nothing shows off the life-force of a great fish better than the glistening sheen, the minute detail, the brilliant color, and the gleam of a down-rolled eye displayed in a classic head-shot. If you really think about it, this shot is invaluable to the taxidermist that may one day be painting that replica of your fish of a lifetime. Make it a good one.

Here's another mistake I see all the time. Too often, the novice photographer is content to keep the frame composed in a horizontal landscape. If the subject is standing and doing the meat-hook pose, taking a horizontal picture that captures the full height of subject will leave you with nothing in the right- and left- one-third of the frame, essentially wasting 65-70% of the pic. I typically crop that portion away to get a more dramatic effect, but then I'm only left with one third of the original data. Much better to just turn the camera 90 degrees in the first place and compose the shot vertically, filling the entire frame with the subject at hand, and having the digi-cam's full mega-pix capability at your disposal if it turns out to be a glory-shot.

Now don't get me wrong... there is a place for the wide-angle shot. If the subject you want to highlight is the beautiful scenery rather than the fish or the angler, then by all means step back and shoot. But if you want to show off a spectacular catch... GET IN CLOSE! Here's what I mean... see how the subject transitions over from scenery to salmon in these four pics:

Who's that good lookin' dude fishin' off those rocks?



Fish on...

Todd

I take quite a few guys who don't fish much and found that it is very important to coach them all before hand. Normally most pictures I get of myself aren't to great because the photographer isn't use to taking fish pictures. Also for a inexperienced fisherman it is very important this time of year to warn them how cold the water is and how cold their hands will feel, and the importance of holding the fish under water until the shot is set up. Most people I have found can suffer that 15-30 seconds to get a great photograph, but a few newbies have let fish go before a good photo because they felt it was to cold to hold. So my only advice is to teach your fishing partners on how to take quality pictures and what to expect when you take pictures of them.

Nice pic's. Always enjoy seeing them. Your lucky in the fact that the people you fish with "want" to take the picture. My main fishing partner is an ass when it comes to that. The guy could care less. He has every few pics of himself over the years. 60 lb King at Rupert, no picture. Lots of 20 + steelies, no picture. 32 inch mule deer, no picture and rack is in the shed in back of his house. I would fire him but he is pretty good on the sticks, always ready to go and fun to hang out with ( dude can reel in chicks from clear across a bar.. anytime !!) He has a talent for cutting your head off or putting a thumb in front of the lense when he takes your picture. I have lots of pictures pre-digital days. Been asking for digital camera for a couple years and am yet to get it. Being a guy who pretty much goes and gets anything he wants when he wants it, I have thought this would be a good Christmas gift for " me" But when its all said and done I get another sweater

I love the quality of what I "usually" get back of myself after handing off the camera. Most commonly there's the "blurry shot", then the classic "off-center composition shot", and in the case of the movie camera this last weekend, 5 minutes of water scenery while a played a chromer out of frame. What's a guy to do?

Sol,

AM has given you sage advice. Let the 'tards run their own rod, but not the camera. I don't even want to tell you how many times I've shook my head and wondered, "were you even looking through the camera when you took that shot?"

Seems the bozo's are the only ones the see fit to hang with me.

HMMMM.... ya lis'nen, Sol?

You guys doll out advice like my wife: "Quit drinking so much." "Stop yelling at the kids." "Get off my cousin."

I'd rather complain about the aftermath.

Sorry. It was just an auto-response to your sniveling about the lack of picture quality.

We'll see how you handle the camera in March, dude.

You'll be awed, I'm sure.

Need I point out the obvious necessity of someone actually catching a fish before the camera becomes useful?

Sol, I'd be happy to take a pic of any fish you happen to land when I'm fishing with you...it'd be my pleasure!

Fish on...

Todd

Okay Doc, how would you grade this one?

I hooked this guy yesterday while talking to Todd on the cell....."Gotta call ya back!"



Ike

Nice Ike!

ttt

Nice points Doc..... but you ruined it for me with that last picture of one of Sol's bozo fishin buddies!

I can't believe I missed this for almost a month..