Henry Gilbey - The World of Fishing

All Photo Essays

• Africa

  • Gabon - Iguela
  • Mozambique - Benguerra
  • Namibia - shark fishing
  • South Africa - Part 1
  • South Africa yellowfish
  • Uganda - Nile perch
  • Zambia - Tigerfish

• Europe

  • Bass fishing - 1 : Ireland
  • Bass fishing - 2 : Hard lures
  • Bass fishing - 3 : Plastics
  • Ireland - Clare
  • Ireland - Kerry
  • Ireland - south
  • Ireland - south west
  • Norway - coalfish on the fly
  • Norway - cod and coalfish
  • Wild trout - fly fishing

• Rest of the world

  • Bahamas - Inagua
  • Iceland - trout fishing
  • India - Mahseer fishing
  • Mongolia - photography
  • Seychelles - Part 1
  • Seychelles - Part 2
  • Seychelles - Part 3
  • Seychelles - Part 4
  • Seychelles - Part 5

• South and Central America

  • Agentina golden dorado - 1
  • Argentina golden dorado - 2
  • Bolivia pacu
  • Fishing photography - part 1
  • Venezuela - Los Roques

• USA and Canada

  • British Columbia - Part 1
  • British Columbia - Part 2
  • Canada - Gaspe
  • Florida Keys - Part 1
  • Florida Keys - Part 2
  • Montana - Bighorn river

• Fishing Tackle

  • Rigging the MegaBass XLayer
  • Rigging the Xorus Rolling Shad
  • Waders for bass fishing

British Columbia - Steelhead fishing : working with your guide

23 April 2009

• 

  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 81mm)
  ISO : 250
  Aperture : f5.6
  Shutter speed : 1/160

  I can only think of one place on earth that has arguably looked better through my lens as the weather got worse, and that is British Columbia (BC), on the west coast of Canada. What other fish could we be chasing than the legendary steelhead ? With low, scudding light like this, you are always trying to draw a balance between the mobility of handholding the camera (instead of tying yourself down to a tripod) and getting a sufficient shutter speed to keep the photo properly sharp. Too many people hugely overestimate the speed at which they can handhold a camera and get sharp photos. The Image Stabilising (IS) feature of the professional Canon lenses is so useful in situations like this. I waded out into the icy water here and framed the shot up as a gap appeared in the mist, allowing a tantalising glimpse of the snow-capped mountain behind to provide a backdrop to a classic autumn steelhead fishing scene.
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 200mm)
  ISO : 250
  Aperture : f4
  Shutter speed : 1/200

  The client here was receiving an impromptu bit of Spey casting help from his guide, to help get him up to speed with putting those big flies out across the Bell Irving river. The client Michael would never admit to me whether he was simply scratching an itch on his head here, or trying to knock his brain into gear because he was having trouble following guide Geoff’s casting advice. Whatever it was, it made for a fun photograph, framed tightly to concentrate solely on guide and angler doing their thing. Personally I like to believe that Michael, a successful city guy, was having a “what on earth is he on about” kind of moment, and because I was focusing on the guys to get photos of casting tuition, I got the shot. You can’t set up a shot like this, for it would simply look fake.
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 16-35 f2.8L (at 16mm)
  ISO : 400
  Aperture : f4.5
  Shutter speed : 1/250

  When you are shooting a fishing job, you need to be clinical and look for the shots required to build something like a magazine feature or a sequence of shots for a book. Some clients want technical pieces, and some want you to build a story. Hence me needing to get a scene-setting “fishermen in boat” kind of shot, whatever the light. Shooting wide-angle stuff is tough with grey skies, but it is the only way to get them all into the frame when you are on the boat yourself. If you don’t take the shot because you are waiting for the perfect light, you run the risk of not nailing it in a place like BC in the autumn. My view is this – get the best photo you can in the conditions and then bin it if a better opportunity comes along. I never got better light when I was in the boat than on this particular morning, so at least I had photos to work with for a feature. I had to use a fairly high shutter speed and correspondingly large aperture here to make sure that the movement of the jet boat did not blur the picture. Jeff’s dog on the right of the frame was what made the shot for me. And it helps to ask the guys not to look directly into your camera – “look mean and moody out at the view” kind of thing. Check out the jaw tensing going on !!
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 121mm)
  ISO : 200
  Aperture : f5
  Shutter speed : 1/160

  Steelhead fishing is a very mellow, relaxed form of fishing, until you hook a fish that is. There is plenty of time to stand in the (freezing cold) river, totally absorbed with the amazing surroundings and the hypnotic nature of the fishing. I also like the fact that spending a few days with your guides like this really gives you time to get to know each other properly. Here, Geoff and Pete are talking no doubt about the one that got away, as another legendary BC day comes to a close. While they are in shadow from the trees to their right, I really liked the fact that the autumn colours on the trees behind them were very subtly lit by the fading sun. It’s a very simple kind of photograph, but I like the symmetry of fishing and communication in the middle of a true wilderness. Relaxed yet ready. I kept fairly tight to take the sky out of the photo and control the exposure. I would rather shoot the photo that I want out on location than spend hours trying to doctor things back home with the crop tool.
   

• 

  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 144mm)
  ISO : 250
  Aperture : f4.5
  Shutter speed : 1/200

  
  If you’re shooting for fishing magazines, at some time you will need to get a “guide and angler choosing the fly” kind of photo, so you might as well make it look as natural as possible. These two had no idea I was taking the photo, but obviously I am watching all the time for different opportunities. If I can, I would far rather shoot it how it happens than have to set things up. Low light means I have to concentrate on the guys, and blow the background out of focus with a large aperture, but that works just fine for this kind of shot. I like the defocused autumn colours behind the two of them as the angler goes to take a fly that his guide has picked out for him. Very simple, but in book and magazine terms, this kind of shot says a lot.
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 16-35 f2.8L (at 16mm)
  ISO : 250
  Aperture : f8
  Shutter speed : 1/100

  
  How civilised is this ? The sun’s come out, the camp fire is lit, and we’re taking a quick lunch break beside a temporary tent the guides have got set up on the side of the Bell Irving river. Hot soup, rolls, coffee and biscuits around a warming fire, with a stunning backdrop of mountains and forests. I love shooting wide, but it all depends on weather conditions – here I have put a polarising filter on my wide-angle lens to really bring that blue sky out and frame the scene. I stood on a lump of wood to get this kind of angle, and f8 has given me a good, sharp depth to the photo. Remember that using a polarising filter loses you a couple of stops of light, so make sure to compensate for this. Just guides and anglers resting for a few moments, in the middle of a pristine wilderness that so typifies this magnificent part of Canada.
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 93mm)
  ISO : 250
  Aperture : f10
  Shutter speed : 1/125

  Angler fighting a steelhead on the Bell Irving, with his guide turning to him and advising him to keep his rod up high. This was a big fish that charged off properly. Michael did well to control it, but sadly the steelhead was lost as it was being landed. I think I was the most gutted person there !! How badly did I want to see a big steelhead with sunshine to bring out that wonderful flank ? Oh well, not to be. This was quite a tricky exposure to deal with, because I had direct sunshine on the angler and guide, but white snow and grey clouds way behind them, so I framed up to use the backdrop of the trees as much as possible. I wanted to at least have a bit of the mountains in there, accepting that there was going to be a certain degree of burnout to that kind of backdrop. There is no time to mess around with graduated filters when a fish is on, so you need to think on your feet and weigh up the options as you are shooting. Photographing fishing is all about being ready to explode into action the moment something happens, and having the ability and confidence to make sure that you can show those sometimes brief moments off at their best. I tend to mentally caption my photographs as I shoot them, and here I was thinking about an angler taking on the spot advice from his guide as a big fish comes close to the bank. And of course, all the time offering up little prayers that the fish would be landed.
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 100mm)
  ISO : 400
  Aperture : f4
  Shutter speed : 1/200

  
  What this photograph does not show is how low the light was on this particular day, but still the place looked awesome if you worked hard. Look at the shooting data – ISO 400, f4 at 1/200. Modern digital cameras are staggering bits of kit, and they help me make fishing look good as I can in all kinds of conditions. I asked this awesome young guide Jeff to fish for the day, to give me more photo opportunities, and his boss Geoff Straight was doing the guiding for the clients. Jeff moved over to this little side channel and nailed a couple of nice fish in quick succession, and I stood back to try and frame the guys right at the point of netting the first one. You can’t plan these kinds of shots, for they either happen or they don’t, depending on the fishing. The trick is to be ready to shoot when they do happen. I have waded out as deep as I can and got down low to really emphasise what is going on. I have used the green trees behind as a defocused backdrop, to really concentrate the eye on angler and guide at a critical point in a fishing day. Another vital trick is to make sure you don’t crouch down so low that icy water comes pouring into your chest waders – and yes, I have made this mistake plenty of times. I am not proud of having to tell my mobile phone company that I have drowned another perfectly good phone, and that I’ll leave them if they don’t give me another one for free !! It’s worked so far though. I caught this photo just as the steelhead kicked one more time and sent a cascade of water droplets into the air, just above the net.
   

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  Camera : Canon 1D MKII
  Lens : Canon 70-200 f4L IS USM (at 97mm)
  ISO : 400
  Aperture : f4
  Shutter speed : 1/200

  The fish – and what fish steelhead are. Some guys get hung up on monster fish, but as an angler/photographer, I couldn’t care. As long as the stuff looks good and it is a blast to be around, that does me just fine. There are various ways to do a shot like this – either have the guys grinning at you, or ask them to turn to each other and smile like a pair of monkeys !! Anybody can look mean and moody if they want to, but to me the capture of a fish like a steelhead is a very special moment, and I want the guys smiling rather than trying to look tough. Jeff and Geoff were over the moon to have nailed this fish, so they were smiling naturally anyway. I tend to encourage things along with a few stupid comments that get guys giggling. “Imagine me in a thong”, “Picture me running buck-naked through a field of buttercups” – useful (and slightly disturbing) mental images can get anybody giggling when they are holding a good fish. My main aim is always to ensure the welfare of the fish, hence the prize being held close to the water, the guys crouching down (this also allows me to frame the scudding sky out of the photo), me keeping low, and the net there, ready to catch the fish if it jumps out of their hands. I would have liked to use a smaller aperture than f4 here, but I had to balance up the need for a pin-sharp photo and an ISO that did not go too high so as to bring more “noise” into the photo. Saying that, I have shot extreme metal concerts at ISO 1600 and the shots look awesome when printed full page in such outstanding magazines as Metal Hammer and Zero Tolerance. What a perfect mix – metal and fishing !! When a fish is involved in a photo like this, I focus on the eye of the fish that is closest to the camera. The fish is the focal point of a shot like this, and with a large aperture, the background blurs out nicely to concentrate your eye on the two guys and their steelhead.
   

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  Another steelhead, slightly larger than the one just before, and this time I wanted another kind of natural, “fish just landed” photo. I can come in tight on the angler afterwards, but here I really like that this steelhead took two guys working closely together to land it. You’ll notice that the bulk of the photos you see here were shot with my 70-200mm lens, and this is very deliberate. I love shooting wide whenever I can, but I prefer strong skies to do so. When there is a real contrast difference between your subject matter (angler and guide) and a dark, dirty sky, I tend to come in tighter and take as much of the offending sky out of the photos as possible. But there were times in BC when the grey sky and swirling mist came so low that it essentially reflected all available light back into the scene and made different shots very possible. It also looked so good because I tended to have a high backdrop to work with, such as the snow-capped mountains, that allowed me to put the angler or guide against it and balance up the contrast differences. I do not like putting an angler directly against a grey sky if I can help it, for you have to expose for the subject matter and then lose a load of contrast and definition in the sky. But on the flip side, low light, grey conditions can look very powerful if the backdrop is something other than a weak sky (mountains, trees, forests, cliffs etc.). Saltwater flats look about as good as possible for example when the sun is out and high in the sky, thus illuminating the flats, but put a grey sky into the mix and it becomes very hard to make a scene like that look any good at all. Hence the need for a “frame tight” lens like the 70-200 f4L IS – lightweight, sharp and plenty fast enough if you can bump up the ISO and not have to worry about too much noise.