10 TIPS: UP YOUR FLY FISHING PHOTOGRAPHY
We are in an age where if there isn’t a picture on social media documenting something, then it probably didn’t happen. So, since we are forced to share our every living moment, we might as well make them as awesome as possible.
Before we get too far into this article, I want to be clear about my photography skills. I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a professional photographer. Through a passion that has been growing since 2010 when I filmed my first coyote hunt with a group called DownWind Outdoors, it is safe to say that my obsession for capturing high quality outdoor shots has become a passion. DownWind Outdoors is a group that films some of the best predator hunting the east has to offer. DWO has acquired over 15 million views on YouTube and has been on several TV shows. Not only do I like the technology behind photography, but I love the feeling of popping in a memory card and seeing something fantastic that I created. This is why I wanted to share my self educated knowledge. I want you to see your pictures for the first time and think, “Shit, the awesomeness of this picture sums up my fishing trip perfectly.”
The following tips and suggestions are aspects of the photography game that I feel might help both the new photographer and the seasoned vet. Hopefully the below knowledge will help you create more stunning pictures to capture the beauty of the places you fish.
1. The Meat and Potatoes
I get this question a lot, “Eric, what camera should I buy?” My canned answer, buy the camera with the best sensor you can afford and spend your money on the glass. Camera companies love to bombard you with a thousand different camera models, all of which have incrementally better features. However, many times cameras in the same price range have similar sensors (the meat and potatoes of the camera) with the “higher end” models containing more features, like WiFi to stream to your phone or GPS to geotag all your pictures. If you are into sharing your hot spots with the whole world then, by all means, upgrade to the camera with the GPS. However, in most cases you won’t use half of the extra features that you are paying an arm and a leg for.
The main features I like in my camera bodies are excellent dynamic range, a solid frame rate, high resolution, and lots of focal points.
2. Nice Glass. Nice Pictures.
My recommendation…buy great glass. Besides the creativity of the photographer, the lens is a huge contributor to a great picture. The types, versions, and brands of lenses are endless. With different styles from wide angle to macro; each lens gives you a different perspective and captures a scene differently. Unfortunately, it can be hard to know what the overall look and feel of a certain lens will be to cater to a fisherman. This brings me to my next suggestion. Follow people on social media that take cool pictures, maybe someone like Eastbound and Trout, and ask them what lens they used to take the picture you like. One day a light bulb might go off, “Every picture I like uses this lens!”, and boom you have your next birthday present.
Now, back to the sucker in the room…price. Unlike my previous recommendation of being weary of how much you spend on a camera, I have no reservations about telling you to miss a couple mortgage payments to afford nice glass. Quality lenses mean everything and the difference between cheap glass and high end glass 100% shows. When I open up a picture in Adobe Lightroom, I can immediately tell the quality of glass used…it is that apparent. Another benefit of high end lenses is that they hold their value. I recently sold a Canon L-series (Ferrari of the lens world) for the same price I bought it for 5 years ago. Remember that little fact when you are arguing with the wife about why you need it. I can go on and on about lenses and after writing this, it became apparent that I need to write a “Fishing and Lenses” article.
3. Mother Nature is Neat
I use this line a lot, “Mother Nature is Neat”. That saying explains a majority of my reasoning for liking the sport of fishing. Yes, I enjoy catching fish, but I also enjoy the environments they live in. It really hit hard when my mom talked about the beauty of my pictures. Not the beauty of the fish we hold or even the beauty of her son but, the places we go to hold those fish. I think this is something that we take for granted, especially when we make it all about the fish and not about the experience. So, unless you are fishing adjacent to a garbage dump, take some time to snap pictures of the surrounding wilderness. You might take a picture that becomes your all time favorite and guess what…it might not even have a fish in it.
One of my ultimate all-time favorites. Look mom...no fish!
4. Composition is Key
Composition noun com·po·si·tion \käm-pə-ˈzi-shən\ : the way in which something is put together or arranged : the combination of parts or elements that make up something
The wonderful world of photographic composition is a complex one. The composition of a photo is how you arrange or compose the picture through framing. The thing I find funny about composition is that almost every photographer agrees that it is important for the success of a photo, however, it is completely subjective and is built upon rules that can be broken regularly, with great success. For starters, become familiar with the rule of thirds. This simple composition rule breaks a picture into a rectangular grid, 3 across and 3 down. The idea is to align important elements of the shot on the lines of the rectangle. Using this simple rule will create a more interesting photograph, rather than just placing your subject directly in the middle of the frame. Remember, besides the ‘rules’, the most important task of composition is having a plan in your head when you are setting up a shot. Take your time to pay attention to the environment and use everything it is giving you to create the perfectly composed picture. A well composed 4 inch brookie can hit the viewer harder than a badly composed fish of a lifetime. Keep away from distracting objects. If there is a branch going through the corner of the picture; move it. If there is a bridge in the background; shoot from a different angle. Create a sense of depth and use natural lines to draw the viewer’s eye to the main subject of your picture.
In my opinion, and I know most photographers would agree, the composition can make or break the picture.
The 'rule of thirds' might be the simplest and most popular way of laying out composition. In fact, most camera companies include an option to turn on this 9 equal rectangle grid, 3 across and 3 down, in the live view mode to make it even easier to compose your photo using the 'rule of thirds'. The idea is to place the important elements of the photo along the lines or where they intersect. In the above picture, I’ve placed the river edge roughly along the bottom third of the frame and the fly fisherman along the line to the right.
Using a shallow depth of field to isolate this rainbows tail is a very effective way of simplifying the composition.
5. Learn Your Camera
How do you become a better caster? You practice. The same goes for photography. Now, this could be the years of hockey catching up with me, but I am always amazed at how quickly I forget the details of the picture taking process. This not only includes settings on the camera but simple things like how I organize my camera pack. Remember, when the fish is caught, every second matters in keeping our scaley friend healthy and returned back to the water. If you are fumbling around, adjusting settings and searching for a different lens, you are not only killing the moment but also the fish. Knowing your camera, no matter how advanced your photography skill set, and being prepared will make for better pictures. All of this comes with practice.
This is going to get repetitive but, learn your camera! You ready for this? This may seem silly but read your manual. Yes…yes…I know guys, we don’t do that but there is tons of special features that might make your life easier on the water. For example, I discovered that my Canon 5D Mark IV has a digital level that displays in the eye piece. This was especially helpful for me since my tendency is to take more of a drunk approach on my pictures and snap photos on the tilty, unlevel side.
Your goal is to become so familiar with all the different shooting settings that you say screw the auto features and go full manual. Remember cameras don’t take great pictures – people do.
Google your camera. No matter what model you have there will be tons of helpful articles and YouTube videos out there. I am not scared to say that most of my life knowledge comes from YouTube.
6. Sun Sucks: Respect the Light
Besides catching fish, the sun and its light can be one of the biggest variables the photographer can struggle with. We have all been riddled with harsh light that caused shadows or completely blows out a background. Unfortunately, every hour of the day can’t be the golden hour so we need to work with mother nature. Before you raise your camera, pay attention to how the light is interacting with the environment, and use it to your advantage. Are there interesting shadows or is it highlighting a certain area? These are all things to think about that can raise your pictures to a new level.
The golden hour can't be every hour of the day but when it hits....oohhh baby!
Shadows and highlights are not all bad. Use them to your advantage to create contrast, negative space, and unique shapes.
7. Don’t Be Scared
Be a badass and live on the edge. Take some risks. Yeahhhh…the equipment is expensive, but some of my favorite shots are some of my most risky shots. Experiment with different angles and different perspective that might push the limits of your comfort zone. I am not saying be reckless, but one of my favorite go to shots is shooting from a very low angle on the water. I am talking about having the camera less than an inch above the water kinda low. More often than not the camera gets splashed a little but I usually always walk away with a killer image.
HOT TIP When buying a new camera I always purchase the warranty. Usually places like B&H and Amazon offer something like three to four years no questions asked accidental damage coverage. Drop it in the water, bear attack, drift boat oar incident…it’s all covered.
8. Fire Away
When I first got into photography I would snap a single picture and take a look at it on the LCD. It’s a bad habit photographers can develop. In our world, every second is crucial, not only in capturing the moment but keeping our subjects alive and healthy. Jam that eyepiece to your face and hold that shutter button down until the fish is swimming away from the angler. I snap off thousands of rounds sometimes to get 10-20 keepers….CLICK-CLICK-BOOM!
Turn up that shutter speed and hold down the trigger for catching that release or stopping water droplets from a dripping fish.
9. Focus Woes
The light is perfect, the fish is perfect, mother nature looks amazing in the background…snap. At first glance looking at the camera LCD screen, you think you have the perfect hero picture of your buddy and his bomber brown. A few hours later when you get home and pop in that memory card, the nightmare begins because you realize that everything is out of focus! I find that this is the realm that troubles new photographers the most. The subject of focus hits on two of the categories previously mentioned, including “learning your camera” and “firing away”. My biggest suggestion would be to learn how your auto focus point system works on your camera so that you can manipulate the areas you want to focus on. From there, you have to always remember to hold that shutter button down, the more pictures you take, the more of a chance to get the perfect focus. Every picture is different, but a good rule of thumb to follow is to focus on the eyes of the subject, whether that be a human or a fish.
Placing your cameras focus points on your subjects eyes is the ticket to perfectly focused pictures.
10. Fish with Dope People
Fishing with friends. Is there any other way to do it? Sharing the moment is what it is all about. Hell, that is why you are taking a picture in the first place. Increase your target environment by going out with your friends. Being around your buddies improves not only your mood but naturally makes for a better fishing environment. When your group is busting balls and catching fish, your heightened excitement will show in your pictures.
Fishing with friends creates a better environment for better pictures.
AUTHOR
10 TIPS: UP YOUR FLY FISHING PHOTOGRAPHY
We are in an age where if there isn’t a picture on social media documenting something, then it probably didn’t happen. So, since we are forced to share our every living moment, we might as well make them as awesome as possible.
Before we get too far into this article, I want to be clear about my photography skills. I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a professional photographer. Through a passion that has been growing since 2010 when I filmed my first coyote hunt with a group called DownWind Outdoors, it is safe to say that my obsession for capturing high quality outdoor shots has become a passion. DownWind Outdoors is a group that films some of the best predator hunting the east has to offer. DWO has acquired over 15 million views on YouTube and has been on several TV shows. Not only do I like the technology behind photography, but I love the feeling of popping in a memory card and seeing something fantastic that I created. This is why I wanted to share my self educated knowledge. I want you to see your pictures for the first time and think, “Shit, the awesomeness of this picture sums up my fishing trip perfectly.”
The following tips and suggestions are aspects of the photography game that I feel might help both the new photographer and the seasoned vet. Hopefully the below knowledge will help you create more stunning pictures to capture the beauty of the places you fish.
1. The Meat and Potatoes
I get this question a lot, “Eric, what camera should I buy?” My canned answer, buy the camera with the best sensor you can afford and spend your money on the glass. Camera companies love to bombard you with a thousand different camera models, all of which have incrementally better features. However, many times cameras in the same price range have similar sensors (the meat and potatoes of the camera) with the “higher end” models containing more features, like WiFi to stream to your phone or GPS to geotag all your pictures. If you are into sharing your hot spots with the whole world then, by all means, upgrade to the camera with the GPS. However, in most cases you won’t use half of the extra features that you are paying an arm and a leg for.
The main features I like in my camera bodies are excellent dynamic range, a solid frame rate, high resolution, and lots of focal points.
2. Nice Glass. Nice Pictures.
My recommendation…buy great glass. Besides the creativity of the photographer, the lens is a huge contributor to a great picture. The types, versions, and brands of lenses are endless. With different styles from wide angle to macro; each lens gives you a different perspective and captures a scene differently. Unfortunately, it can be hard to know what the overall look and feel of a certain lens will be to cater to a fisherman. This brings me to my next suggestion. Follow people on social media that take cool pictures, maybe someone like Eastbound and Trout, and ask them what lens they used to take the picture you like. One day a light bulb might go off, “Every picture I like uses this lens!”, and boom you have your next birthday present.
Now, back to the sucker in the room…price. Unlike my previous recommendation of being weary of how much you spend on a camera, I have no reservations about telling you to miss a couple mortgage payments to afford nice glass. Quality lenses mean everything and the difference between cheap glass and high end glass 100% shows. When I open up a picture in Adobe Lightroom, I can immediately tell the quality of glass used…it is that apparent. Another benefit of high end lenses is that they hold their value. I recently sold a Canon L-series (Ferrari of the lens world) for the same price I bought it for 5 years ago. Remember that little fact when you are arguing with the wife about why you need it. I can go on and on about lenses and after writing this, it became apparent that I need to write a “Fishing and Lenses” article.
3. Mother Nature is Neat
I use this line a lot, “Mother Nature is Neat”. That saying explains a majority of my reasoning for liking the sport of fishing. Yes, I enjoy catching fish, but I also enjoy the environments they live in. It really hit hard when my mom talked about the beauty of my pictures. Not the beauty of the fish we hold or even the beauty of her son but, the places we go to hold those fish. I think this is something that we take for granted, especially when we make it all about the fish and not about the experience. So, unless you are fishing adjacent to a garbage dump, take some time to snap pictures of the surrounding wilderness. You might take a picture that becomes your all time favorite and guess what…it might not even have a fish in it.
One of my ultimate all-time favorites. Look mom...no fish!
4. Composition is Key
Composition noun com·po·si·tion \käm-pə-ˈzi-shən\ : the way in which something is put together or arranged : the combination of parts or elements that make up something
The wonderful world of photographic composition is a complex one. The composition of a photo is how you arrange or compose the picture through framing. The thing I find funny about composition is that almost every photographer agrees that it is important for the success of a photo, however, it is completely subjective and is built upon rules that can be broken regularly, with great success. For starters, become familiar with the rule of thirds. This simple composition rule breaks a picture into a rectangular grid, 3 across and 3 down. The idea is to align important elements of the shot on the lines of the rectangle. Using this simple rule will create a more interesting photograph, rather than just placing your subject directly in the middle of the frame. Remember, besides the ‘rules’, the most important task of composition is having a plan in your head when you are setting up a shot. Take your time to pay attention to the environment and use everything it is giving you to create the perfectly composed picture. A well composed 4 inch brookie can hit the viewer harder than a badly composed fish of a lifetime. Keep away from distracting objects. If there is a branch going through the corner of the picture; move it. If there is a bridge in the background; shoot from a different angle. Create a sense of depth and use natural lines to draw the viewer’s eye to the main subject of your picture.
In my opinion, and I know most photographers would agree, the composition can make or break the picture.
The 'rule of thirds' might be the simplest and most popular way of laying out composition. In fact, most camera companies include an option to turn on this 9 equal rectangle grid, 3 across and 3 down, in the live view mode to make it even easier to compose your photo using the 'rule of thirds'. The idea is to place the important elements of the photo along the lines or where they intersect. In the above picture, I’ve placed the river edge roughly along the bottom third of the frame and the fly fisherman along the line to the right.
Using a shallow depth of field to isolate this rainbows tail is a very effective way of simplifying the composition.
5. Learn Your Camera
How do you become a better caster? You practice. The same goes for photography. Now, this could be the years of hockey catching up with me, but I am always amazed at how quickly I forget the details of the picture taking process. This not only includes settings on the camera but simple things like how I organize my camera pack. Remember, when the fish is caught, every second matters in keeping our scaley friend healthy and returned back to the water. If you are fumbling around, adjusting settings and searching for a different lens, you are not only killing the moment but also the fish. Knowing your camera, no matter how advanced your photography skill set, and being prepared will make for better pictures. All of this comes with practice.
This is going to get repetitive but, learn your camera! You ready for this? This may seem silly but read your manual. Yes…yes…I know guys, we don’t do that but there is tons of special features that might make your life easier on the water. For example, I discovered that my Canon 5D Mark IV has a digital level that displays in the eye piece. This was especially helpful for me since my tendency is to take more of a drunk approach on my pictures and snap photos on the tilty, unlevel side.
Your goal is to become so familiar with all the different shooting settings that you say screw the auto features and go full manual. Remember cameras don’t take great pictures – people do.
Google your camera. No matter what model you have there will be tons of helpful articles and YouTube videos out there. I am not scared to say that most of my life knowledge comes from YouTube.
6. Sun Sucks: Respect the Light
Besides catching fish, the sun and its light can be one of the biggest variables the photographer can struggle with. We have all been riddled with harsh light that caused shadows or completely blows out a background. Unfortunately, every hour of the day can’t be the golden hour so we need to work with mother nature. Before you raise your camera, pay attention to how the light is interacting with the environment, and use it to your advantage. Are there interesting shadows or is it highlighting a certain area? These are all things to think about that can raise your pictures to a new level.
The golden hour can't be every hour of the day but when it hits....oohhh baby!
Shadows and highlights are not all bad. Use them to your advantage to create contrast, negative space, and unique shapes.
7. Don’t Be Scared
Be a badass and live on the edge. Take some risks. Yeahhhh…the equipment is expensive, but some of my favorite shots are some of my most risky shots. Experiment with different angles and different perspective that might push the limits of your comfort zone. I am not saying be reckless, but one of my favorite go to shots is shooting from a very low angle on the water. I am talking about having the camera less than an inch above the water kinda low. More often than not the camera gets splashed a little but I usually always walk away with a killer image.
HOT TIP: When buying a new camera I always purchase the warranty. Usually places like B&H and Amazon offer something like three to four years no questions asked accidental damage coverage. Drop it in the water, bear attack, drift boat oar incident…it’s all covered.
8. Fire Away
When I first got into photography I would snap a single picture and take a look at it on the LCD. It’s a bad habit photographers can develop. In our world, every second is crucial, not only in capturing the moment but keeping our subjects alive and healthy. Jam that eyepiece to your face and hold that shutter button down until the fish is swimming away from the angler. I snap off thousands of rounds sometimes to get 10-20 keepers….CLICK-CLICK-BOOM!
Turn up that shutter speed and hold down the trigger for catching that release or stopping water droplets from a dripping fish.
9. Focus Woes
The light is perfect, the fish is perfect, mother nature looks amazing in the background…snap. At first glance looking at the camera LCD screen, you think you have the perfect hero picture of your buddy and his bomber brown. A few hours later when you get home and pop in that memory card, the nightmare begins because you realize that everything is out of focus! I find that this is the realm that troubles new photographers the most. The subject of focus hits on two of the categories previously mentioned, including “learning your camera” and “firing away”. My biggest suggestion would be to learn how your auto focus point system works on your camera so that you can manipulate the areas you want to focus on. From there, you have to always remember to hold that shutter button down, the more pictures you take, the more of a chance to get the perfect focus. Every picture is different, but a good rule of thumb to follow is to focus on the eyes of the subject, whether that be a human or a fish.
Placing your cameras focus points on your subjects eyes is the ticket to perfectly focused pictures.
10. Fish with Dope People
Fishing with friends. Is there any other way to do it? Sharing the moment is what it is all about. Hell, that is why you are taking a picture in the first place. Increase your target environment by going out with your friends. Being around your buddies improves not only your mood but naturally makes for a better fishing environment. When your group is busting balls and catching fish, your heightened excitement will show in your pictures.
Fishing with friends creates a better environment for better pictures.
AUTHOR
Instead of a heavy DSLR/Lens combination, I suggest a waterproof point & shoot camera tethered to your body. I learned this when my Olympus SP250 went into the drink. The images were OK because the card wasn’t damaged but the camera not so much. Unless you are shooting professionally for a client, use the smaller camera.