Follow these 15 tips to avoid potential trouble spots, amaze your friends with your photographic talents, and release your fish alive and well after getting the perfect hero shot.

Story by Bill Rakozy

With over 25 years of full-time work in the sport fishing industry, I have seen my share of photos taken by anglers who are eager to show off their catch. In my experience, most fish photos don’t show off the size, excitement and pride the angler felt. Follow these 15 suggestions to fully capture the moment.

1. The best photos are taken from boat to boat or kayak to kayak. Have someone else who understands how to operate the camera be prepared for your yell or radio call that you have hooked something big.

2. For best results, the sun must be at the photographer's back. This assures that the subject and fish will receive full illumination from the sun.

3. ALWAYS use a fill-in-flash even on bright sunny days. The flash will fill in dark, shadow areas especially on the face of the subject which may be shaded by the bill of their hat, and the water on the fish will tend to glisten and the fish will look fresh and alive. Take off sunglasses too!

4. Keep the fish in the water by keeping it in a landing net, or carefully gaff the fish through the thin jaw tissue or if the fish is well hooked, just keep him on the line. Remember, you should release the fish in healthy condition after the photo. Take the fish out of the water just before the photographer is ready to focus and shoot.

5. Don’t keep the fish out of the water longer than 60 seconds.

6. Hold large fish in a natural horizontal position, not hanging vertically, as it could damage internal organs because of the pull of gravity.

7. Fly anglers like to display their fly rod and reel so everyone knows it was caught with fly fishing equipment. Don’t hold the cork handle between your teeth. Do practice ahead of time, pointing the rod backwards and place the rod on top of your shoulder with the reel just in front of your cheek on either side.

8. Hold the fish horizontal with the front of the fish held slightly in front of the tail and slightly higher than the tail.

9. Use a UV Haze filter to enhance the color of the sky and use polaroid filter on your camera if you have one. This will reduce shine and glare. Make sure you know how to use these filters before you begin fishing.

10. Don’t look at the camera. Look at your prize catch with a big smile.

11. Don’t be smoking in the photograph or have empty beer cans in the background.

12. When ready to shoot, take 5 or 10 photos, not just one. If you have a digital camera and set to automatically keep shooting as long as the button is pushed, that is a great option. Take several very rapid shots in about 10 seconds. This will guarantee there will be a shot with the eyes open and you can take your best pick and delete the remaining photos to keep the memory card empty and ready for the next opportunity.

13. Purchase a 2nd camera battery fully charged and in your pocket as a backup to the one in your camera.

14. The photographer should stop and look at the background behind the subject. It’s easy to miss a tree, light pole or another boat in the background which will detract from the final results.

15. Make sure your memory card has room for more photos before you head out for the day. At the end of each day, review your photos and save them to your computer.

PHOTO: Hobie Kayaks (showing Hobie's Mirage Revolution fishing kayak).