how would you have taken this fishy pic

[samester]

hi all,

more fishy pics in tricky situations, would be great to hear your ideas on how i should have shot this one.

the film copy turned out nicely, the digital copies not so nicely.....and so the learning curve continues.

to set the scene, the person in the pic has a black jacket but is holding a silvery fishy. there's some harsh sunlight beaming down but we're in a small boat with no shade so we didn't have much leeway with regards to positioning etc.

should i have metered off the fish rather than the persons face ?

i didn't have much time to play with the digital shots because i took some film shots beforehand so when i picked up the digital it was straight into A mode with CW metering, pointed at the persons face, exposure locked then recompsed and took the pic - i was about 1.5 m away.

i noticed that a burst of fill flash brings the person out nicely but the fish comes out blown all over (at least my fill flash is getting more consistent )

how should i (or how would you) have taken the pic ? i.e metering mode, metering technique, exposure mode, flash (or not) etc.

any suggestions are much appreciated,
sam

ps: pic as is straight out of the cam, no pp

<img src="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b155/samester/mowie.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

[Geoff]

Hmmm, I'm not sure how you could take a better 'in camera' shot there Sami as the lighting conditions as you said were tough! What I would do after the shot was taken was lasoo the fish individually, adjust levels on it, then inverse and make changes to the other part of the shot (your mate) with levels too. Then deselect and see what the end result is. Good luck. Nice fish btw!

[petermmc]

I think you have a nice shot here. A good snap and an even better snapper. After all this is one of those on the run shots that considering being in a small boat is very steady. Background is very nice as is the framing for the purpose of highlighting the fish in question. Sure you could have a bit more fill in flash but you know that. The fill in flash may have even over blown the fish.

I think that the 'fisher' could have shown more expression and looks a little non plus about the event. That's what would make it a better photo. But that is only a personal opin - as all are on this forum. (unless of course it was a self portrait and then I can understand the look, as your $$$$$ of equipment are about to topple over into the deep blue)

Makes me want to have fish for lunch.

Regs

Peter Mc

[phillipb]

Could have the guy stretch his arms and bring the fish towards the camera, would have made the fish look much bigger

[kipper]

I'm sure the pros will say something about how to expose both correctly and use a flash effectively in such a situation. I'm sure you could position the flash so only the person is lit by the flash and not the fish.

[samester]

Could have the guy stretch his arms and bring the fish towards the camera, would have made the fish look much bigger

hehe - i thought the same but being so close to them both i don't think i could have both the angler and the fish in focus if it was much closer

[samester]

I'm sure the pros will say something about how to expose both correctly and use a flash effectively in such a situation. I'm sure you could position the flash so only the person is lit by the flash and not the fish.

actually now that u mention that, maybe i should have tilted the flash head upwards - was using very light fill with the diffusion dome.

i actually took the first pic with no flash and then switched the flash on and took the second before piccy time was over. i was surprised to find blown highlights of the fish in both shots