Take Better Fishing Pictures

Better fishing pictures are possible with these twenty tips for taking better fishing pictures.

I have always enjoyed taking pictures, and I especially enjoy taking fishing pictures but I am not really picky with what the subject is. I can walk around for hours and take pictures of nothing, just experimenting with the different results. I spent a good portion of time in high school and college where I though I wanted to be a photographer as well. That being said, I have taken some GREAT pictures in my time and have won a few photo contests that I entered along the way but I have also taken some awful pictures as well.

Through my experience as a fishing guide and an amateur photographer I have picked up some tips and tricks along the way that will help you in getting the best fishing photos possible on your next catfish fishing trip (or any fishing trip for that matter). These twenty tips on taking better fishing pictures are in no particular order.

Go Digital Get a digital camera. It’s 2010 and you can get a digital camera for next to nothing, even new ones. You can get a brand new digital camera very inexpensively with every bell and whistle imaginable and you can pick up used digital cameras on ebay or even amazon.com for very cheap also. The cost to buy a digital camera is far offset by the cost to develop film. They are even making waterproof digital cameras now that are pretty inexpensive. I love my Canon EOS digital SLR but it’s not an everyday boat camera, I carry a cheap point and shoot digital camera with me on my catfish guide boat, but will soon be buying a Fujifilm Finepix XP10 waterproof digital camera like the one we will be giving away on Learn To Catch Catfish.

Fujifilm Finepix XP10 Digital Camera

Learn What Your Camera Functions Do Sit down and go against all forces of nature and read the manual and experiment with the settings. Orient yourself to the basic functions and learn how to use the camera. Point and shoot digital cameras are powerful machines that combine a ton of features into a small package. Using these features can greatly improve your photos over using the “manual” mode that most people go to. Pay close attention to whether your camera has a macro mode, bright light mode and a portrait mode.

Turn Off The Time Date Stamp Nothing can ruin a good fishing picture like the time and date stamp at the bottom corner.

Check Your Camera Out Before You Go Fishing Check your camera out before your fishing trip. Make sure the memory card is cleared and that the battery is charged or that you have fresh batteries. Make sure your camera is set to auto mode or some other function that will allow you to quickly take general pictures of your fishing trip. No batteries or no space on your memory card equals no fishing pictures.

Keep Your Camera Easily Accessible Put your camera somewhere where it will be safe but where you can get to it quickly and easily. Make sure it is somewhere that is not going to get wet from your cast net or get dropped in the lake. (I have personally dropped more cell phones and cameras into Lake Lewisville than I ever care to admit). If you are worried about the camera getting wet, get a dry bag or put it in a ziplock bag and wrap it up, or keep it in an easily accessible dry box.

Be Aware of Condensation Going from hot to cold or cold to hot will cause the camera to fog up and some will even shut down temporarily. I have ruined more than one good fishing picture of a trophy blue catfish because I pulled my camera from my pocket with a hand warmer into the cold air.

This photo was ruined because I pulled the camera from my pocket next to a hand warmer on a cold winter day while catfishing.

Hold Your Camera Still Holding the camera still and allowing the focus to autofocus or lock in is essential to a clean crisp picture of that big catfish you caught. Be steady and take a deep breath and then take the picture. Hold your breath while taking the photo of your catfish.

Focus Focus Focus Most every digital camera has an autofocus function. Use it. Typically you depress the button half way and it will “lock” the focus in and then you can press the button the rest of the way to shoot the photo of your fisherman and the catfish. Using this function instead of just press and shoot will give your picture greater clarity. You want the focus to be on the angler or the fish, whichever is most important.

Hold The Fish From Underneath Put one hand on the lip of the catfish or under it’s head and one hand between the belly of the catfish and its fin and support the catfish from underneath it’s body. Hold the catfish close to your body and relax. Don’t stick your arms at as far as you can to attempt to make the fish look bigger in the picture. Everyone knows that trick, you only ruin your picture and your not fooling anyone. Also holding the fish horizontal and not vertically will prevent possible damage to the fishes internal organs by gravity so you can release the fish alive.

Hold the fish from underneath to display it nicely and protect the catfish for live release!

Look For Distractions Look for distractions in your photo like a fishing rod sticking in the way of your subject, coke cans or food wrappers laying around etc. Try to move anything out of the way that would be a distraction in the photo. This is a practiced skill to follow that will make all pictures you take better. Also look at the background and make sure that the angler is not going to look like he has a tree or a light pole coming out of his head.

The strap hanging down in this photo made for what could have been a great catfishing photo.

Pay Attention To The People Get them to relax and smile. Many a fishing picture has been ruined by because the photographer was too focused on the fish and not the fisherman. If the fish is heavy and they look strained sit them down and lay the fish across their lap to get rid of the strained face. If they are squinting put some sunglasses on them. There are lot’s of quick fixes, just think ahead and move fast and make sure the fisherman smiles!

This angler struggling with the catfish made for a poor catfish picture. Had he been holding the fish from underneath and close to him and looking relaxed it would have been a much better catfish photo.

Take More Than One Shot Most cameras have a setting that will allow them to take continuous photos (several one right after another with one press of the button). This isn’t your daddy’s Kodak Brownie, don’t be afraid to take LOTS of shots, all you have to do is delete the ones you don’t like. It doesn’t cost anything.

Pay Attention To Light Keep the sun at your back, colors will be better in sunlight rather than in shadows and you will get more detail. Taking photos into the sun will provide a silhouette of them rather than the detail you are looking for. Don’t be afraid to use fill in flash which will eliminate shadows. The absolute best light for outdoor photos is always just after sunrise and just before sunset. You get a much warmer richer light. When you start paying attention to light you will start getting better pictures all the time. Facing the angler into the sun will cause them to squint which can ruin a fishing picture but sunglasses easily fix this! If you want to experiment with silhouette photos then shoot the picture into the sun. Get Close To The Subject Fill as much of the viewfinder with the subject and fish as possible. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make when taking fishing pictures. Next time you take a photo of a catfish get twice as close as you usually would and take the photo from there. Then back up a step or two and take another photo and so on. Take several shots and experiment with what looks best.

Filling the picture up with the subjects makes for a much more interesting shot. Get close!

Stop and Take a Look Around Don’t be afraid to take pictures of other things than your fish. Often times the best pictures from fishing trips are those without any fish in them. Take pictures of nature, water, sunrises and sunsets, your buddy sleeping on the deck of the boat, someone reeling a fish in, someone netting a big catfish with the dip net, you name it.

This angler fighting a trophy catfish makes for an interesting shot that he will remember!

This angler fighting to land a monster catfish with the sky as a backdrop makes for an interesting shot!

Get a Different Angle Most of the pictures I see are of an angler holding a fish and the picture is shot at eye level. BORING. Don’t be afraid to get up higher and shoot down, get down low  and shoot high etc, get on your knees, lay on your back etc. This will make your photo much more interesting and you will be much happier with the picture of your fish. Most people that look at pictures on my catfish guide service website comment that you cannot see anything in the backgrounds. I shoot pictures from different angles because it makes for better pictures and makes them more interesting but I also do this to obscure the backgrounds so people cannot identify my fishing spots!

Picture shot from down low looking up at the angler with the sky as a background.

Get Off Center Don’t be afraid to put your subject on one side of the viewfinder, it creates different angles and makes things interesting.

This photo would have been much less interesting if the angler was centered in the middle.

This photo was shot looking almost straight on and all the fishermen are distracted. BORING!

The same anglers and catfish as the photos above from a different angler and with everyone ready. Much more interesting!

Shooting this catfish picture from an angle makes for a much more interesting catfish photo!

Go Macro Experiment with your cameras macro setting and get really close to your fish you catch and take some pictures that way, it makes for some great shots.

This photo taken up close is interesting but taken from a few feet away would have been less appealing.

Edit Your Photos Experiment with cropping, changing to black and white or sepia, removing red eye and more at free online photo editing websites like Picasa, Picnik and others

Have Fun Great fishing pictures don’t have to be serious so don’t be afraid to cut loose and try something new like taking a photo of the tiniest fish you catch, or taking pictures of your fishing buddy picking a big rats nest backlash out of his fishing reel, sometimes these pictures make great memories!

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