Take Great Fishing and Hunting Photos!

Photographs are the single most important thing that most of us use to both remember and recount to the world, the highlights of our Fishing and Hunting adventures; but rarely do the photos brought home to show our friends and family ever match those seen in magazines and books taken by professionals. Most people think the reason is because they don't have the same equipment; and unfortunately, many will spend thousands of dollars on new digital SLR cameras, only to discover that their photos look no better than the ones they shot with a $200 point-and-shoot camera. So here's the honest truth folks; it's not the camera that takes great photos, it's the photographer! If you are willing to spend just a little time, (a fraction of what you spent learning to cast a fly rod), then you can learn to take fantastic photos; and you don't have to spend a fortune on expensive camera equipment.

The key  is understanding some basics about photography; and we've decided to dedicate a regular column specifically to help our readers come home from Patagonia with better photos. And since we have a Readers Photo Gallery, some of those will indeed be published for the world to see. By the end of this series, you'll be effortlessly making quality images.

First, be assured that you can take extraordinary photos with inexpensive equipment; any decent point-and-shoot camera will do. Most modern digital cameras all provide very close to the same quality of images in real world use, and personally, I prefer using a small Panasonic Lumix or Canon SD over my Nikon Digital SLR. They are easier to carry, and quicker to use. The biggest difference in cameras is how fast, or easy it is to make changes to their settings to achieve the best results in different conditions.

Second, most modern cameras have multiple "pre-set" programs available that are based on 100+ years of photographic experience, and they are usually a very good starting point for getting a proper exposure. There are many famous pros out there right now that have art quality photos hanging in galleries that were shot with basic cameras set on Auto-Program! In it's most simple terms, "exposure" is just the amount of light allowed into the camera to record on digital sensors (pixels). Three things control the amount of light: 1) how Fast the shutter curtain opens and closes (Shutter Speed), 2) how Wide the shutter opens (Aperture), and 3) digital sensitivity (ISO). Don't worry about memorizing all of that, you can shoot great photos without understanding it all.

For the purpose of this first article, let's focus on getting a good exposure. Start by setting up your camera (you will have to read the manual for this). The camera should have some, or all of the following programs: Auto-Program, Aperture Program, Shutter Program, and perhaps Manual Program and Scene Programs. For this exercise, set the camera to Auto-Program; which means the camera is going to make ALL of the decisions for you. Go outside and take a couple of pictures of just one (1) scene that is at least 10-15 feet away, trying to avoid obvious things like shooting directly into sunlight, or into total darkness. You should also keep it set to the widest possible lens setting, don't use zoom. Next, we are going to try to influence the camera's decisions about exposure by doing something very simple; you are going to decide what part of the scene you just shot is most important to you. Perhaps it is a tree, or a chair, or maybe a shirt on someone if you have a person helping you. Walk up close enough to that important object so that it fills the screen on your camera, and press the shutter button halfway down and HOLD it. This will lock in the exposure value that the camera is reading on the important object. While keeping the shutter button pressed half-way, back up to your original position and then press it all the way down, completing the photo. When you compare them, the new photo should be different in over-all exposure, and a better exposure for the important object that you selected. You have just learned to compensate exposure, even when the camera is on Auto-Program.

Now as good as the physical exercise is, doing it this way is just a learning experience, not a good way to take photos. But it leads us to the next best step: locking in an exposure. Again, many modern cameras, even inexpensive ones, give you the option of locking in an exposure; just look through your manual for it, it may be as simple as pressing a single button while you have the shutter pressed half-way down. Once you have determined how to lock exposure on your particular camera, you can easily use this method to alter the exposure of your photos by taking exposure "readings" from different objects in any scene that you are photographing. You can do this by either moving closer to fill up the camera's screen with the object and locking the exposure reading, and then you can complete your photo from any location you choose; or using the zoom lens if your camera has one. You can also start to experiment with the other pre-set scene programs (if your camera is equipped with them), because the exposure lock should work with everything except Manual Program.

Now practice is the key to better photos; so go out and experiment with different program settings, and practice locking in your exposure setting for different specific objects and see how it affects your photos. Remember also that your camera's LCD screen is not perfect at showing you the colors and tones that are really in your image, they can only give you a good idea. You should download your images and review them on a computer screen to get a better view of how your photos look.

If you have specific photography issues you would like to see covered in future issues, please send us note to: 

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Memo Stephens,

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