Trophy Trout Photography

Fishing and photography go hand in hand. Fish seem to live in beautiful places and when I catch a fish, I want to remember both the fish and the location.  I have been catching and releasing fish most  all my life and when there was no camera, it was released with only memories and no proof it was caught. By trade I am Cinematographer and Video Editor. I am by no means a Still Photography expert but this is what I know about taking photos of your trophy trout.

Cameras come in all shapes, sizes and prices. Find out what camera suites you, there are hundreds of options out there to choose from. You could purchase the big bulky, high-quality DSLR’s that look great, or the medium sized, cheaper, high-quality Micro Four Thirds cameras, all the way down to the point and shoot POV’s like GoPro’s.   The best option now for convenience, quality and price is to just buy a new GoPro 4 and always bring it with you, they can capture some amazing images and 4k video.

Because I fish a lot in harsh conditions, I choose the less expensive, medium sized, Micro Four Thirds Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. I love its small size and although the GF1 is small, it still has the same capabilities to shoot high-quality pictures and video like the  bigger DSLR’s do. It has a interchangeable lens mount so you can play with different lenses to achieve different angles and depths of field. I enjoy the 20mm 1:1.7 Panasonic lens. It’s a fast lens with a really shallow depth of field….. Meaning when I set my critical focus on the fish everything else in the background is soft and blurry. This does two things I like;

1). Makes the fish looks really sharp and life-like,

2). Slightly blurs the backgrounds out.

I want to show off the fish, not my favorite fishin’ hole.  This day and age, cheap cameras and cell phone cameras are easily obtainable; there is no reason to not get a pic to show off your catch.  But do you really want to show off a low-quality picture, even if it is a big fish?  I don’t, and as a matter of fact I ‘d rather show off a high-quality picture of a small fish. The key is to get inspired, have fun and try to capture a moment you don’t want to forget.