Are you and your hunting party planning a trophy hunt? If so, don’t forget to pack your camera to document your trip from start to finish! To make sure you return with pictures that you will want to share, here are some helpful photography tips from a large game and safari animal taxidermist:
- Don’t miss out on good light: Professional outdoor photographers will tell you that natural lighting is the best lighting for taking great photos. Luckily for you, the pictures you want to take will be outside, as you will be in the field hunting. And while you don’t necessarily have to plan your hunt around sunrise and sunset, those are considered the best times of the day to take advantage of natural light.
- Bring a camera: There are all sorts of cameras available, including point and shoot, professional grade lens, photo/video combo and the camera on your smartphone. Use whichever camera you’re comfortable with, as long as you remember to pack it along with your hunting gear, or keep it within reach in your vest or jacket pocket. Leave your camera at home and you will miss out on the chance to document your hunt.
- Be prepared: Bring your camera no matter what, even if the weather is less than ideal for taking outdoor photos. To protect your camera against damaging water and moisture, you can pick up camera rain covers at a camera shop or buy them online. Plastic storage and sandwich bags—something you probably already have at home—also make decent camera covers.
- Choose a good background: If your location has bad lighting or the background is not ideal, then don’t photograph your trophies there. What you may want to do is move the downed animal and yourself to another location. You will be glad you did, and you’ll have the perfect picture to show off to family and friends.
- Clean your trophy: Be sure to clean up a trophy animal before taking pictures of it. Wipe off blood from antlers and fur, and also check that your hunting clothes are not bloody. Change into other clothes if the ones you’re wearing are stained.
- Make edits at home: Today, editing and uploading pictures straight from a phone camera takes mere seconds. But don’t waste precious hunting time doing this. Instead, use a memory card with a lot of space so you can take a bunch of photos. Focus on your success in the field; edit photos when you get home.
- Get more practice: If you are looking to get more in-the-field photography practice, let your hunting buddies know you are interested in photographing hunters and their prizes. Mention that visuals like photographs make for fantastic documentation and a special keepsake of their hunting adventure.
At Nature’s Design Taxidermy, we take pride in our taxidermy creations and offer a high level of quality in all of our work. Don’t hesitate to contact us to schedule an appointment with a skilled game or safari animal taxidermist.