Using Photoshop On Fish Pics

[Dead River]

I noticed that there are many threads on here about anglers using photoshop to augment or embellish their catches. I understand the criticism. However, in my case, utilizing a graphic designer to mop up blurs and mistakes due to bad photography and self portraits is a viable utility. I posted various photos of my pb, the exposure is terrible on most of them and several of them are extremely blurry. As I said before it was the best I could do at the time as the fish had to be put back in the water as soon as possible. I've had one of those photos sharpened and worked on to improve the visibility of the fish. I am going to have the others worked on as well to give a more realistic and accurate rendering of the memories, I am not blue as i am depicted in the photographs if you take my meaning. I just thought I would put this out there as food for thought. I had a friend, an older fella with eyesight inferior to my own, smudge a lens just prior to photographing a 10 lb 10 oz bass for me. it blurred the entire midsection of the fish. I was devastated. i had a few other photos of the fish and had a two clever graphic designers work on it, one of which sampled another photo of the bass and supplanted the missing scale detail, the other that adjusted the color and rebuilt the small dorsal fan. you might say i look a tad bit like a golden brown pancake faced Gary Cooper out of one of Ted Turner's colorized movies, but honestly, I think they did pretty darn good work to bring a ruined photo back from the dead.

 

1) original smudged photo

 

2) revised photo utilizing lateral line and scale detail from another photo of the same fish

 

3) revised photo featuring the progress in 2) but with a rebuilt small dorsal fin and compensation for the overexposure and color issues

 

so if you would tell me if you prefer number 2 or 3 for this fish.

 

10 lb 10 oz

[Dead River]

NB this is not my PB but another big fish I landed a couple of weeks later..

[tomustang]

You missed the most important part of photoshop, you forgot to make the bass bigger

[Dead River]

You missed the most important part of photoshop, you forgot to make the bass bigger

more than that, I didn't even hold her right to showcase her true size, too much back and not enough belly, the fish is twisted. I also forgot to measure her in my haste. she had eaten a sizable channel catfish which undoubtedly contributed to her weight. however, she was a long fish. a bit beat up and pale looking in comparison to some of the other giants which were caught from there.

[quanjig]

I think it's perfectly fine to "sharpen" your original pic, however, embellishment of a catch is unacceptable!

[Glenn]

The last pic looks much better.  That's a good use of Photoshop.

[fishingman88]

You missed the most important part of photoshop, you forgot to make the bass bigger

 

That's a hog of a bass already.  I don't think he needs to make it bigger  

 

But in all seriousness, number 3 definitely looks better.  You could possibly use another photo editor and add a filter to put some life back into the picture.

[fishingman88]

I did some quick Photoshop....here's a better option IMO.

 

[Bluebasser86]

Only thing I've used it for it to lighten dark pictures and black out backgrounds to prevent spot pirates. I'm not technologically advanced enough to do anything else with it anyways. 

[AK-Jax86]

I have never edited my pics or anything like that even on my Instagram page. I have an iPhone 4S that I use to take pictures and my only problem is that it never seems to do the fish any justice! One thing that iPhone users can do is what I sometimes do when I remember I take a video of the fish. Then I will play back the video later and take screen shots, like I said when I remember to do that I have good results in how the fish comes out. My girlfriend taught me that one when I caught a nice 4.5lb an she thought she was taking a pic but she was recording a video lol, then she took a pic (she's horrible at taking my fish pictures).

iPhone users try it out it helps you do the fish justice

[boostr]

Nothing wrong with filtering a pic to make it clearer  . As long as you are not altering the size of your fish  ... Gigidy.

[geo g]

Honestly, who has time for all this stuff. I wish I could figure out how to post pics from my I Phone to the site. Haven't figured it out yet! We need a step by step tutorial on posting pictures for the techno challenged, and please keep it simple.

[CayMar]

Not trying to bust your chops at all. I noticed in the last picture the words are gone off of your shirt. I have never used PhotoShop, but I am curious, was removing the letters necessary to getting the fish how you want it? I'll have to check this PhotoShop thing out sometime.

[CayMar]

Yea AK my wife showed me that screenshot thing too. It was with my kids, but I use it for any pictures I want.

[AK-Jax86]

Honestly, who has time for all this stuff. I wish I could figure out how to post pics from my I Phone to the site. Haven't figured it out yet! We need a step by step tutorial on posting pictures for the techno challenged, and please keep it simple.

For the TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGED iPhone users this is how it's done

1. Email the pic you want to post to yourself or another email (I have only gmail accounts so try it with that gmail to gmail)

2. Then it will ask you if you want to resize it and you choose MEDIUM

3. Open the email file and save the picture

4. Open the full version of the site and click the attachment link

5. Take the file(s) that you want to upload to your post and there you have it!

I dislike doing this but when I post that's how I go about doing it if I am using my phone. I prefer Instagram for all my fishing photos I use it as my fishing photo album. It's like Facebook for pictures except you control what you want to see in your feed... In my case it's all fishing related I follow rod/reel/lure comoanies and fellow anglers I love it!

I hope that helps you out man and anyone else who was wondering. I wish they would just fix it so we didn't have to change the size of the photo I mean iPhones are probably what most users have anyway mods make it work please

[DrNip]

Not trying to bust your chops at all. I noticed in the last picture the words are gone off of your shirt. I have never used PhotoShop, but I am curious, was removing the letters necessary to getting the fish how you want it? I'll have to check this PhotoShop thing out sometime.

Just easier blacking the lettering out instead of trying to restore them as well. I would have done the same.

[Dead River]

Just easier blacking the lettering out instead of trying to restore them as well. I would have done the same.

 

yes, fixing the lettering would be very difficult and tedious. so yes blacking out the lettering helped the fish look right

[SirSnookalot]

I think it's perfectly fine to "sharpen" your original pic, however, embellishment of a catch is unacceptable!

I agree.

It's up to each individual how they want their fish to appear, personally a little enhancement is fine.  I've had pics taken in the dark or have been backlit from the sunrise and I've lightened them a bit.  When I see fish displayed that I know aren't more than 10# and they appear to be 20+, I think that's pushing it.  Gotta say some of the those photos are spectacular looking, but sure isn't reality.

[Bankbeater]

I don't know enough about Photoshop to do anything but crop.  I am always afraid that I will ruin the pic.

[geo g]

AK-Jaks86, thank you for your help.  I will play with it and see what happens..

[JayKumar]

Best way to make a bass bigger -- hold it the right way. If you don't know how, practice at home with just about anything in front of a mirror or camera. Seriously. Works!

[iabass8]

I have a degree in graphic design. The second pic, use less feathering. it will create less of a distortion. when you using the initial image and pasting it on the primary image, scale down the feathering. when you are alt/dragging the replacement, mask over the original and create a new later /w a different amount of feathering before you do any visual rendering/filtering.  the third image looks good. you can create various masks of your fingers that will sharpen the desired quality. the sharpen filter can only do so much. nice job on the dorsal fine. getting rid of the lettering on your shirt was a good idea. the glare really distorted it in the originals. crop the old mans finger out from the bottom right corner. 

 

nice fish!