take a better photo

TAKING BETTER PHOTO'S OF YOUR FISH

These two pictures are of the same fish (a 16.5 lb Mirror carp)

Hold the fish confidently. (a beautiful 27.5 lb Mirror carp)

Which picture would you rather show your mates ?

Distance The Pictures above are of the same fish, (picture left) was obtained by holding the fish tight into the lap with the fish laying flat on the forearms, (picture right) was achieved by holding the fish upright and forward.
	(1) Side The fish is held tight to the chest, and quite low down. This will result in a wasted photo and the fish detail would be bad.	(1) Front This front view picture is wasted due to the distance between the camera and the fish, there is to much of the shot wasted on the background, the fish is almost laid flat - and tight to the lower chest, and the angler looks like he's wearing the brolly as a hat.

	(2) Side The fish is held out at about 10 inches, and still quite low down level with the lower chest (stretch the arms more).	(2) Front This picture is a lot better although most of the frame is wasted with background, and the person taking the picture should have been a lot closer to the fish, this shot is ok, but will lack considerably on detail, and makes identifying the fish in future quite difficult.

	(3) Side The fish is held almost at arms length, and the hands are up almost level with the top of the chest (hide the fingers).	(3) Front Finally we have a very good shot of the fish, notice how the fish takes prime position on the frame - and the tail and head fit to the edge of the shot resulting in excellent detail and definition, this gives you the best chance of identifying the fish if caught again.

Summary
A beautiful picture of this mirror carp resulted from using the methods above, holding the fish out and at chest height, the right distance between camera and subject, and filling the frame with the subject. The crew at 1FISH believe that the photo should be of the fish and the person holding it, so it pays to fill the frame with these subjects, cut out as much background as possible and take up the whole shot with the fish. This method of photography gives the very best picture of the fish but also makes it appear much bigger (so please be honest about the weight).

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FISH SAFETY:
After landing the fish, place it on your unhooking mat. Kneel down in front of the fish.
When you are comfortable gently lift the fish. Make sure that, in the event the fish slips and
falls, it will have a short distance and a soft landing on the mat, so no harm can come to the fish.