How to take an awesome night shot

Carp are active day and night. So it’s no surprise that a large part of carp angling takes place in darkness. Plenty of techniques and skills help the angler to fish effectively in these conditions. Precise casting for instance, is facilitated by the use of line clips, distance sticks or just accuracy based on experience. For the guys that use a boat, a GPS comes in very handy taking out a rod at night. There is really plenty of tackle that makes effective night fishing possible. Just think about electronic bite indicators, bedchairs, shelters, headlamps and so on. But with all the gear and skills for night angling, why don’t you see more photos of carp at night? It seems that carp anglers miss the fact that their equipment would also allow photographing their catch in darkness.

Flashy fish and dude

Welcome to the 20th century! Digital, single lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) or digital mirrorless cameras (DSLMs) with incorporating modern technology are part of the standard repertoire of carp anglers. High ISO sensitivity, large dynamic range and the best software for post-processing allow good results of catch shots during darkness; there really is no need to sack a fish overnight. To motivate carp anglers that are willed to learn something about photography or to get rid of their laziness at night, this article aims to boost the trend of taking photos right after capture and is all about the camera settings for flash photography and the usage of the integrated camera flash, and detailed some affordable equipment that might give the shots that extra bit of magic.

Two external flashes and two lean guys

Rule Number 1: Use only manual camera settings at night!

Turn the Program wheel on the left upper side of the camera to Manual (‘M’) and forget about all the other letters and signs on it. This is because at night, you should not trust automatic functions, rather tell the camera exactly what it has to do. But don’t worry, this is not rocket science - actually it is rather easy for catch photos and practically every time, the same. This is because the circumstances are also consistent: it is dark! So when the Program wheel is on M, choose 1/125 second for the shutter speed, an aperture between f4 and f5.6 (the smaller the number, the lesser the sharpness of the background) and an ISO value of 400 (giving some light sensitivity).

These values work quite well and can be used practically every time. Of course, a more advanced photographer can fine-tune these settings to their own preferences. But for a nocturnal beginner, it is a decent solution for proper shots with artificial light.

Now, with these manual settings we will let the integrated flash do the rest for us. After the opening of the flash (by pressing on the small button next to it), it will give the (more or less) right amount of light intensity by using a TTL measurement according to your manual camera settings. It really is that easy… the flash does the work.

Infobox 1: TTL
What’s that? A flash with TTL exposes a photo automatically by calculating how much light is needed for an optimum result with the actual camera settings. This facilitates flash photography at night as the flash does actually all the exposure work for you. TTL is a standard setting for the integrated flash (as you can check in the menu of your camera).

Flash smile

Rule Number 2: Give the flash some space

The shorter the distance to the flash, the bigger will be the exposure difference between fish, angler and background. When the flash is closer than one metre to the fish (which happens when you photograph with a wide-angle focal length), it will lighten the body of the fish mainly in the middle, which will give a very bright and over-exposed belly and a too dark-a-head and tail.

Furthermore, the background will be quite dark as the flash power is set relatively low by the TTL measurement due to the short distance from the subject. By increasing the distance between flash and fish to a minimum of 1.5 metres, and by using focal lengths from 35mm upwards, the exposure of the photo will be much more balanced (and additionally the fish does not look like it’s inflated).

Rule Number 3: Give a bit of extra light

A headlamp or a small LED video lamp that is pointed towards the fish facilitates framing of the scenery and helps the autofocus of the camera; just a bit of light to see fish and angler is enough.

Rule Number 4: Two flashes are better than one

Two flashes are not only better for exposing the fish more uniformly, but also allow for lighting a larger part of the background. Logically, at least one flash has to be external and work as a ‘slave’. It can be positioned on a bankstick or tripod giving light from the side of the fish and background. The integrated flash of the camera functions as its ‘master’, giving the signal for flashing and transmitting the camera settings.

Also, the integrated flash of your camera requires its Master option to be activated beforehand in the flash menu of the camera. In the Canon menu: “Flash control” -> “Built-in flash settings” -> “Wireless function” -> choose the symbol of external flash and integrated flash that are separated by a colon.

The flashes of Canon or Nikon are quite expensive though, and start from 200€. Good alternatives are sold from Yongnuo who offer quite similar and absolutely reliable flashes for a much lower price. The fitting models for Canon or Nikon with TTL function are sold for less than 100€. The model of choice could be the Yongnuo YN-568EX II that’s sold for around 85€ and can be used as a slave, master or just as a flash mounted on the camera when only one is needed for quicker shots or during the daytime. Yongnuo sells a matching diffuser (OS03140) for around 2€ that makes for smoother and more evenly distributed light from the flash.

The camera settings for the master and slave flash photography remain the same (M). Just make sure that the Yongnuo flash is set to ‘S’ in its menu when used as a slave.

The proud look of the carp directly after capture

Infobox 2: How to mount a flash on a bankstick or tripod
A hot shoe is a small adapter that can be mounted onto the flash contact. It has an internal thread facilitating connection between hot shoe and bankstick by means of thread adapter of 1/4 to 3/8 inch. The costs for both are below 10€.
For tripod mounting one screws a tripod plate (that is normally mounted below your camera) into the plastic flash foot that comes as standard with the flash.

Carp Gypsies' Flash Set-up

Our own and actual set-up gives some additional creative freedom. We use two slave flashes and spare that comes directly from the camera. Both flashes are mounted on long banksticks and triggered by a small unit that is on the hot shoe of the camera. This gives the photo more three-dimensionality. The possibilities for the positioning of the flashes are less limited as the unit can trigger the flashes from distances up to 100-metres.

We work without TTL, and control the flashes manually which means a bit more fine-tuning, but it also reduces the outlay for flashes. The total set-up costs are around just 170€: two Yongnuo YN 560-III flashes (55€ per flash), a Yongnuo control unit YN 560-TX (35 €), two Walimex fabric diffusers, two Walimex hot shoes and two thread adapters (altogether around 25€).

A caudal fin like a mermaid

LED Video Lamps

LED video lamps can also be used for night photography. The settings for the camera are similar to those flash photography but ISO should be up-regulated a bit (to ISO 800 for example) as LED lamps do not illuminate as strong as flashes. Furthermore, the shutter speed can be set a bit lower and down-regulated to for example 1/60 s for brighter results. A second LED lamp may also be necessary. The mounting of LED lamps on banksticks or tripods is similar to the mounting of flashes.

A good and inexpensive LED video lamp with adjusting of colour temperature from cold white to warm yellow is also provided from Yongnuo. The 300 LED’s of the Yongnuo YN-300 II (for around 50€) with 18 Watts have a light intensity of up to 2280 Lux.

Infobox 3: Flash or LED lamp?
An LED lamp does not give the creative freedom of a flash and the photos are also not as sharp and crisp. The advantages of LED lamps however, are clearly their suitability for filming (at night) and to provide ambient light.

The electricity for our flashes and LED lamps comes from rechargeable AA batteries from Aldi (Activ Energy NiMH Plus 2500 mAh). They have enough power, remain charged for long periods and are inexpensive. Alternatives are, for example, Duracell Ultra HR6 AA rechargeable batteries (also 2500 mAh). To power the Yongnuo LED lamp however, a battery pack is needed (Neewer Battery Pack BB-6 (around 10€).

That’s about it as far as camera settings for catch photos at night, and the options to bring your set-up to perfection. I hope this article is helpful and that it also increases your motivation to photograph your fish banked at night during darkness.
In the next issue it’s all about the positioning of the flashes, photo composition and the post-production of the shots using a computer.

This shot was taken only with the internal flash (and manual camera setting)