A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

12 hours ago

9 min read

Written by MaryAnn Holloway

A picture is worth a thousand words… but bad pictures of your cattle can cost you plenty! Whether you are shooting a picture for an advertisement, for posterity, or just to hang on the wall, you want your animals to look their absolute best. Many potential customers cannot visit your ranch to view your cattle in person, but when they see your cattle in your photo album, a sale catalog, on your website, or in a bull promotion, you want their first impression to be a good one.

A medium priced digital camera is perfect for livestock pictures. Make sure it has a zoom lens so you can get a close-up without having to get too close and a built-in flash to help with the shadows. Digital cameras have several advantages over film types. You can tell if you get a good picture instantly without waiting for the pictures to get back from the developer, you can take several extra shots of the same animal and then delete the bad pictures, and you can email the photo to the person doing your ad or web site and they can have it the same day it was taken.

Just like any other hobby, taking good pictures takes lots of practice! The best thing about a digital camera is that you can take as many pictures as you like and it doesn’t cost you any extra. It’s better to take too many pictures and delete a few than to have to go back another day and start over because you didn’t get any good ones.

Photos used for advertising or posterity purposes are usually taken from a side (or profile) view as they show the most of the animal’s confirmation, but photographing your cattle from different angles keeps your pictures fun and interesting. Some animals are more photogenic from one angle than from another. Generally photos are taken from three basic angles – side (or profile), full front or rear, and quarter (half way between profile and front). A full front view is best for really masculine bulls, one with large, wide jaws; a broad forehead; wide, straight legs; and muscular shoulders. For a rear view, you don’t actually shoot the picture from directly behind the animal. A rear view would more correctly be called a hip shot, because it is taken from an angle off the hip. For this shot all four legs should be spaced equally under the animal or “square”. A quarter view should be posed like the hip shot, with all four legs equally placed and square. Like a hip shot it is also taken standing from an angle - this time from the closest front leg.

Some simple, professional tips to help you take good pictures:

Don't feed grain or hay to your animals right before you take your pictures. What you'll get for the next hour are cattle with their heads down eating. Instead, walk slowly through the corral or pasture and wait until the cattle get used to you. Don’t try to hurry your photos. It takes superhuman patience and attention to detail to capture a perfect shot.

If it's fly season, spray your cattle for flies a couple of days ahead of the shoot. Cattle covered with flies do not make a pretty picture. The best time of year to take your pictures is after cattle have shed their winter hair and are in good condition.

Bright sunny days usually work better than hazy or cloudy days for livestock photos because the bright sunshine will emphasize each prominent muscle of your animal and will increase warm color tones and proper contrast. Most importantly, remember to keep the sun behind you and to stand where your shadow does not fall into the picture. Make sure that shadows from fences, trees, buildings, etc, don’t fall on the animal you are photographing as this will distort the way your cattle look. Pay attention to the weather. Clouds, wet conditions, and high winds can distort your animal. Very hot temperatures or high humidity can make cattle listless.

Remove distractions (such as dogs) that might excite or scare your animals before trying to take the picture.

Cattle just don't look as attractive when their ears are back. For better photography, it is a good idea to get the animal's attention so his ears snap forward. Have another person help you. The best way to accomplish this is to have the other person stand in front of the animal and do something to get their attention, such as wave their arms or hat, click their tongue, or do whatever necessary to get the cow to look at them. Just remember to do it slowly and quietly so you don’t spook the cattle. Keep in mind that if you are using a standard point and click camera, there may be a small delay between the time you press the shutter button and when the photo is actually taken. If your animal’s ears are forward when you click, they may not be by the time the picture’s actually recorded.

Depending on the type of photograph you want, most of the time it’s best if you zoom in and fill most of the frame with the animal. Do not cut off any of the head or feet; get the whole animal in the photo. Make sure the animal is standing on level ground.

For advertising or posterity pictures, cattle generally photograph best if you aim the camera directly at their ribs, standing at a 90-degree angle from your animal’s side, neither too far to the front nor to the rear. If you are too far to either side you can make them appear distorted. The part of the animal that is nearest to you will appear too large while the part of the animal that is farthest from you will appear unnaturally small. Position your animal to stand with their hind leg on the near side (closest to you) perpendicular to the ground from the hock down so you can see their udder or testicles. Their front foot on the near side (closest to you) should also be perpendicular to the ground. The far side front leg should show from the knee down and should be positioned slightly behind the near front leg. The far side hind leg should show from the hock down and should be slightly in front of the near hind leg. The legs should be neither bunched together or spread out too far, but should be well balanced under the body. The best cattle pictures have the head and neck up at a comfortable level, the ears forward, with the head at an angle looking slightly towards you so that you can just see the bump of his outside eye. The legs are in the placement mentioned above. This setup gives the animal a three dimensional look and makes for a better picture. It is best for the camera to be slightly lower than the center of the cow. Crouch down a little if necessary. Never take a picture with the camera higher than the cow. It makes them look small.

Cattle can be trained to pose, but it takes patience and persistence. Slowly move towards the animal until it starts to walk away. Keep to the side of the animal as it walks. Watch its feet and when they are in the correct placing back away from the animal. You may need to repeat this several times to get the animal posed correctly, just remember to keep your actions calm and slow. Some cattle respond to this better than others, and some are naturals. Cattle will remember this training and often will pose better after a few practice sessions. I’ve known bulls who will pose the instant they see somebody with a camera in hand. Just like Hollywood stars, some cattle are real hams.

The background of your picture is important! When taking photographs, it is sometimes easy to get the animal lost in the background. Always look behind the animal before you take the picture! Make sure you don't have your farm equipment, junk piles, house, people, or cows with their tails up, in the picture. Where perfection is not possible, the least of many evils is the best choice. Be mindful of fence posts and telephone posts, as it makes the picture look strange to have one sticking up out of the back of the animal. Nice, neutral backgrounds are best. A haystack, row of distant trees, solid wooden fence, and side of a barn are all good backgrounds. And of course, the best background of all is a cow standing in a green pasture with some spring flowers blooming. Just try to choose short grass so it doesn’t hide too much of the cow. When you are interested in the confirmation of an animal and the lower half of it is buried in grass, you have a right to suspect that some defect is being hidden by the owner. As a rule of thumb try to get a dark colored background for light colored cattle and a lighter colored background for dark cattle. It is much harder to get a good picture of a dark cow.

If you are taking a picture of a show animal make sure the halter is clean, in good repair, and fits properly. A poorly fitted halter looks sloppy and distorts your animal’s appearance – you wouldn’t photograph yourself in pants two sizes too big!

With the simple press of a button you can snap an image of your cattle to share with the world. With practice, the right equipment, and attention to detail you can take a picture you’ll be proud of. So let's start shooting!

This bull is set up nicely so his near front and rear legs are perpendicular to the ground and his far legs are visible. There is a light colored background to offset his dark coat, and it is fairly free of distractions. However, the shadow from a nearby tree and the fact that he is only half shed off combine to make this bull appear sway backed, which he really is not. The angle of the camera is higher than the bull which makes him appear short.

Here is an example of a rear shot. The camera is at an angle off the hip and all four legs are square under the bull. His head is up and his ears are forward, making the picture more attractive. However, the grass is too tall and hides the lower half of the bull and the light is coming from the far side, which throws the visible part of the bull into shadow.

This is a nice quarter shot with the camera at an angle off of the near foreleg. The cow is shed out and in good condition. She is set up with all four legs square under her body. Her head is up and turned towards the camera with her ears forward, making the picture more attractive. This picture has a nice neutral background of short grass and dark trees, helping the eye focus on the cow. However, the sun is in front of the cow, so that it casts a shadow over her body when she turns her head.

This is a case where the animal is lost in the background. Between the too tall grass and the large, dark tree against the dark colored hair on the calf, it is very difficult to make out any detail in this picture. It would have been better if I had moved the calf away from the tree and to an area where the grass was shorter.

Believe it or not these two pictures are of the same bull taken within minutes of each other. In picture 1: I have the bull set up square so I can only see the legs on the nearside. His front legs are also stretched out too far. This combination makes the bull look lightly muscled, structurally challenged, and pinched through the loin. In picture 2: The bull is set up much better, with his near front and hind legs perpendicular to the ground and the far legs offset slightly from the others. His near hind leg is still back a little too far, but in this case it works okay. In this picture the bull looks much thicker, deeper, structurally correct, and better balanced than in picture 1.