SPORTS

Dick Martin | Pick the right camera for your next trip

Dick Martin

A couple of weeks ago a good friend made a great trip to Canada and when he got back hurried to my house to show me his pictures. He'd taken a total of 12 shots, which wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't given me about 10 minutes of explanation of each picture. What were the photos of? Every one showed him smiling over a stringer of fish, six fish or eight, pike, walleye or bass. I began to wonder if it was  possible to die of terminal boredom, but I smiled and listened patiently. After all, he was a friend.

But it doesn't have to be that way, and if you take a camera along on that next trip with plans to show your days to friends or spouse and kids, there are lots of things you can do to make the showing at least interesting. You'll need a decent camera first, and while it doesn't have to be a $1,000 beauty, at least get a fairly good one that you can probably buy for a hundred bucks or so.  And don't worry about the use of one being similar to rocket science. Most are fully automatic if you use the proper setting, though you can read the directions that come with your new purchase and come up with some interesting possibilities, a telephoto being just one. If you have questions, the person who sold you the camera can very likely explain in minutes or less.

woman hiker takes a photo by the seaside

Learning how to operate your camera is important, but you'll come out winners or losers depending on whether you think before you shoot. Don't just fire an occasional haphazard shot, and don't be afraid to fill your memory card. Planning your pictures, then taking plenty of them, will make all the difference later on when you settle down to show them to friends or spouses.

For openers, try a couple of pictures of the camp or cabin where you're staying, plus maybe a shot or two of the boat dock and your guide to go with it. Get some flash photos of your group having dinner, sitting around the fire swapping stories and cleaning fish. These always add interest. And don't forget to do some scenery, always good, but better if there's human interest like a distant boat with fishermen, or a shoreline caster somewhere in the background.

Then when you're actually engaged in that favorite activity, take shots of a partner fighting his bucking rod and the guide netting fish.  Have others get pictures of you hoisting one out of the net, putting him in the cooler or tossing the fish back. It takes a little work, particularly if you're dedicated enough to get out of the boat and shoot action shots of its occupants, or climb a little hill to get a pretty shot of your craft framed in trees and blue water. It'll be worth it later.

When you get back home, there are still several ways to go. You can just use your smartphone with its tiny screen or, better, use your own computer printer to print some shots, using ordinary paper or, better, photo development paper available at most department stores or camera shops. You might do as I occasionally do, too, and take the memory card into a drug store and get them developed. I use my local RiteAid store sometimes, put the card in a machine, look the shots over, select the ones I like best and get 4 x 6's or 5 x 7's for about 29 cents apiece. Why print? Because it's a lot better than squinting into someone's smartphone. You can shuffle them and hand them back when finished, or put the lot into an album to keep for later years. Finally, for heavens sake, edit them. Toss out the bad shots and keep the good ones. Let your friends see what your fishing (or hunting) trip was really like, don't make them suffer through bad exposures and blurred shots. You'll be happier, and they'll not plead previous business when you haul out the photos.

Dick Martin is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for 30 years.  You can reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com