Neal Osborn
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Very cool Mike. I visualize you in Ninja sniper gear behind the camera to get these shots of fish behaving naturally. You must have been excited to get home and upload the files!
Last year in Des Moines, Iowa (of all places) I found a great camera shop that was loaded with used gear.
5 Tips on getting better pictures with your waterproof point-and-shoot camera.
1. Select the appropriate camera mode
2. Adjust the EV to compensate for the available light
3. Adjust the ISO to compensate for the available light
4. Use flash wisely
5. Use photography software for post processingAs always, make sure to download your user manual (the Pentax Optio W20 manual is here http://www.pentaximaging.com/support/manuals-and-literature/).
P Mode (The basic picture-taking mode. You can let the camera set the functions “OR” choose various functions yourself). P63. In P mode, the Optio W20 can be manually adjusted. The other scene modes have fixed settings and are limited, especially for low-light fishing shots.
Avoid using the “Night Scene” on the river (unless you have a tripod). This mode will result in long exposure times and inevitably camera shake.
Another great mode to employ on the river is the “Pet” mode. This is ideal for taking pictures of moving subjects. The camera keeps the subject in focus until the shutter button is released. P70
Setting the Functions (Program Mode) P82-103
Setting the Exposure (EV Compensation). P82. This is the single best trick for getting better pictures from your waterproof P&S. The W20 allows for compensation of 2 stops in either direction. Adjust it to the right (positive) to gain exposure compensation = brighter image. Adjust it to the left (negative) to darken the image. HINT: since you will use this function a lot make sure and assign it to the Green button for quick access on the river – see P58. See P104 for tips on saving the EV compensation.
Use your histogram on the river to judge the correct EV compensation periodically throughout the day. Seriously, whenever I change locations (or the light changes, etc) I will often pull out the camera and adjust the compensation using my fly rod or reel as a subject. This will help you dial prior to catching a fish.
Setting the focus – P85. I typically stick with AF standard or Macro (the flower).
Selecting the flash – P87. Don’t be afraid to use flash when the available light is too dark. A trick here is to shoot one or two shots with flash and then one or two more without flash. This will increase your odds of getting a keeper shot. The biggest hint for using P&S flash on the river for fish shots is to use “Soft Flash” P87. This mode reduces the intensity of the flash at close range (i.e. fish in hand) and the flash will discharge regardless of the light conditions. This is my go-to “fill flash” mode.
Don’t forget to adjust your white balance! P92. The Pentax Optio cameras can shoot in Manual white balance, which is great if you know how to set it correctly. Otherwise, choose the auto setting.
How to set the AE metering, P94. This is a personal choice, but a few tips are in order. For shots of the river or landscape consider the “multi-segment metering”, which will meter the brightness over 16 areas to determine the exposure. Just be aware that if you have bright skies or backlit subjects, this mode will often result in darker images (however, you often bring back the shadow detail at your computer). For grip-and-grin shots consider using the “spot AE metering”, which will meter exposure brightness only at the center of the image.
ISO – how to set the sensitivity, P96. In addition to EV compensation, this is probably one of the biggest tricks to getting better fishing pictures in low light. The Pentax Optio allows for manual ISO adjustment which is a major benefit. I always choose ISO manually and avoid the auto setting, but that is again a personal preference based on experience. The older waterproof P&S cameras like the Optio W20 and Olympus Stylus 770SW can typically handle ISO of 800-1600 for low light situations. You will of course see noise (grain) in your image. However, you can compensate for this at your computer, depending on your software.
A few additional tips and tricks.See P101 for setting the image sharpness. Typically hard/sharp outlines are better for fish grip-and-grin shots. Normal sharpness is good for landscape or mist/dew.
See P103 for setting the image contrast. In my experience, low- to normal-contrast is best for grip-and-grins. You can recover contrast at your computer.
Computer Software.Picasa3 by Google (Free).
iPhoto (Free if you have a Mac).
Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture ($).
Adobe Photoshop CS4 ($$$).Post processing is a skill unto itself. The basic applications like Picasa/iPhoto are actually very powerful and will allow you to effectively edit your P&S pictures in most cases. However, the expensive applications offer more advanced controls as well as noise reduction and white balance.
This screen capture from Picasa3 shows the many adjustments available for post processing your images. And it’s free.
Here is an example of a grip-and-grin shot taken by Bret Nelson with his Olympus 850SW in low light. He learned how to compensate his camera and his photographs have improved vastly. There is still a bit of blur (camera shake) on the brook trout but it was minimized with computer software.
The following are examples of available low-light photography with the Olympus 770SW. Compensation was employed on all the images. You can see more images here http://www.nealosborn.com/Photography/waterproof-camera/10400368_g7TsC#720454551_62Qdc or here http://homepage.mac.com/nealpod/Sites/olympus770sw/index.html
Brett and John make some great points here. Great stuff as always.
I would like to add to the discussion by offering tips and tricks for your specific camera. It is my opinion that the waterproof P&S cameras are invaluable tools for fly fishers. They are very powerful cameras once you learn to compensate for their deficiencies. Unfortunately, they often get a bad rap on the internet. It is wise to read the critiques carefully and understand the author’s bias. The FAS workshops now focus almost exclusively on the waterproof P&S cameras because frankly most of the questions are specifically about these camera models. In my experience, the waterproof cameras are the most common cameras in the general fly fishing community, but there is a lack of understanding on how to properly use the gear. The analogy here would be learning to fly fish with a moderately priced 5wt fly rod – make sure the instructor is able to teach on that particular rod and not giving you a fast action 4wt because he prefers that setup. Learn the basics and you can achieve great outcomes.
Mike, the Pentax Optio W20 is a great camera. Your frustration with low-light is shared by many fishers. The following post will have tips and tricks for your model but others should know that the principles are the same regardless of the camera brand. These adjustments can be performed on any waterproof camera.
Bob, I didn’t know you were coming up for the holidays. Seriously, I will be fishing within a few miles of you on private land so give me a call if you want to branch out.
These are the fish you will be chasing. There are some monster stockers in the area and some are even wild.
Monster stockers – shots from the hatchery I took last weekend.
I agree with the common theme – no one pack does it all. It’s really a lot like fly fishing – vest vs chest pack vs waist pack vs minimalist, etc.
Like John, I use the LowePro Vertex 300 and for what I do on a regular basis it is perfect. Very rugged pack that holds a ton of gear, has a weather cover, nice zippers, and a waist stabilizing strap. It is great pack for location travel. It is especially good for airplane travel because it fits right under the seat (even the little prop planes, but I often have to argue with the airline attendant, ha).
However, on the water I have been using the Simms Dry Creek Boat Bag, Large, which IMHO is the only reliable waterproof bag in its class (notice Pelican class and true waterproofs concealed bags excluded here). It doubles as a great saltwater boat bag, thus money well spent.
I thought were an Apple user :-/
For PC, the free tethering software is here at DIYPhotobits http://www.diyphotobits.com/2008/05/23/free-tethered-shooting-script-for-nikon/
Download, install, enjoy!
Yep! Love it. I use the new free software for Nikon to Macintosh called Sofortbild http://www.sofortbildapp.com/. This has become the de-facto software as of late and it works perfectly with all major Nikon bodies.
Canon shooters already have free software with their camera I believe but could be wrong.
Tethered shooting has changed my macro studio setup, especially in the clinic. For the home macro setup it literally saves your back a lot of stress because you don’t have to constantly bend down to look at the LCD. Furthermore, Lightroom can autoimport the images in a snap so your entire shoot is loaded and redundantly backed up at the end of the shoot. This workflow has the advantage of showing subtle flaws (like white balance, dust, etc) during the shoot so you can correct instantly; a huge time saver.
Tethered shooting is also invaluable if an art director or marketing person is involved in the shoot (i.e. product shots).
