I'm not going to Africa, but I have seen some great pictures from those who have been there so I think this is a good place to ask.

I would like some tips on getting good pics in the feild of people with their game. I have seen pics where faces are dark, the fur of the animal gets so dark you can't see features and hunters faces are in shadow.

Any tips on zooming, flash, facing the sun, etc?

Thanks!

If you're shooting digital, shoot lots of frames. They're free, and you can delete the bad ones when you get back to camp.

For trophy shots, get up pretty close, don't zoom in much. This helps the trophy size perspective if you are behind the animal. Try to fill the frame with the subject. If the opportunity presents itself, have a spectacular view behind you.

Take the time to have an uncluttered background (sky is best).

If the sun is shining, use a flash to lighten up the dark shadows. It's better to have shadows on faces and lighten them with a flash than to have your subjects face into the bright sun and have them squint their eyes practically shut.

With the trophies, I was impressed with how my first PH spent a good bit of time getting the animal into the light, and cleaning up the blood as much as possible, put it tongue inside its mouth, etc. So good in fact that some people see the pictures and don't realize that it's dead!

If you want to have your rifle propped up on the carcass, make sure the camera angle doesn't make it look like the muzzle is pointed at your head. I cringe when I see that. As for me, I prefer to be holding my rifle for the photo when possible.


Well, that about covers 101.

For the serious stuff, you need to talk with Outdoor Writer!

Rick.

Thanks, Rick. Good point about the tounge, etc.

I hope Outdoor Writer sees this one....

....

Shane,



You rang??



Everything Rick said!



Only a couple things I might add is to use a slower shutter speed so you can have smaller f-stop (higher number like f-8) if you're using an adjustable camera, whether it's film or digital. That will give you a greater depth of field, which is especially important when the person is well back from the animal's head or body. That way the photo is in focus from front to back.



Using a wide-angle lens in the 24-28mm range will also help with this, and it will also make the foreground object appear somewhat larger, i.e. good for making trophies bigger.



Also, shoot from a LOW angle, like lying on your belly with your elbows propped up a bit.



As for the flash, I use it for fill ALL the time, whether it's sunny or not.



And here's what you'll get when the sun is shinning.







Here's what you get at dusk on an overcast day.







Both of the above are digital images from an Olympus 2100 UZ using the WA setting (28mm) and the built-in flash in Super fine JPG mode. Original image size was 1600x1200 pixels. -TONY

That's great advice that's been given already. To add to it I would say that although a $300 plus digital camera makes life easier to take great trophy photos, you can get really good pics using a $50 "point and shoot" 35mm zoom camera; not magazine quality perhaps, but certainly good enough for anybody's photo album.

As already stated, the key to taking good pics is to take your time.

Beware that items which are almost unnoticeable in the scene as you compose the picture, will stand out like a sore thumb when you or other look at the results. A little bit of blood on the carcass looks like an axe murder on the finished picture for instance.

If you want to take good pics I would recommend practising before hand. This does not need to be anything special, just get the kids or the dog to pose in the garden and take a few pics to see the effect of natural light, flash ect. See how the timer works and the other modes.

Before you go on the hunt make a tick list of things to check before you take the picture. Sort of along the line of:

1) No blood
2) No tongue showing
3) Good back ground
4) Clear for ground
5) Shadows
6) Ect ect.

This list will really help in the heat of the moment. Also cut out or photocopy any trophy photos you see in magazines or on the net you really like, and use these to remind you in the field..Its also user to show a guide or hunting partner exactly what sort of shots your looking for. Write brief notes on these pics about the points you like or don't
like again to guide you...Keep these and the above list in you're camera case....

Consider getting a small travel tripod. Even if you have someone else to push the shutter, with a tripod *you* can frame the picture exactly as you want , then resume your pose in the picture knowing all the other person has to do is push a button. Tripods also make things a lot easier
if your hunting alone. You have a fighting chance of using the timer facility this way...The tripod need not be large or have a fancy pan & tilt head. Some thing which will hold the camera between ankle and waist level is ideal. Remember the lighter/smaller the camera we're using the light and small the tripod we can use, and the more likely were are to
carry them.

For folks who hunt alone, look at a camera with one of those key fob remote shutter releases or one where the shutter can be voice activated; both are far easier to use than the normal self timer. Finally take lots of pics...one 24 or better yet 36 exposure roll of film per trophy is what I would recommend.

Vary the poses and try different settings and eventually you will arrive at almost a "formula" of camera setting /pose and composition which will give you pictures you like!


regards,

Pete

"To add to it I would say that although a $300 plus digital camera makes life easier to take great trophy photos, you can get really good pics using a $50 "point and shoot" 35mm zoom camera"

The problem with low cost Digital cameras is the lower number of "pixels" in in the lens, this causes the poor contrast.
As compaired to film.
So if using one with 2 meg. or less be more careful to use the natural light, and get close.
The great thing with Digital is you can take LOTS of shots, and store them easly, but the storage cards arn't cheap.
If you can afford it the new hi res. Digital cameras are great.

I use my little spotting scope tripod, for the camera as well.

Good suggestions, Pete.

I kinda cracked up with the bit about using the tripod to compose the photo so someone else could push the shutter.

When I'm getting my pic taken such as in the above, I grab the camera after the animal is set and have the person who will be taking the photo act as a stand-in for me. Then I fix all the camera settings, pop the flash up and lie on the ground to compose the pic at the right focal length. When I'm done, I draw a line where my elbows were on the ground and tell my photographer to put his elbows in the same place. Then the only direction I need to give after I get in the frame is to say, "Now make sure you don't cut off my head, and just hold the camera level like I did."

My PH in Africa and the guide in NZ quickly learned the drill and did a top notch job with the pix. In fact, the NZ guide thanked me because he learned how to take decent photos of his clients. -TONY

The other replies contain a whealth of GREAT information. Follow those tips and take several shots from slightly different angles both side to side and up and down.
Now for the tip that make me weird!!!
For flash photos, get with your local taxidermist before you leave and buy a few sets of different size glass eyes. The taxidermist can give you the right ones for the critters you will be hunting. place them in your camera bag. When the animal is cleanned and posed, slide the glass eyes on top of the real ones. This is easily done. It will remove the "DEAD EYE" look. Look at any flash photo and the eyes have reflected the flash and are void of color. This trick will take care of the problem.
Besides, just think of the fun you will have watching the faces of the PH and his trackers and skinners!
Has anyone ever done this or heard of it???

Gentlemen, please, this is not intended as critizism and I should hate to start a flame-war... But surely the point of a trophy picture is that the animal is dead and I have killed it? So why make these efforts to try to make it look alive...?

I want my animals' beauty to be seen in the picture but it will still be a picture of a beautyful dead animal and it only looks odd to me if it is arranged to look alive. If there is a spot of blood in the picture? Well, animals bleed when you shoot them...

Guess I am a barbarian from the north.

Regards,
Martin

Martin, the one thing that turns a non-hunter off is blood. Having a photo of an animal with an arrow sticking into it soaked in a bright red foaming blood stream from the lungs and heart will do alot of damage for Hunting in general.
I feel that around 10% of the population is strongly against hunting and there is not much we can do to change there mind. Around 50% are neutral and those are the ones we hunters need to NOT alienate and spreading photos of "blood and guts". They as non-hunters may not understand, like you and me, that blood is part of the kill.
Call it "Class" or "In Good Taste" but we need all the help we can get to protect our hunting rights and spreading dis-tasteful feild photos will not help.
Just food for thought.

I guess I have been lucky as my PH was a prof photographer prior to becoming a PH. Man he does wonders with a 35mm camera and a 20mm lens. The grass is always manacuried and the trophy properly groomed. One bad thing though is I always have horn shrink when the trophy arrives stateside.