sandbar trout1

sandbar trout1

Coral Trout taken off the sandbar


Posts: 485

Date Joined: 04/02/06

Another good one 85 - 90%

Thu, 2006-05-11 17:48

Ok another good pic.

Great sky and water color!

Fish is a great green color too!

For some unkown reason the anglers hand holding it is also green - either he is related to the incredible hulk or the shadow of the fish has fooled the camera!

Use of a fill flash would have eliminated this problem as well as filling in the shadows on anglers face!

Lift Camera a few degrees so we get more great blue shy and lose the anglers shorts - water / sky horizin should be 2/3rd 1/3rd..not 55/45

Black shirts usually arent good in color photo's - one of the hardest possible colors to photograph!

Theres technical reasons, for eg...most camera's expose for a mixture of all colors equalling 18% grey...Black is a total absence of light andfools the camera exposure meter! Black (zero light) always comes out crap with auto exposure just like snow (100% light) does, because it fools a camera's auto exposure set at 18% grey! ;o)

Wear a colorful shirt - but NOT something more colorful than the fish! Pastels and light secondary (not primary) color shirts photgraph best!

Who thinks about their wardrobe choice the day they go fishing with view to photographs eh? (Those who get paid for their pics Do!!!).

Holding line in other hand is Ok - but lose the rod tip out of the shot!

Small things but they all ad up!

Great fish great scenery, photo's not too bad, color saturations good but shadows are bad and detract from otherwise very colorful and interesting fish!

Stand up straight please - leaning angler fools eye that either horizon isn't level or anglers leaning!

Pretty good - color saturation, light is always great in the Pilbara and further north - make the most of it! Polarise more, angles of light incidence / reflection and light dissipation thru atmosphere due to lattitude give the edge to your more equatorial dwellers - make the most of it!

Hope thse commenst are taken as constructive criticism designed to help get a even better photo next time!

Cheers!

SHizz's picture

Posts: 1556

Date Joined: 07/08/05

isnt it a green glove?

Thu, 2006-05-11 18:33

isnt it a green glove?

Posts: 13

Date Joined: 08/05/06

Looks like a glove to me too

Thu, 2006-05-11 19:37

Looks like a glove to me too

Posts: 485

Date Joined: 04/02/06

Half right

Thu, 2006-05-11 20:55

I've manipulted this photo severely (apologies to the poster) with a photo editor program to get a look at that green hand and we are half right!

It's some kind of fingerless glove, with only the tips of the fingers insdie a glove the rest of the hand / knuckles etc are indeed "green" because the camera's auto exposure or something has been tricked as stated by the dark black shirt into exposing for 18% grey!

It was sheer accident he came out green in the face and now DOES look somewhat like the "incredible hulk" - I swear it was not by deliberate design! LOL LOL

Interesting tho - that glove!

Just shows - how hard it can be judging photo's when shadows hide what a fill in flash would show!

Is anyone learning anything from the tips I'm posting?

Cheers!

Posts: 485

Date Joined: 04/02/06

You can see

Thu, 2006-05-11 21:05

You can see in the pic below - i've again had a go at modifying the photo to reveal a few aspects of the phtot to bring out a bit of the lost detail in the shadows - unfortunately I've lost some color saturation in doing so!

A tip for anyone resizing photo's with software is that often brightness is lost as photo's are shrunk and they get darker so if they were a little dark to start with - often by the time they are shrunk to post on the internet a lot of detail can be lost if they aren't lightened/brightened just a little!

There are photo doctoring programs where you can digitally alter just small sections of a photo (photoshop it) to for example eliminate shadowns under the eyes and so on!

Cheers!

Posts: 485

Date Joined: 04/02/06

Then again!

Thu, 2006-05-11 21:12

Then again some photoshop type software can be misused for fun just to have a laugh n giggle!

Lets see a coral trout to match that beauty! ;o)

Cheers!

Posts: 13

Date Joined: 08/05/06

Mate you've got too much

Thu, 2006-05-11 21:24

Mate you've got too much time on your hands :)

Posts: 2318

Date Joined: 03/05/06

bloody hell

Thu, 2006-05-11 21:58

with you davo, all the way

Posts: 485

Date Joined: 04/02/06

Amazing what ya learn hey!

Fri, 2006-05-12 10:29

Yup - agreed - tis amazing what you learn hey!
So, is anyone learning anything?

I'm hoping my tips will help those entering their photo's for pic of the month raise the standards each time!

Cheers

mitch's picture

Posts: 1285

Date Joined: 14/08/05

learning

Fri, 2006-05-12 12:07

im learning all the time and as far as photos go i have to admit im shite at it, with good fish coming up in photos that look crap.they say a good tradesmen never blames his tools ,but good tools definatly help.thats my excuse anyway.p.s im not a good tradesman
always in it just the depth that varies

Posts: 485

Date Joined: 04/02/06

Not Bad Mitch

Mon, 2006-05-15 23:10

The photo's and the fish themselves from up the Pilbara from you guys are great truly great!

There is just afew tips that might help - it's hrd to damn remember everything specially when your in the photot and someone else is taking it!

The easey part - is if your the fish catcher, you can control whether you wear a hat and sunnies or not - you can even set the camera befoehand to deliberately use flash as a fill in - when someone tels you "No it's auto flash mate, if it doesn't come on, theres enough light not to need it" or words to this effect - you know you have a photographer of your prized fish who don't know jack shyte and your going to end up with shadows fooling the exposure meter and underexposing the fish for it;s full vibrant colors etc! ;o)

I'm a bastic when folks film me with my camera because I shout bloody orders to all and sundry like a veritable Capt Bligh - I MAKE the skipper get the boat in a position for the best lighting and background, I make people move around the boat for a clear shot - I make sure the shots about 50% - 75% polarised at least, I make damn suure the fill flash is on, I make sure the photographer focuses on the fishes eye, I make sure my hats up a bit and glasses off, I make sure they focus tight and take a shot then i demand the pull framing even tighter and do it again!

If theres any blood on the fish or me I make em douse me and the fish with a bucket of seawater, till it's all clean and shiney etc etc even if I am wet for the photo!

Theres lots of ways to improve your pics, I explain about masthead room and room down the side for a contents list etc etc, and most folks take instructions well because they learn to be better fish photographers as a result!

I wonder how many folks consider themselves to be great fishers who catch fish just as good as the cover shots they see on magazines but havent any real clue bout the preparation knowlege and skill that goes into getting a great cover shot!

I've got afew corkers - that never made the grade because I forgot one or more rules of my own advice - so everyone goofs occasionally!

I keep them to remind me of great fish in lousey pics, byt try not to post them often unless I'm actually showing pics that went horribly wrong to help others do better and not repeat my mistakes!!

One tip I did learn with a very expensive canon camera, is not to leave it around ya neck while wade fly fishing and then bend over to untangle your fly line from around a oyster encrusted rock and have a wave come past and dunk the whole camera in seawater while your bent over and it's hanging low off your neck on it's strap!! :rollseyes:

Ouch - that one hurt!

Lots we can all learn I reckon!

Cheers!

mitch's picture

Posts: 1285

Date Joined: 14/08/05

yeah ya onto it

Mon, 2006-05-15 23:55

yeah your right fly west theres plenty of pics on these pages where if prosented proper could be cover shots .and all the tips you put up will help .someday i hope to get the shot myself ,maybee of a good mate with a pb fish .
always in it just the depth that varies