Lee Fishers guide to self taken carp fishing photography

This is the method I use for photographing all my fish and is very simple and guarantee's perfect results every time. You need a camera with a power winder, which most camera's will have, a tripod and a bulb air release. Also you will need a long adjustable bankstick. The most important part of taking the picture is the composition. By this I mean finding a suitable spot to take the picture. I usually favour a background of tree's or bushes to give a nice backdrop to the picture which makes you and the fish stand out. There's nothing worse than getting your photo's developed and finding a telegraph pole sticking out of your head or all manner of things in the background like the clutter of all your tackle and bivvy and even worse, other people. I try to get the light (sun) coming directly into your face and not from behind you or from the sides. Avoid having the lake in the background as you will get a nice shot of the water but the foreground, ie you and the fish will be dark and shadowy. Try to avoid gaps in overhead tree's, especially in strong sunlight as you will get shadows across your once in a lifetime fish. I also like to wear green or dark drab clothing as I think this also makes the main subject, the fish, stand out more. Once you have found a good spot, lay down the wet unhooking mat and put your bankstick in the ground in the far centre of the mat. Extend it to the level the top of your head will be at. Then position the camera and tripod in front of the mat, aiming at the bankstick. The distance away from the bankstick will depend on the lens on your camera, but roughly 5 - 7 feet is a good starting point. What you want to see though the viewfinder is the bankstick perfectly in the centre, with the top of the stick at the top of the frame and the bottom at the bottom. You should also just be able to see the left and right of your unhooking mat as this will ensure you will not crop the head and tail of the fish, assuming you have not got a fish longer than your unhooking mat, see FIG 1.

I like to then move the camera and tripod about 1 foot closer to the mat so I can get right in close to the fish and get nice sharp detail, see FIG 2.

Now focus on the bankstick, attach the air release, which is a long piece of tubing and connects to the camera at one end and has a rubber bulb at the other. Lay the bulb on the ground where your knee will be and remove the bankstick and you are all ready to go. Go and get the fish, which should be laying quietly in your net in the water. Gently lay on the mat, the fish, not you, pose in a suitable manner, you and the fish, with your knee resting gently on the bulb air release. When the fish is still, gently press your knee on the bulb, job done, perfect results every time. The beauty of it is there is no rushing back and forth to the camera to wind on or set the self timer and you only take the pic when all is ready, unlike 10 second delay timer when the fish will always struggle at the wrong moment. At night time I do exactly the same as above, aided with a torch to set it all up, and use a flash gun of course. I will add that I use a standard 35mm SLR camera which is quite old now and use Kodak print film and cant fault the results. I do have a digital camera which is ok for conveinient holiday snaps but never use it for my fishing as the quality is just not good enough. When I get my photo's developed I always get a photo CD done which I can then email to my friends out there, but the quality of these files is rubbish compared to the contone prints I get, but its ok for conveinience. Hope all this helps.

Lee Fisher