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How Do I Take Fishing Pictures?

How Do I Take Fishing Pictures?

fishing 1 image by Sorin Alb from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>

Successful fishing trips often result in photographic images with happy smiling participants holding stringers of large fish, showing the lake or river in the background. Too often these pictures are minus the fisherman's head or dominated by bright glare reflected off the particular body of water. With a few suggestions on camera equipment and some pointers regarding picture composition, your tilted or over-exposed photos can develop into something that you can proudly show all your friends, right along with your trophy fish, of course.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:
  • SLR film or digital camera with threaded lenses
  • Polarizing filter
  • UV or skylight filter
  • Film or digital media card
  • Zoom lens that goes from at least 35 mm to 85 mm in focal length
Step 1
Purchase a skylight or UV filter to cut down on distant haze and also to protect your lens from water and inadvertent flying objects. It's a lot cheaper to replace a filter than a camera lens. Screw the filter onto your lens to make sure it fits. Then leave the filter in place for all your outdoor photographic activities
Step 2
Buy a polarizing filter that can be added onto one of the haze-reducing filters described in Step 1. Once added to the lens, the outside portion of the polarizing lens should turn, while the bottom half remains stationary. Install the filter making sure that it works properly.
Step 3
Purchase film in the 100 or 200 ASA range or if you have a digital camera, set your ISO rating to a comparable setting.
Step 4
Go fishing and catch some fish.
Step 5
Prepare to take a picture of someone in the boat holding a string of fish. Before you actually snap the picture, check the direction of the sun. If the sun is not coming from your back or either side turn the boat until the sun is at an angle. Ideally the best situation is having the sun come across the picture at a right angle to the direction you are facing. This is the best time to use a polarizing filter.
Step 6
Engage the polarizer. This can only be done on single lens reflex cameras, for you will have to look through the lens while you adjust the outer ring of the filtering device. Look through the lens as you turn the ring and stop turning when the scene darkens and the glare on the water goes away.
Step 7
Snap the picture.

Picture Composition

Step 1
Use the wide-angle part of the zoom lens when attempting to make a landscape picture. This means setting the focal length to 35mm.
Step 2
Include a foreground area in any picture of lakes, mountains or streams. With most modern lenses, the foreground area begins around 3 to 4 feet from the camera. Always include some interesting objects in the foreground, like leaves on water, footprints on the beach or the tops of rocks that rise just a little above the water line. You can even include the bow of your boat as the foreground for a lake scene.
Step 3
Study the sky. If the clouds are of interest, you can include the sky, but be sure to use the polarizer if the sun is out. If the clouds are not of interest, don't include the sky as part of the picture.
Step 4
Frame a picture tight around any people close to the photographer. Your fishing partners probably enjoy having their picture taken, so have their whole figure or perhaps just their face and upper torso take up the whole picture. You can even include a string of fish if you are having a good day. One of the best ways to do this is to adjust your zoom lens so it's in the 75mm to 90mm range.

Tips & Warnings

 
If you're going out on the water on a sunny day, attach the polarizer to the front of the lens before you depart.
 
Leave the filtering device on the camera while the sun is shining.
 
Protect your camera in a waterproof bag when not in use.
 
Don't use a lens polarizer on a cloudy or overcast day.

Article Written By Henri Bauholz

Henri Bauholz is a professional writer covering a variety of topics, including hiking, camping, foreign travel and nature. He has written travel articles for several online publications and his travels have taken him all over the world, from Mexico to Latin America and across the Atlantic to Europe.

Write for Trails.com

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