I've seen lots of really nice trophies taken that perhaps would look much much better in the photographs if there had been a few minutes taken to compose the scene a little different.
I'm going to use some pictures that have been posted recently to show examples of what I think could have been composed better, and some that look great.
You guys who may see your pictures posted here as one of the examples that could have been composed a little different for a better outcome please don't think I'm bashing you or your trophy at all. I wish I were with each of you where ever the pics were taken. Also, since I have no idea as to the time allowed for picture taking these guys just may not have had the time to compose the animal either.
To begin with, some of the better pictures I've seen have the camera low, like level with, or below the animals head. that allows you to be able to have the antlers/horns displayed with the sky behind them. This makes them stand out better with no distracting clothes, ground, branches, etc. taking away from the visual appeal of what you're trying to highlight.
When the camera is low of course there will be sticks, grass, rocks, etc. in the way. Cut the grass, move the sticks and rocks. When we hunted in Africa as soon as you start getting ready for the picture taking the trackers come out with their machetes and knives and start clearing everything away in between the camera and the animal. It's just a totally expected thing that the picture taker will be down low to, or laying down on the ground.
Roll the animal up into a natural laying down position. This can be tough with a big animal like an elk, but we've done it with 1800 pound Eland, so I know it can be done, if you have enough help!
It can be hard because the legs don't always want to be folded up into the natural position. If you can get it done though it pays off in the photo.
Take some pictures with the animal looking straight at the camera and some with the animal look off at an angle. I think that most of the time the off angle perspective looks better and shows more of the antlers and horns
Use the flash for fill lighting. You'll be amazed how good you can make some pictures come out by forcing the camera to flash when it normally would not have, like a bright day, or when you're just forced to take a picture with the camera facing toward the sun. It will make shadows under hat brims disappear, or if you're back in some brush it'll help light up the subject. I use fill flash a lot.
Take your time composing the picture. The animal is dead and unless it's hot enough that you have to worry about meat spoilage just take your time. This will be the only time you ever take a picture of this animal so get the best photos you can. With todays digital cameras that almost everyone has there's really no excuse for not having good pictures since you can look at them as soon as you take them, and then delete and retake if you need to. Also, take lots of pictures, again it's just too easy to do with the digital cameras.
SMILE!! I've seen lots of pictures where the hunter looks like he's mad at the animal he just killed. This is lots of fun, show your joy, and excitement of having taken a trophy you're proud to have in the photograph.
Okay, here are some examples of pictures that I, remember my opinion only, think would have looked a lot better with a few changes to the composition.
If the camera could have been moved a to the right enough for the antlers to be in the sky they would show up much better. If you can cut the grass down in between the camera and the subject to keep it from being distracting to what you're taking a picture of it is a big pay off. I suspect that this picture may have been taken with the delay since this hunter may have been by himself. It also looks like the auto focus may have keyed in on some of the grass instead of the animal, so cutting the grass may have made the pic a little sharper on the hunter and elk. I know an elk is a big animal and you can't always roll him up into a natural laying down position, but if you can it will look much better. You can use rocks, limbs, anything natural to help balance the animal.
Even a night time pic can look better with a bit of composition. I hope this guy has cropped this picture so we can't see his face, for whatever reason, and the original does have him in the pic. Again, if you will have the animal in a natural position, rather than rolled onto his side it'll look better. I try to get the person off to the side so there's nothing to distract from the antlers. If this guy had been off to the side the antlers would look pretty neat all lit up against the dark background.
Oh man, such a nice deer and you can hardly see his antlers at all. I'd have the camera much lower and try to get the antlers skylined against the sky. Roll him up into a laying position, cut the grass out from in front of him, have the shooter off to the side so the antlers stand out.
I think it's neat how these antlers are high lighted so much, they look really nice. Me personally, I don't like to look like I'm sitting on the animal for pictures, but it's not my picture either. I think this pic could look much better with the camera lower to the ground, and the deers back legs placed in a nature laying down position.
Man, what a nice deer. Again roll him up to a laying down position, get the camera low to the ground. Try to get his antlers against the sky with the hunter off to the side and they'll look even bigger than they do here.
This is another really nice buck that could have come out looking much better. Even at night you can usually get a picture of the animal on the ground near where he was shot and it can come out pretty nice, see the night picture above. In my opinion it looks like a better picture than one laying in the bed of a truck.
Here are some examples that I think are great examples of trophy pictures in the field. I think Pat of PGS took all of these. You can see that there has been a lot of effort put into getting a good photograph.
Now I doubt that that Mule deer fell dead on that rock, so these guys have obviously gone to a lot of trouble to get him up there. Heck with all the Lichens on the rock it could be a picture in itself. It really adds to the over all look. See how much nicer and natural the deer looks in a natural laying down pose. The horns look great with the sky behind them so you can see all of the tines easily. The hunter has a double hand full of neck skin holding the head up straight, and he's off to the side. Just a super nice photograph, something you'd be happy to frame.
Another great picture. You can tell there's been some effort to remove as much blood as possible with what was at hand, and a lot of effort into getting everyone positioned. It's a great picture, but notice that the head is turned more directly toward the camera. See how it's a liiitttle bit harder to see some of the tines? This is not meant as a negative at all, just as an example so you can look again at the picture above and below this one as a demonstration of how much more detail you can see when the head is turned at an angle.
I like close ups like this, you can see lots of detail in both the animal and hunter. I would have suggested that the hunter take his glasses off in some of the pictures so you can see his eyes too.
You've taken some really nice animals Pat, and you do a great job of photographing them as well. Way to go.
I'm going to use some pictures that have been posted recently to show examples of what I think could have been composed better, and some that look great.
You guys who may see your pictures posted here as one of the examples that could have been composed a little different for a better outcome please don't think I'm bashing you or your trophy at all. I wish I were with each of you where ever the pics were taken. Also, since I have no idea as to the time allowed for picture taking these guys just may not have had the time to compose the animal either.
To begin with, some of the better pictures I've seen have the camera low, like level with, or below the animals head. that allows you to be able to have the antlers/horns displayed with the sky behind them. This makes them stand out better with no distracting clothes, ground, branches, etc. taking away from the visual appeal of what you're trying to highlight.
When the camera is low of course there will be sticks, grass, rocks, etc. in the way. Cut the grass, move the sticks and rocks. When we hunted in Africa as soon as you start getting ready for the picture taking the trackers come out with their machetes and knives and start clearing everything away in between the camera and the animal. It's just a totally expected thing that the picture taker will be down low to, or laying down on the ground.
Roll the animal up into a natural laying down position. This can be tough with a big animal like an elk, but we've done it with 1800 pound Eland, so I know it can be done, if you have enough help!
Take some pictures with the animal looking straight at the camera and some with the animal look off at an angle. I think that most of the time the off angle perspective looks better and shows more of the antlers and horns
Use the flash for fill lighting. You'll be amazed how good you can make some pictures come out by forcing the camera to flash when it normally would not have, like a bright day, or when you're just forced to take a picture with the camera facing toward the sun. It will make shadows under hat brims disappear, or if you're back in some brush it'll help light up the subject. I use fill flash a lot.
Take your time composing the picture. The animal is dead and unless it's hot enough that you have to worry about meat spoilage just take your time. This will be the only time you ever take a picture of this animal so get the best photos you can. With todays digital cameras that almost everyone has there's really no excuse for not having good pictures since you can look at them as soon as you take them, and then delete and retake if you need to. Also, take lots of pictures, again it's just too easy to do with the digital cameras.
SMILE!! I've seen lots of pictures where the hunter looks like he's mad at the animal he just killed. This is lots of fun, show your joy, and excitement of having taken a trophy you're proud to have in the photograph.
Okay, here are some examples of pictures that I, remember my opinion only, think would have looked a lot better with a few changes to the composition.
If the camera could have been moved a to the right enough for the antlers to be in the sky they would show up much better. If you can cut the grass down in between the camera and the subject to keep it from being distracting to what you're taking a picture of it is a big pay off. I suspect that this picture may have been taken with the delay since this hunter may have been by himself. It also looks like the auto focus may have keyed in on some of the grass instead of the animal, so cutting the grass may have made the pic a little sharper on the hunter and elk. I know an elk is a big animal and you can't always roll him up into a natural laying down position, but if you can it will look much better. You can use rocks, limbs, anything natural to help balance the animal.
Even a night time pic can look better with a bit of composition. I hope this guy has cropped this picture so we can't see his face, for whatever reason, and the original does have him in the pic. Again, if you will have the animal in a natural position, rather than rolled onto his side it'll look better. I try to get the person off to the side so there's nothing to distract from the antlers. If this guy had been off to the side the antlers would look pretty neat all lit up against the dark background.
Oh man, such a nice deer and you can hardly see his antlers at all. I'd have the camera much lower and try to get the antlers skylined against the sky. Roll him up into a laying position, cut the grass out from in front of him, have the shooter off to the side so the antlers stand out.
I think it's neat how these antlers are high lighted so much, they look really nice. Me personally, I don't like to look like I'm sitting on the animal for pictures, but it's not my picture either. I think this pic could look much better with the camera lower to the ground, and the deers back legs placed in a nature laying down position.
Man, what a nice deer. Again roll him up to a laying down position, get the camera low to the ground. Try to get his antlers against the sky with the hunter off to the side and they'll look even bigger than they do here.
This is another really nice buck that could have come out looking much better. Even at night you can usually get a picture of the animal on the ground near where he was shot and it can come out pretty nice, see the night picture above. In my opinion it looks like a better picture than one laying in the bed of a truck.
Here are some examples that I think are great examples of trophy pictures in the field. I think Pat of PGS took all of these. You can see that there has been a lot of effort put into getting a good photograph.
Now I doubt that that Mule deer fell dead on that rock, so these guys have obviously gone to a lot of trouble to get him up there. Heck with all the Lichens on the rock it could be a picture in itself. It really adds to the over all look. See how much nicer and natural the deer looks in a natural laying down pose. The horns look great with the sky behind them so you can see all of the tines easily. The hunter has a double hand full of neck skin holding the head up straight, and he's off to the side. Just a super nice photograph, something you'd be happy to frame.
Another great picture. You can tell there's been some effort to remove as much blood as possible with what was at hand, and a lot of effort into getting everyone positioned. It's a great picture, but notice that the head is turned more directly toward the camera. See how it's a liiitttle bit harder to see some of the tines? This is not meant as a negative at all, just as an example so you can look again at the picture above and below this one as a demonstration of how much more detail you can see when the head is turned at an angle.
I like close ups like this, you can see lots of detail in both the animal and hunter. I would have suggested that the hunter take his glasses off in some of the pictures so you can see his eyes too.
You've taken some really nice animals Pat, and you do a great job of photographing them as well. Way to go.
