Taking shots of fish is one of the most important parts of fishing as it is a record of great trips and fish caught sometimes long after the memory fades and it preserves small things that you might forget and serves to remind you of great adventures and memories. Everyone is different and wants something different out of a picture and will so take the picture according to their likes or dislikes. Also the more you take pictures and the better your equipment the better your pictures will become.
I prefer taking pictures that focus on the fish as the central point as this is the reason for the picture, I see no benefit in taking a picture of your fish with mountains, boats, sea, seagulls etc in the back ground, if you want this then take a scenic picture when fishing is quite . The aim to me for any fish picture is to highlight the fish. I also think the whole angle of the picture is up to the photographer and I find the flat side on pictures very boring and from a by gone era of hanging a fish on the gantry. We have modern technology and great equipment why not use it but within limits, e.g. a fish eye lens is going to distort the fish and the picture is going to be lost. You are never going to get a true size picture no matter what, as it is not going to tell you in the corner of the picture like a date "this is 42.5kgs" That is what tape measures and scales are for to give you an accurate size and you can in turn use an accurate indicator for the size not a guestimate from a picture which happens way to often.
I can make a fish 50kgs look 25kgs because you are taking it flat side on and not framing the fish. You want to see the proportions of the fish the shoulders the width, the girth. A flat side picture shows none of this. Why do you actually want to try and make your fish look smaller and not focus in close on a wonderful animal that you have paid a lot of money to catch through trips, gear, cameras, time etc.
Fukui-san which has some of the most epic GT pictures in my opinion and in the infamous Japanese style of pictures at an angle, and he takes all of these with a Lumix digital camera with no wide angle lens and costs about USD200 so it is a case of you can do what ever you want with what ever camera. It is about framing the picture and your distance from the fish, hence get in as close as possible. The main things I like in a picture is that you don't cut off the tail or head of fish or angler, you don't have the universe in the background, you have the sun behind the photographer at an angle to highlight the colors of the fish, you don't have any shadow on the fish, you take several pictures from different angles to ensure you have one or two money shops, you secure the fish safely so it is not slipping or falling, end of the day you don't want to injure the fish for the sake of a picture no matter how important you think the picture is. And one of the most important and yet least done of all, get everyone on the boat to help, lift the fish, flush the gills with water, position the boat, clear shadows, standby to help the angler, release the fish etc. There is a lot to be said for preparation before the trip starts on how pictures are going to be taken so that you and the crew are quick and effective when the fish is onboard, rather than everyone shouting and running in different directions, good pictures is team work.
If you are getting into photography but don't now the equipment or settings don't take a chance and rather shoot on auto, rather have a picture that is slightly off than a picture taken on manual that is totally no good, if you use a polarizer make sure you check it constantly that it is clean as they get fine spray and water on very easily, try use a sun cover to shield your lens and filter from the sun but also to help reduce spray and water landing on your lens, store your camera and lenses in an easy but secure case, make sure you have a secure place for the case to sit while on the boat. Seen a lot of cameras fall and break and also go overboard. Always put the strap securely around your arm, neck or hand, again seen cameras go overboard.
I think it is more about the basics of getting a few simple things right like sun direction, camera positioning while taking pictures, clean lenses etc rather than trying to play with settings as it is not a studio, you have limited time to take pictures and also these are lifetime memories so need to make sure you get them. I tell my captains if they don;t get the picture the fish it is not caught. In this day and age the pictures are worth more than gold.
Hope this helps, a little different to what most people think but we do this almost every day of the year and have tried and tested almost every camera and method and this works for us, but also what works for us might not work for you and you just need to find your sweet spot and run with it! Good luck!!
Cheers,
Nick
