What do y’all think? Picture Heavy
- This topic has 18 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated Mar 29, 2009 at 4:32 am by
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I was able to get out on the river with my camera one day last week. Unfortunately, the day started out dark and dreary, but thankfully the clouds began to break up a little bit later in the morning and provided better light. The following are what I think are some of the best images I came back with. I was wondering what y’all thought? Do you like any better than others? Thoughts? Anyway, I hope you enjoy them.
I’m missing some rod tips :).
A bit wider view or a horizontal shot would be my choice in number one.
Anyway i did enjoy looking at them.
Nice pictures John – all look well shot.
A couple comments –
I normally don’t include any sky in a picture when it’s grey, unless trying to make a point about the sort of day it was.
If it grey and there’s no sky in the picture you have a lot of processing options to lift color and saturation and make everything look warm & sun-lit.
The other thing is your blacks look too punchy to me – not a lot, just enough where they might block up on a crap screen or in print.
Last thing, while I am getting a feel for the river in these shots (and others you’ve posted) I wouldn’t mind seeing some wider stuff where you get a sense of scale.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Hey John Michael –
I have some thoughts but I don’t want you to feel like I’m being critical of you. I make a point of only laying out serious criticism here to those who are clearly ready for it. You have a great deal of photographic talent, so I’m not going to hold anything back on you.
First, dark and dreary days are wonderful for photography; all the light is already diffuse. Great for close-ups, product shots, and fish.
Second, everything from a technical perspective about the shots is quite good. You have a good handle on depth of field and obviously the exposures are spot on.
I think what these photos are missing is a bit of familiarity with fishing environments, and a certain spark. I see two main issues here, both with shot selection.
The first set of issues from a shot-selection standpoint is with your subject. The guy is a perfectly good-looking angler, a good subject, but I get nothing out of these shots. They are more like very nice family photos than anything that would end up in a magazine; they don’t convey any sense of what the guy is fishing for or where he’s doing it. He could be anywhere, and frankly, anybody. The one exception is the first shot with the low angle, which is appealing photographically, though still pretty generic from a subject standpoint.
The second set of issues is with your fish shots. You need to learn to coach your angler to hold the fish like you need. This can be really difficult, I know, especially with people who tend to freak out if a fish is out of the water for more than a second. In these shots I’m getting an awful lot of fish belly and overexposed flank and not much character. The fish as a subject is mostly centered on the eyeball, cutting off the back half of the critter and leaving too much space in front of his head.
Thanks guys for all of the constructive critques and suggestions. It is very helpful!
David – Thanks for your tips. The point about not including the grey sky is great (why didn’t I think of that). Your point on shooting wide is well taken….I want to, I just felt like I couldn’t/shouldn’t go wide in a lot of spots on this river. This river’s banks are consistently covered by private land with lots of homes, tubing companies, etc. and honestly, in my opinion, a lot of it is very trashy and distracting. This is one of the main reasons why I have not shot wider, and only close in. There are a few places that are more natural and undeveloped, so maybe I can get some images in these spots. Maybe I should shoot some wide shots anyway and not worry about the trashy structures in the backgrounds… 😀
I bumped the saturation and contrast a good bit, because I was having problems getting the images to have much punch. I may have overdone it a tad, which may have affected my blacks as you pointed out?
Zach – Thanks for the constructive critiques and what will work better for magazines, and not holding back (in a constructive way :)) I will try to work on these things. It has been difficult for me to communicate to my subjects exactly what I am looking for in fish shots, and how to hold the fish and set up the shot, and of course it all happens so fast. That is my fault and an area where I will have to improve my coaching/communication skills as a photographer. I will work on that, as well as being more creative in how I shoot the fish. Thanks for the advice on how to set up those shots.
Regarding your question about the fish, they are a mix of recently stocked, in river for 3+ months, and holdovers from previous years. We have seen some smaller wild trout that have been born in the river, but I have not had the luck of photographing one of those yet. The last several years have seen very large fish stocked from the truck. Also, the river is pretty rich on food such as baitfish and crayfish, as well as nymphs, so I’m sure that doesn’t help their obesity ;D
Here’s a couple more for you Ollie that I didn’t post previously, kind of like what you are talking about?
This one the rod tip is still cut off, but it is horizontal in a low to the water feel
Maybe I should shoot some wide shots anyway and not worry about the trashy structures in the backgrounds… 😀
To correct myself – it would be a good idea to not shoot wide and carefully limit backgrounds if the backgrounds don’t fit with what you’re trying to express in the set of photos.
As an outsider (bigtime ;)) I would think it’s cool that you can catch fish like you guys have in an urban environment, but that might not be your intention.
I have also limited backgrounds on published stories about fishing as opposed to destinations so my favorite fishing spots don’t get found out.. 😉
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
A few comments to add to the good ones that are already here…
It looks like you struggle with some of the same issues there i struggle with in michigan – a lack of compelling backgrounds depending on the time of the year. Out west the mtns. are beautiful no matter what the time is, or where zach fishes GSMNP there are great water falls and rock formations, etc. I find in michigan, in late fall before snow, and eraly spring before green up, all you get is alot of dead brown!!! Thats when you need to get creative and get some color on the angler, focus in on tighter fish and angler portraits, or use DoF to throw the background out of focus.
In the first angler shot i like the low perspective and the DoF, as pointed out, the only thing that bugs me a little bit is the rod tip being cut off. I would try a tighter framing where it is really cut off, or leave a little bit of negative space past the tip. The line of the rod and the eyes of the angler draw the viewers eye in that direction, but then it stops abrubtly when the tip is cut off.
Looking at the other fishing shots, or the one landing the fish in the net, i think they would be great framed tight on the angler, with minimal background, sometimes the background/landscape really isn’t that important.
The last 2 you just posted are actually stronger than alot of the ones in the first post (minus the red raft), nice DoF, good perspective, just leave the rod tip again.
You are also very close with the fish portraits to some really good shots, follow zach’s advice, and just shoot alot of frames. One technique i like is dipping the fish, and lifting, so you get the water dripping off. Its a sexy look for fish.
One other thing to try on the flat light (which i really like shooting in also) days is to warm up the white balance. It might not be 100% natural, but it can give that golden hour before sunset look to the images, and also help with the neutral tans and browns in the background.
And last of all, tell that poor angler to smile a little bit – fly fishing is fun!!
It’s funny to look at these pictures from an untrained eye, and then reading the comments from the trained perspective.
Thanks guys. This thread has really helped me, and I have a lot more knowledege to take to the river the next time.
David – That is a good idea about finding the urban fishing environment interesting….I guess I have always thought that urban fishing was not what people want to see, but maybe there is a niche there.
The river is out in the country,amidst ranches, and beautiful limestone bluffs, but it is a very popular tourist spot and urban sprawl and subdivisions are getting very close, as well as the commercial campgrounds/tubing companies, and lots of homes all along the banks. The more beautiful sections are where it goes through larger sections of private ranch land (some of which we also don’t have access too unless we float through).
It is the southermost trout fishery in the US, and is unique for TU in that our chapter is the largest TU chapter in the world, and yet because of private land our TU chapter has negotiated with landowners to set up a lease program which gives lease members wading access to the river up and down it’s length.
Thanks for another great thread guys…
I like the DoF and the emotion of the opening shot.
Pic 8 is also good, and I think it is one of the few with the entire angler, including rod tip, and that the angler is intent on something, doesn’t matter what…
I like the 2 additional ones too, they just feel complete.I find it interesting that I kind of had in idea of what the crit was going to be, 2 or 3 years ago, I would have just thought they were good photos… thanks to this site…
Can’t add anything more to what has been shared so.. Very nice photographs and the pictorial story line is very well executed!
John Michael, I was going to add a few comments, but it looks like the ground has been covered. I’d shoot for more spontaneity. Look for life, movement, attitude, context.
I see progress in your photos.
John Micheal, I like the shots. You have some good stuff there. I especially like #1 and the perspective. I also like #2 in the reply further down the thread. Reminds me of the Leland logo. Were those taken on the Guadalupe? Sure looks like familiar water to me. Pretty close to Potts?
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