Camera Techniques When Fishing?

[kingtin]

Those are beautiful Kingtin, it's like a travel catalogue!

Thanks Nic, as my sig says, they're free to ausfishers. Buyers pay $160 for a framed print at 20x16.

If an ausfisher is looking for a unique gift for someone, why not a nice large priint? Rather than pay mega bucks, take a look, if any ausfishers like something, let me know, and I can send a digital copy which you can print out at hardly normals or somewhere else and then frame it yourself for a fraction of the cost................it's just a hobby to me, although I do make a few bob occasionally

I'm updating all the time and hope to get a few more Aussie flavours soon.

Next tip coming soon........... with regards to those 20x16 and bigger prints from small megapixel cameras

kev

[Poodroo]

Kev you never disappoint when it comes to photography mate. Those photos are truly a step above all else and fall into the "Art" category. You know your stuff. I assume you will be taking the camera on your holiday?
Thanks to all who have contributed to the thread. It's a good topic I thought.

Poodroo

[Poodroo]

I got the Olympus MJU 850sw, i got it too improve shots when im fishing,
Aquariums and in General. Great little camera with 24 different Camera Modes and has the Panorama Mode where you join photos together, you also got Face Detection and Auto Zoom thingy. Also if you get the 2G memory you can house over 1,000 pics and video memory is in the 30min mark.

I actually havent been fishing since i got the camera several weeks ago so i still gotta try it out for fishing shots. But i have been taking tank shots and they come out pretty good, you can see all the detail and colours. I'll attach some shots i have done and i recon they are pretty good with detail.

Thnx to all the members who recommended the Olympus series of Cameras to me

The pic in my sig is a Jungle Prch i took with the Camera on Underwater Macro Mode, shows detail and the beauty of these magnificent fish. The pic has no editing at all, i did try to edit it but it actually wrecked the pic rather than make it look better.

To look at some of the videos this Camera takeshave a look in my utube account at the recent vids.http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFishGuy011

Cammy

Cammy I am glad you listened when you were asking for advice on which compact to buy. I hope you find the Olympus serves you as well as mine has done.

Cheers,

Poodroo

[imnotoriginal]

Great topic. I can understand Webby's point of view, but I think a nice pic can really make a trip for me. It's all well and good to say "I got a big bream that day" or "great day on the water and the fish were biting" but having a few really good photos just adds to the day. I'd prefer a few photos where some thought and effort was put in than a whole hard drive of point and shoots.
Joel
p.s. great photos Kev and that's a nice underwater snap Nic!

[Dug]

I make a living from photography and have for the last 30 odd years.

The rules ?

There are no rules

Compacts are fine for most work now The new underwater compacts are just amazing.

One hint for compacts is look at everything in the frame or on the screen, lots of people concentrate on what they are looking at ( fish or boat ) and forget what the background looks like. Check the whole picture before pushing the button.


If you have an SLR styled camera BUY A POLARIZING FILTER and learn how to use it !!

They make an amazing difference.

last hint

Take lots of photos, look at lots of photos, look at the photos in fishing mags and think "Why does that look good" then look at your photos and think "OK what should I do different?"


photography can be a lot of fun and can give you really good memories and stories, it is worth a little effort to get the best results.


http://www.silverimagephotos.com.au/

you can judge if I know anything about photography

[ronnien]

doug,

i have heard that a photo tells a thousand words, mate yours tells me 1... UNREAL!!!
just by going through & having a good look at them is going to be a big big help.

ron.

[Poodroo]

Dug I am glad I have people like yourself and Kev making me feel humbled about my photographic capabilities. It makes me want to go out and invest a lot of money in my photographic equipment and then spend just as much in lessons on how to use them properly. Thanks for contributing to the thread. Perhaps we need someone with your expertise to run a Photo Workshop M&G in the future. Should be fun and informative.

Poodroo

[kingtin]

2 lots of tips:


Shooting and saving:

If your camera can shoot in RAW, always shoot in RAW. The disadvantage is that they are big files but now that memory cards are a lot cheaper, there's no reason not to.

Why RAW? RAW is just that.............it's the Raw information that your camera captures without any in camera processing. When you shoot in jpeg, the camera processes the image the way that it's microprocessor has been programmed to. 95% of the time, it will average out pretty well, but if you want control over your image, and want to "develop" it in your digital darkroom the way that you would like, then RAW is the go. After you process your RAW image, you can save it as a tiff, jpeg or any number of different files, but jpeg and tiff are the main ones.

What have you got against jpeg? This is really important as most folk new to photography don't know about this....have you ever noticed over a period of time that a once nice looking digital pic is now looking a bit shabby?......jpegs are a means to an end............they are the finished product that most "labs" expect your files (photos) to be in when they are "developed". The problem with jpegs is that they degrade every time you save them............they throw away a little bit of info each time they are saved. If you are going to work on them.........straighten a horizon, crop, sharpen, or otherwise change them in any way, then do that all in one session and then save, and always save at the highest quality your software will allow. If you crop and save, you will lose a little bit of detail. If you then re-open it at a later date, and decide it needs sharpening and then save it again, you will lose a bit more detail. Avoid major calamities by making a copy and working on that...............don't touch the original unless you have a calamity with the copy. You can also save as a tiff as these don't degrade when you save them, although they are a bigger file...........I have 3 copies of all my pics.........the original RAW, a tiff, and the jpeg which is the completed (developed) "neg" ready for printing.

If your camera doesn't shoot in RAW, then don't worry as long as you observe the rule to work on your jpeg all in one go and only save once.


Those megapixels and what to do if you ain't got 'em:

There is a lot of attention given to how many megs your camera can record and it is generally considered that the more the merrier and this is generally so. If you haven't got an adequate zoom lens and from the sidelines you shoot (with a standard lens) your kiddy playing footy, then you will likely have a large playing field with a tiny kiddy in the middle of it. You can correct this by cropping out the field and enlarging your kiddy to a standard size image (say 6x4). If you do this, you will also be enlarging any imperfections, and pixelation can also occur (you can see the pixels). If you had a 10 meg camera, the faults would not show as much as a camera of lesser megs, so generally it can be seen that the more megs the better when it comes to cropping and enlarging

So is all hope lost for those with only a 3 meg camera if they want to crop and enlarge?.............Contrary to what camera salesmen may tell you, no it is not. I have seen a picture enlarged to poster size from a 2meg camera and could hardly tell the difference from a 10 meg. There are programmes such as Genuine Fractals that can upsize better than photoshop but considering it's cost, you might as well try and buy a camera of higher meg. If you have photoshop and a low meg camera, you can upsize your image but if for example, you wanted an image twice the size, to frame and hang on your wall, do not simply double it...........increase it in 10% steps or less and the finished product will be much better than doing it all in one go. Of course, upsizing is no substitute for more megs but it is a way of getting say a 6meg pic from a 3 meg pic with little loss of resolution. If the pic is sub-standard in any way, it won't improve it............upsizing is simply a way of creating a file that will print larger than the camera manufacturer recommends.

If I've lost you on the above, feel free to ask what you aren't clear on, or pm me.

kev

[kingtin]

photography can be a lot of fun and can give you really good memories and stories, it is worth a little effort to get the best results.

Dug, I remember when I was pretty much new to the site, there were some amazing marlin shots on here and I'm thinking that they were yours if I remember rightly? If they were, could you put a few up for the newer members as they were bloody gold mate and put the viewer right in on the action.

kev

[kingtin]

I assume you will be taking the camera on your holiday?

Poodroo

Probably just the 3meg fujifinepix mate.............good enough for vermin pics

kev

[Nic]

For anyone who hasn't seen the Catch photos in the Saltwater Fishing Photos section, here is a link: http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...d.php?t=137772

The pics are from a US magazine, they're amazing!

[Poodroo]

2 lots of tips:


Shooting and saving:

If your camera can shoot in RAW, always shoot in RAW. The disadvantage is that they are big files but now that memory cards are a lot cheaper, there's no reason not to.

Why RAW? RAW is just that.............it's the Raw information that your camera captures without any in camera processing. When you shoot in jpeg, the camera processes the image the way that it's microprocessor has been programmed to. 95% of the time, it will average out pretty well, but if you want control over your image, and want to "develop" it in your digital darkroom the way that you would like, then RAW is the go. After you process your RAW image, you can save it as a tiff, jpeg or any number of different files, but jpeg and tiff are the main ones.

What have you got against jpeg? This is really important as most folk new to photography don't know about this....have you ever noticed over a period of time that a once nice looking digital pic is now looking a bit shabby?......jpegs are a means to an end............they are the finished product that most "labs" expect your files (photos) to be in when they are "developed". The problem with jpegs is that they degrade every time you save them............they throw away a little bit of info each time they are saved. If you are going to work on them.........straighten a horizon, crop, sharpen, or otherwise change them in any way, then do that all in one session and then save, and always save at the highest quality your software will allow. If you crop and save, you will lose a little bit of detail. If you then re-open it at a later date, and decide it needs sharpening and then save it again, you will lose a bit more detail. Avoid major calamities by making a copy and working on that...............don't touch the original unless you have a calamity with the copy. You can also save as a tiff as these don't degrade when you save them, although they are a bigger file...........I have 3 copies of all my pics.........the original RAW, a tiff, and the jpeg which is the completed (developed) "neg" ready for printing.

If your camera doesn't shoot in RAW, then don't worry as long as you observe the rule to work on your jpeg all in one go and only save once.


Those megapixels and what to do if you ain't got 'em:

There is a lot of attention given to how many megs your camera can record and it is generally considered that the more the merrier and this is generally so. If you haven't got an adequate zoom lens and from the sidelines you shoot (with a standard lens) your kiddy playing footy, then you will likely have a large playing field with a tiny kiddy in the middle of it. You can correct this by cropping out the field and enlarging your kiddy to a standard size image (say 6x4). If you do this, you will also be enlarging any imperfections, and pixelation can also occur (you can see the pixels). If you had a 10 meg camera, the faults would not show as much as a camera of lesser megs, so generally it can be seen that the more megs the better when it comes to cropping and enlarging

So is all hope lost for those with only a 3 meg camera if they want to crop and enlarge?.............Contrary to what camera salesmen may tell you, no it is not. I have seen a picture enlarged to poster size from a 2meg camera and could hardly tell the difference from a 10 meg. There are programmes such as Genuine Fractals that can upsize better than photoshop but considering it's cost, you might as well try and buy a camera of higher meg. If you have photoshop and a low meg camera, you can upsize your image but if for example, you wanted an image twice the size, to frame and hang on your wall, do not simply double it...........increase it in 10% steps or less and the finished product will be much better than doing it all in one go. Of course, upsizing is no substitute for more megs but it is a way of getting say a 6meg pic from a 3 meg pic with little loss of resolution. If the pic is sub-standard in any way, it won't improve it............upsizing is simply a way of creating a file that will print larger than the camera manufacturer recommends.

If I've lost you on the above, feel free to ask what you aren't clear on, or pm me.

kev

Kev I appreciate this valuable information that you have shared. You're a wealth of knowledge on this subject. Thanks.

Poodroo

[MattChew]

Good Post Andrew, I have a Canon 300D and would like to use some sort of Tripod in my Boat ... to take pictures of all the Double Hookups obviously but seriously if I am Fishing on my own, I want a picture that is not on a Brag Mat or similar. I have just purchased a remote and was thinking of having mount in the boat which I can just attach the Camera to a pole ... a tripod would be a bit of a pain to get out, set up etc don't you think?

Thanks
Matt

[Poodroo]

Good Post Andrew, I have a Canon 300D and would like to use some sort of Tripod in my Boat ... to take pictures of all the Double Hookups obviously but seriously if I am Fishing on my own, I want a picture that is not on a Brag Mat or similar. I have just purchased a remote and was thinking of having mount in the boat which I can just attach the Camera to a pole ... a tripod would be a bit of a pain to get out, set up etc don't you think?

Thanks
Matt

Thanks Matt. Most tripods have that little mount that you mount onto the bottom of your camera. Just leave it permenantly fixed to the bottom of the camera when you head out and that way when required all you need to do is simply extend the tripod and clip the camera onto it. Put the camera on self timer and hopefully it is set up in the right position. I tend to look at the viewing screen first and do a practise photo first then snap off a couple more shots just to have the pick of them to keep.

Poodroo

[kingtin]

Hi Matt,

These are the bees knees:




You can wrap 'em round your bimini, a hand rail, or even the handle on an esky. A tripod in a boat is a no-no if there's any swell or wash................you're just settling down with fish in one hand, and a remote in the other, and Mr White Deck Shoes swans past in his Riviera...............over goes your tripod and smash goes your camera.

There are copies of these at a fraction of the price on ebay but you get what you pay for and the Joby original does the job perfectly.

kev