Annual Trout Trip

[Vito1 0]

Finally had a good opportunity to play with the new DSLR on a fishing trip with my brothers. I refused to grab the point and shoot even though I might miss some shots. Figure I won't learn if I use it as a crutch. I think I did okay. Kept forgetting to adjust the white balance out of excitement when big fish were caught. I think I still got some good shots. I messed up some would be great shots but not keeping the lens clear of rain and fog as well as bad focusing. I always want to get the fish back quickly and I lose attention to detail. Once it becomes second nature of what settings I want to use for a certain shot I think it will get better. I'm posting some of the bad ones for two reasons. One, so you guys can offer some help. Two, they are nice fish! Any tips are welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some pics of my daughter while on the trip.

 

 

 

 

A long story of this trip can be found here...

 

Matt

[troutgeek 0]

Excellent pictures there Matt. Looks like you had a great trip to the holy waters. Your daughter is a gorgeous little girl. I don't envy you in about 14 years.

[Vito1 0]

Excellent pictures there Matt. Looks like you had a great trip to the holy waters. Your daughter is a gorgeous little girl. I don't envy you in about 14 years.

We were a little further downstream, below Mio. Thanks for the compliment about my daugher. I try not to think about the teenage years...its a little scary!

[Mokai 0]

I think you did quite well Matt..

I looks like allot of your shots were under less than ideal conditions..

The shots that were slightly blurry are probably due to the slow shutter speeds..

 

They were like 1/10th and 1/15th of a second at 55mm..That is very difficult to get sharp shots hand held..

 

Good job on getting it out and using it..You will learn allot quicker that way

[Ashby 0]

Matt, those are some pretty awesome pictures. Even in the conditions you were in with the less than sunny day. Even the photos you called "bad" are pretty good. Of course the one with the daughter are the money shots. I'm in the same boat, one of mine is already 12 ugh!

 

Ashby

[Vito1 0]

I looks like allot of your shots were under less than ideal conditions..

The shots that were slightly blurry are probably due to the slow shutter speeds..

Thats a good point, Andrew. I really rushed the shots of the big buck my younger brother caught. It was raining very hard and I was concerned with the camera getting wet. I'm not sure how wet is too wet when it comes to my XTi. We tucked under a pine and that helped a little, but the camera was still getting wet. We also wanted to get the fish back quickly and that also caused me to rush. That didn't help when I need to be steady under those conditions.

 

Thanks for the compliments, Ashby.

[Tybugs1 0]

First off---I'm jealous---they are some really nice brownies. Two, great pictures. I really liked your top three. I'm learning as well but from what I see your doing awesome.

[Wulff 0]

Couple things Matt.

 

1st.

Weather sealing on the XTI....Non existant. It can likely handle getting a little spray on certain "area's but if any gets into a seam you could fry it. Ditto your lens double ditto if you get some in the mounting rings.

Only Canons 1D series and L series lenses have weather sealing, and thats only insurance protection. Even they can be fried. The 40D is being marketed as having some weather sealing (not as much as 1Ds but some) and it does have a rubber seal around the memory card door, but I wouldnt trust it to a sneeze.

 

Insurance is your friend. Riders as a general rule cost about 1% of the value. Ive got about 9k worth of stuff insured ( not incl accessories like tripods, couple cheaper lenses) and its cost me just over $100.00/year for no questions asked replacement insurance.

 

You can use a large zip lock or plastic bag in a pinch. Take a UV filter for the lens your going to use. Trace a line around the the filter onto the bag. Then cut out a hole a mm or two inside the traced line on the pastic bag. What that does is allow you to put the body + lens inside the bag, then you position the cutout over your front element. Because the cutout is ever so slightly smaller than the lens there should be a bit of material inside the lenses filter ring. Then you screw on the UV filter and voila, that seals the bag over your body/lens but still allows your lens too "see" unimpeded and the only thing that gets wet is the front of your UV filter.

 

Its not fool or bullet proof. Even zip locks can fail and water could seep between the bag/uv filter but its alot better than nothing if you really want/must shoot in the rain.

 

Its aslo a good idea to always have a green garbage bag stuffed inside your camera bag incase you get caught in a down poor.

 

2nd

Couple things on the pics. Try to always have the eye in focus. Rules are meant to be broken but no matter what your siubject is, be it a fish, a White Tail, a Hawk, a Person....You want the eyes in focus unless your going for a real "artsy" type shot. Whether its shake or shallow Depth of Field its hard to tell, my guess is its both but in alot of the shots you can see you (or the body) center focused, typically a little behind the eye. The narrower your DoF and in this case due to the light you must have had the lens wide open ( f3.5) the more important it is to make sure your focused on the point of interest as most else will be oof. Change your focus points as needed or use "One shot mode" and focus center point then recompose.<< This latter method can fail though when wide open as by swinging your camera you usually change the focus plane and when at wide apertures your DoF can often be measured in fractions of inches. So what was in focus, is now out of the effective DoF.

 

Your daughters adorable, looks like a wonderful trip despite the less than ideal conditions.

[Will Milne 0]

Hi

 

Nice fish/pics and daughter:)

 

Those are the types of situations where some diffuse fill flash can really help to open up the tonal range. It is often helpfull to practise some slow shutter speed stuff at home. Try squating down hold the camera with your elbows on your knees and push down till you feel pressure on your knees . Basically turning your body into a tripod of sorts.

 

Might want to think about a system for fish pic taking. Leave the fish in the net till your organized and then lift and shoot. As long as the fish is not out of the water longer than you can hold your regular breathe - is a decent rule.

 

hope that helps

 

Will

[Wulff 0]

What Will said about a system for "lift and grins" helps alot to. One "tip" that was given to me recently by someone who regularily contribute to Mags is to always carry your own net. Get a good one, both good material, big enough and Nice looking...Its goingto be in alot of photos. Luckily for me I had one already

 

When I shot the "Openers" over last Sat/Sun I did just that. Its even harder to get decent fish images when strangers are the ones catching and holding the fish. They usually dont know anything about photogrpahy and often, even less about fish handling. I actaully had a guy stuff his hand into a big hens gill plate. I just about shat and only felt slightly better when he put it on a stringer.

 

I got alot of odd looks with all my gear and a net and even more when I suggested the angler use my net to land them, rather than drag them up on shore. Either way, each and everytime I asked someone if I could take pictures Id get them to put the fish in my net. That allowed me to coach them a bit while the fish was chilling in the water, in my net and I was changing setting on my camera. Id say when I give you the go ahead I want you to lift the fish just so, hold it just so and position it just so... Sometimes I say...just half in/ half out..other times id ask for a complete lift,etc, etc. The key is the whole time the fish is in the net and in the water.

 

Then when *I* was ready, id say "now", get 2 or 3 quick pics and then I was done.

 

Hope you dont mind the added link in your thread but this illustrates it, even though Im not crazy about the image.

http://jben.zenfolio.com/p127698064/?photo...DCBA9#923650985

 

Other pics in the thread of mine where the water is streaming off the fish were all managed the same way.

Fish in net while I prep the camera and angler, then 'click away".

[Vito1 0]

Thanks for the tips Will and John. The fish photos are always taken quickly and the fish is never out of water for more than 5 seconds at a time. We only have it out of water a couple times giving it adequate rest in between. The fish is held facing upstream when the photos aren't being taken. The whole thing is really over very quickly and fish swimming away unharmed is our number one concern. Our goal is for it to have a sore mouth and nothing more.

[JayMorr 0]

SICKY SICKY! Nice photos man. WOW. When we going fishing??? Your daughter is adorable! Great stuff Vito. Keep em coming.