“Learning my camera obviously helped me take much nicer catch shots, but more importantly, ignited a passion for photography that has had me all over the world on all sorts of crazy adventures”

The main reason I started self-taking was purely because, whenever I caught a ‘photo-worthy’ carp and passed the camera to a friend, the un-user-friendly nature of my camera made it pretty difficult for them to take a nice photograph. I’m quite fussy and particular when it comes to catch shots, and really disliked putting that pressure on the camera man. I guess this forced me to really learn my camera, and look into how to take ‘proper’ photos. I guess there’s an additional buzz to capturing a successful self-take, especially when you’re the only man around, just you and the carp, with no external pressure ruining the buzz!

To get consistent self takes you need the two variables of height and distance from the fish to be the same every time. The height is easily taken care of with the use of the JAG self-take stick. Ground markers on the outer and  height markers on the inner make it easy for me to record the perfect height every time.

The Xcavator point on the self take stick ensures the expensive camera kit is secure. I used to use a tripod, but they can easily tip when when there’s a fish flapping about. On top of this, the average tripod weighs a few kilos, compared to the self take stick, that weighs just 207 grams! 

Setting your aperture is simple. If you want the background to be nice and blurry, set the aperture somewhere between f/2.8 – f/3.5; the smaller the number (or the wider the aperture), the blurrier the background. A smaller aperture (f/4 – f/8) will give you a less blurry background, but will give you more of a margin for error, ensuring both you and the fish are in focus. 

The self take stick keeps the camera nice and steady, but I still like to keep my shutter speed at a minimum of 1/100. This almost guarantees a crisp shot even if the fish is moving a little. Obviously the faster the shutter, the crisper the shot, but 1/100 is a good starting point. I adjust my ISO according to the exposure once my shutter speed and aperture are roughly set. I generally don’t go too much above ISO 1000, as the shot can become too grainy, however, this can sometimes add to the aesthetic of the shot. 

It obviously helps to have a camera with a flip round screen, framing up the fish nicely! It can be a good idea to take a few tester shots while the fish is safely in the net, once you’re happy that everything is focused and exposed, self takes should be straight forward. 

Learning my camera obviously helped me take much nicer catch shots, but more importantly, ignited a passion for photography that has had me all over the world on all sorts of crazy adventures. I really hope this rough guide well help some of those who read it, and you never know, you might discover a love for photography like I did! Cheers, Tom Bishop.