Tournament picture taking.

[Todd]

After being a picture judge at the OLC I thought I would share some comments on what we saw and are looking for. Hopefully this will make it better and easier for everyone in future events.

It sure would make it easier if you knew what pictures on your camera we are looking for and possibly in what order. Everyone's kids are cute but we would rather look at those at another time. Try and clean up some of the pics on your digital before hand, delete the home pics and delete the pics that did not work out. That is real easy if you have a viewfinder.

Have your USB cords with you and ready to plug in.

The poker chips are great but sometimes hard to find in the pics. Using the bag with your angler number showing is the easiest to see and read. Some guys glued their chip to their boards, that is a good idea so you won't lose it.

Get on top of the fish as best as possible. Pics taken from the side and from afar area very hard to see what we are looking for.

If in doubt take as many pics as you want and only save the good ones. Never hurts to have multiple pics of a winning fish.

Make sure we can see the nose and tail. Again, take several pics. Without nose and tail we cannot tell exactly how long the fish is.

Taking a pic of a fish from the head towards the tail hardly ever works. Place the fish parallel to you so that the judges can see it better.

Amazing how many people just lay their fish on a board, ruler, etc and do not have a grip in their mouth or someway to secure the fish. Having a fish flop out of your yak while taking a picture is a sure way to lose a good fish.

Zoom in on the end measurement and place the chip there. A few times we had to take an "educated guess" to the exact length of a fish.

Find someone close by to help you. Most pics that were assisted turned out the best. If not paddle to shallow water and get out of your yak to do it.

Camera phones do not work well.

MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR ANGLER NUMBER IN THE PICTURE.

There are many different types of boards, gutters, blind slats that were used. One small tape or FS bend out ruler is usually not the best.

Make sure your board is wet and try and get the fish back in the water as quickly as possible.

Of course camera quality makes a difference but in the end it all worked out. There were lots of good pics taken and a few bad ones.

Hope this helps past and future OLC participants. We never want someone to lose out due to a bad picture. As we said we are not judging character but unfortunatly picture taking ability.

Above all else, have fun.

Here are two examples of ones I took Saturday. My angler number are not in these but they were never counted. Hopefully a few others can share their pics also. After seeing these I am going to make a board for future events.

[basebplyr1]

Here you go Tod. I use a ripped section of 8"PVC with plexiglas on one end and a FL Law Stick. The half-pipe design really helps to hold the fish securly and calm them down for the photo. In the past, I have used velcro tape to hold the chip in place which works well; in these pics I didn't use the tape.

[Mako]

Todd / Erick, would you comment on the 3 photos below? They were taken by me, Pag-Yaker and Cubs83. I was somewhat concerned with the slighty pinched tails, and an angle that makes hard to judge the size of the trout.

I just want to make sure that we present photos that are acceptable for the judges.

[CooKnFish]

One of the biggest problems I see with people taking these tournament pictures is that they rely too much on the viewfinder. Its a digital camera... use it like one. Hold the camera above the fish and guestimate getting the fish in the picture. After you shoot the picture, review the pic to make sure the entire fish is in the shot. When the picture is downloaded to the laptop, the PC has the ability to zoom in on the details like whether the nose is at the end of the board or determin if the fish is 15½ or 15¾ inches.

Also set the camera for higher resolution if possible. Yeah you may be able to shoot 300 pictures with it set at 640x480 but if it comes down to splitting hairs the 1280x960 is going to show better detail without being distorted when it is zoomed in.

[Todd]

Todd / Erick, would you comment on the 3 photos below?


That pic is good. The top of the tail is somewhat pinched so we would look at the bottom of the tail and give that fish a length of 21".



This picture is tough. It is better to take the picture parallel to you. It is very hard to tell where the nose of the fish is. In a very close contest this fish picture might lose out to a better taken picture.

In this picture the top of the tail is pinched by the way it lays against the board so we would use the measurement from the bottom of the tail.

The curved PVC or the folks who use gutters make it tough also. Definitely not telling people not to use them as they are very functional. The problem is that they naturally pinch the tail and Erick is using natural lay for this format.

I also noticed that the first and second fish are not secured in any way. Just a word of caution, that is a dangerous practice. That fish could flop out, while you have your camera in hand, and swim away without having their picture taken.

Taking pictures of a fish on a measuring board from a kayak is very hard to do. We, the judges, do our best to give everyone the benefit of the doubt though. Using a laptop makes it easier as we are able to zoom in on parts of the picture. Without that it would be tough on some pictures.

[TerryW]

very thin & light aluminum fascia from Lowes (12' for $10, I think)
I added the float because a previous one I made from vinly siding now lies at the bottom near Joe Island.

If I can figure out how, I'd like to add an end cap and a fish bungee cord or I'll pay good money for a light weight, easy to carry, and easy to use measuring device.

Too bad I didn't have any photo-worthy trout to enter!


This is the way the board just happened to fit on my kayak:

[Erick]

Of all the photos put up so far, fishnfinatics are the only ones that I would consider "perfect" for judging. Although that last one from Makos post is almost perfect as well.

In almost every other picture, there is something that skews the length of the fish even if just a little.

Terry's set up is excellent, however another ruler needs to be put down at the bottom where the fish lays. A fish that far away from the numbers makes it difficult when vieweing close ups of the fish's tail becuase you cannot see both in a close up. Also it can distort the actual lenght of the fish. Also, that "color" of ruler would be acceptable. Nice job.

In the second photo that Mako put up, it is almost impossible to know if the mouth of the fish is right at zero. And a quarter to half an inch can make a difference.

In most of the others the tail is somehow "pinched"...not on purpose but from the way the fish is laying up against the side of the board or because of the size of the pvc/gutter. When judging, we have to take that into account, just like we have to take into account an open mouth on a fish...in other words deducting from your total length if it is close to another competitors fish.

Here are some things to remember:
Do Not Use a Camera Phone
You can use Polaroid or film, but know it is much harder to judge and much easier to get disqualified
Natural lay....just flop the tail
Jointed Rulers....make sure they are straight, do not bend them with the curve of the fish
Take all photos from above the fish, not off to the side
Make sure your angler number is in the photo
Take more than one photo
Try not to lay fish/board sideways always lay it flat so the tail doesnt 'pinch"
Get out of your kayak to take the photo when possible

[mauso1]

Next time, I may lay a piece of plexiglass over the fish.

Great idea..a hot house / cold frame measure.
It would be an easy addition ...use stainless hardware to attach it

[Blindmullet]

Hey guys this is my first OLC and I just made my measuring device. It looks like I need a rule with bigger numbers. Are the $10 ones @the OLC stickers? Here is a pic.