Three Steps to a Good Picture

Warning - This article includes some bad pictures

As a hunter, I love to see pictures of another hunter’s success. Photographs are a great way to save our memories and show off our trophies. Photographs can also make our trophies and our sport look bad. Taking a good picture can not only make your animal look better, but can improve the opinions of non hunters about our sport. In this article I hope to show some examples of good and bad hunting pictures, and give some tips on how to improve your own.

Taking a good picture usually takes a little more time, but it can make your trophy look better, bigger, and cleaner. Once you become in the habit of taking better pictures you will agree that it is worth the extra time. The first thing you must do to get a good picture is take more than one. The more pictures you take, the better the chances of a good one. I usually take at least ten pictures of each of our kills, this ensures that at least one turns out right.

The second must in taking good pictures is your setting. The surroundings of a picture can make or break it. Make sure your background is not too cluttered. This can distract the eye from the main idea of your photo, your trophy. Vehicles, houses, brush, trash, and other people and animals can greatly take away from your picture. Try to find an area with a nice background. The sky makes a great background.

The third and final step is the most important one, the position of the animal. Whether it be a monster bass or a first doe, the position can ruin a picture. Position the trophy so that it can be seen well. Hold it out from the body. A body can make the subject look much smaller. Have nothing behind it that makes it hard to see, such as a camouflage coat behind the deer’s antlers. Let the background show off the trophy. Also have a clean picture, clean up the blood and dirt. Nothing looks worse to a non hunter than blood and guts.

I have collected some pictures, good and bad to use as an example.

These pictures are of the same boy with two different does. The first picture has a poor background. The truck makes a small deer look even smaller and the deer blends in with the color of the ground. The setup is also poor, holding the deer by the ears looks bad to hunters and non hunters alike. The second picture is not much better. The clutter in the back of the truck and the other truck in the background distracts from the picture. There is blood all over the tail gate and on the deer’s mouth. The boy is sitting on the deer and holding the neck which takes away from the deer.

This picture is much better. The background is clean and the setup is good. There is some blood that could have been removed from the mouth. The main problem here is the blades of grass. It is a good idea to spot and remove anything that may be between the lens and the subject.

Here are two pictures of the same buck. The first picture has a clean background, but the trees take away from the antlers. The setup is decent except for the hunters vest, which is very distracting and the blood on the belly of the deer looks bad. Change these things and the picture would not be that bad. The second picture is much better, the background is good, and the sky shows the antlers well. The setup is also much better, the hunter has changed vests, and the deer is turned so the blood on the belly does not show. The main problem here is the hunter’s arm crossing his body, holding the deer with the other hand would have looked better.

This picture is an example of a good buck that looks much smaller in the picture. The hunter is a big guy and his size makes the deer look smaller. The hunter sitting over the body of the deer and behind the antlers takes away from the size of the deer.

These two turkey pictures do not show the turkey very well. The first picture has a good background but a poor setup. I personally do not like the turkey to be held by the neck. Again here the size of the hunter takes away from the animal. It would help if he held the turkey out away from himself. The second picture again does not show the bird well. On a turkey the way you setup the bird is very important, especially on a smaller bird, the way the feathers are arranged can be the major difference.

These turkey pictures are a little better. The first picture has a poor background, the blind behind the hunter blends in with the hunters camo and takes away from the hunter. The setup is nice with the turkey fanned out. Part of the head of the turkey is cut off though. The second picture shows a smaller turkey like in the previous pictures. The background and setup are good, the turkey is fanned out and propped up so it does not look so small.

Here is another example of hunters distracting from the deer. The hunter on the left is much larger than the hunter on the hunter on the right. He is too close to the deer and is closer to the camera than the deer. The deer on the left is much bigger than the deer on the right but the picture does not show it. Had the picture been taken from the side of the hunter on the right, and the larger hunter scooted back, it could have been much better. Also the setup is not good, it is hard to get a good picture of a hanging deer. The blood needs to be cleaned off the noses as well.

Here are two more hanging deer pictures. The first picture has a poor background, the truck blocks a potential good background. The setup is not bad, the deer is turned so there is no blood, but the angle showing the top of the head is not the most flattering to the rack. Take the angle bit more from the side and it is a much better picture. The second picture has a decent background, the setup is pretty good. The deer and hunter are the same from the picture above. The angle here is much better, the hunter is further behind the deer and only the neck and head are showing, making the hanging deer look much better. There is some blood on the neck that could have been cleaned off. But this shot compared to the one above shows how a good picture can make the deer look much better.

None of these pictures are of professionals or by professionals, but it does not take a pro to take a good picture. It just takes a little extra time. If you are willing to put in the little bit of additional time, then you will find that your pictures make even better memories.