First reading from class text

The text for this class is the National Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photography; Digital Edition written by Tim Fitzharris. The first assignment was to read the introduction, basic kit, and tripods chapters. It seems like this book will be very helpful, although some of the terminology and specific details on equipment are a little difficult to understand for a beginner so far. Just from the basic kit chapter and the tripod I have found that it is suggesting that the more money you spend, the better your photos will be. I am hoping that the book won't be so equipment oriented in further chapters. The trouble I am having right now is why should I spend money on new equipment if it will take away my opportunities to get outside and play around and take a few pictures?

Bryan Gregson

A while ago a picture of a large brown trout from the Madison River in Montana caught my eye while playing around on facebook. I figured I should be "friends" with this person because I loved the composition of the picture and the way that the fall grassland colors complemented the fish, which would have been incredible on a normal cell phone picture. I was just getting really into flyfishing, into it enough that I was starting to catch some larger fish worth taking better pictures of, so I checked out Bryan Gregson's facebook page and then his website. What I was really interested in was learning about taking a picture of the good size browns that I have started getting into on the Bighorn River.

What caught me about Bryan's flyfishing photos was how much care he paid to what was in the background of the picture. He always chooses the color and composition of the background in choosing the location that the trout will be held. For example some of the browns have the blue rings around some spots, and those fish would be held in a manner that the blue water behind them brings out the blue in the fish as well. The picture of the 14 lb. brown that got my interest was held higher up that most people would hold a fish so that it would match the background colors of the grassland.

A couple other tricks that I learned from Bryan's photos are about how the person in the picture should be holding a fish. I used to just take the standard two hands under the trout and hold it out towards the camera, trying to make it look big. Now I have learned that the fish head pointing towards the camera, with one hand under the fish and another back on the tail not only makes the fish look bigger, but makes for a better picture overall. This allows the background behind the trout to be something nicer than the camo neoprene waders I am usually found in on the Bighorn in the winter. Another thing I have found is that having the fisherman be looking at their trout when the picture is taken makes for nice pictures, although mom or dad may want to see the big grin.