Part 2
A good fishing trip is a memory maker.  There’s simply no better way to keep those memories fresh and to share them with others than with the pictures you took or had taken at the time.

I talked about some of my own early day picture taking experience in my last column.  This time around let’s look at some of the things we can all do to get good quality pictures.

That's a nice bass but this is a lousy photo of it.  The camerman should have asked his subject to move the fish away  from in front of the subject's face.  The picture also lacks sharpness.  That's indicative of camera movement.  A good shot would also have gotten rid of all that clutter that doesn't need to be included.

Getting good pictures has never been easier.  As far as I’m concerned, if you’re still fooling around with film you’re making a mistake.  Get a digital camera.  It’s a decision you’ll never regret.

Digital cameras come with different price tags.  Like most everything else, you’re likely to get about what you pay for.  Digital camera technology has made tremendous strides over the past decade.  Today you can get one that takes darn good pictures  for about half of what you paid less than 10 years ago.

For longer than some readers probably care to remember I’ve been stressing the need to practice casting accuracy as a means of putting more fish in the boat.  Practice with your digital camera is also essential if you want to get acceptable pictures once fish are caught.

And why not practice?  If you go digital you’re not messing with expensive film.  It’s not going to cost you a dime to learn something about digital photography once you have a camera.  Just spent a couple of hours shooting whatever you choose.  You can review your results as each picture is taken.

I’m not going to get into the countless details and the ins and outs of professional photography.  I’ve shot or set up pictures that someone else actually shot thousands of times over the past half century.  Some of those photos have been published everywhere from newspapers to magazines and calendar covers. Currently I use them to support a variety of Internet writing just as you’re seeing here.

I still don’t view myself as a picture taking expert.  I merely regard photography as something that’s essential to support my writing.  I also value the wondrous contribution it makes for storing those pictorial treasures of fishing adventures I mentioned in the beginning.

Do learn the basic controls your camera has.  You’ll need to  understand the importance of speed and ISO settings.  You’ll also need to determine the settings you want for some of the other controllable features.  I always, for example, take every photo at the highest quality (most pixels) my camera permits. 
Shooting at the largest or finest setting won’t let you get as many pictures on a single card, but I’d rather have a couple of good quality shots that retain quality if I choose to have them enlarged than a dozen that don’t provide that option.

Something else that is of great importance in getting good fishing photos is learning how to properly use your camera’s flash.  You or the friends whose pictures you take are almost always going to be wearing a hat or cap.  The shade headgear provides from the rays of the sun is great.  The shadows they throw over your face aren’t when it’s picture taking time.

Simply taking time to reposition your cap or doing the same for your subject can help.  So can your camera’s fill-in flash.  Study what your camera’s instruction booklet has to say about it.  Once you’ve done that, get out and practice.  Learn what your camera’s flash can and can’t do to eliminate shadows.  Again, with a digital camera all it takes is your time and it’s a cinch to be time well spent.

This is what happens when you don't take time to make sure your light is right or choose a proper background.  Sometimes just a simple change of your shooting angle or camera settings can make a big difference in your picture.

Nothing sparks up a photo more than color.  Often the backgrounds provided by Mother Nature don’t provide that much of it.  It’s up to you to do so.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply stick a couple of lightweight jackets in your boat.  They should be in a solid bright color like red or yellow.  Stay away from those that have a pattern.

It’s a simple matter to slip into one or another of these jackets when it’s picture taking time.  The silver coloration of trout or the greenish black of a bass stands out well against backgrounds of such colors.

There’s one other consideration where fish photography is concerned that has nothing to do with the equipment or the accessories.  It’s a consideration that’s equally important and one that’s overlooked again and again. 

I’ll tell you what it is and how to avoid it in my next column.  You’ll find it here beginning July 1.
-To Be Continued-