1. If you’re fishing from a boat, try to pull over to the side of the river, and get out on shore. This way, you can hold the fish over water instead of the floor boards of a jet boat. Plus, you have the Alaska scenery in the background of the photo rather than an outboard motor.
2. Have the guide hold the netted fish in front of you and submerged in 1-2 feet of water so you can easily kneel down and pick it up. This gives you a chance to get the desired grip while the fish is recovering in the water. A good guide will make sure that the net is out of the photo frame.
3. Hold the fish with a semi-firm handshake. You can hold large trout and salmon under the belly and at the notch of the tail. Try to keep your hands from covering the side of the fish you are taking a picture of. I like to put my right thumb on top and in front of the dorsal fin. This keeps my fingers on the backside of the fish. Don’t squeeze to hard. . . It’s just a picture after all.
4. Tilt the fish toward the ground about 15 degrees (not toward the sky). This is a little trick that prevents that reflection that you can get off the scales of the fish. By doing this, the unique colors and texture of a trout or salmon will show in the photo.