Submitting Stories and Photos
If you want to share your story with Ontario Monster Whitetails Magazine, simply send in the story of how you killed your buck along with as many clean photos as you have through our contact form with your inquiry set as “Photos/Stories you want to share”. We recommend using a file transfer system like wetransfer.com to send us your pictures in full resolution.
Tips for Taking Quality Pictures
You are finally standing over an animal you have been dreaming about all year…but now what? The following are 17 tips for taking quality pictures to help you remember this day for the rest of your life.
1. Whether you own a fancy 35 mm with a zoom lens, a point-and-shoot digital, or a simple disposable camera, the main thing to remember is always to carry a camera with you in the field! The best pictures are those taken in the woods and fields where the animal lived and died.
2. No matter how excited you are to start field dressing the animal, take a few minutes before it has stiffened up, to take good photos. Before you start, you must clean off any blood from around the nose, mouth, and possibly the bullet wound. Also, be sure to tuck the tongue back into its mouth too! Nothing detracts from a picture more than a big tongue hanging out of your trophies mouth.
3. Next, is setting the animal’s body position. Finding the right posture is sort of an art form in and of itself. One posture I really like is the one with the animal’s front legs bent at the knee and alongside its body, and the back legs doing the same with the animal resting on its belly. Hold the animal’s head up high and take several shots with the head turned in various directions. If nothing else, look through some hunting magazines for pictures you like and try to recreate them.
4. If you often hunt alone, take the time to drive someone back out to the kill site, or if that is not possible, buy a camera with an automatic shutter feature. I have even driven the animal home and taken more pictures with the animal in the backyard against a treeline or something natural.
5. Don’t be afraid to take a BUNCH of pictures. Many racks have some good angles and some bad angles, so take lots of pictures. Take pictures from various side angles, from the back, from the front. Take some with the hunter looking at the camera, and others with the hunter looking at the animal. Whatever you do absolutely positively do not stop after one or 2 pictures…blow an entire roll or 2 if you have to. I have seen too many instances where 24 pictures are taken and maybe 1 or 2 come out that are really any good.
6. Compose the picture. Think about what is behind the shot and how it will play into the picture. Some backgrounds can be very cluttered and almost make it hard to distinguish antlers from the background. Skylines work very well, as do cedars. If there is a nice bit of early morning sun hitting the forest floor only a few feet away, by all means, get the animal into it. If there is a particularly nice tree etc., get it in the picture. Remove all foreign debris like twigs, weeds, etc., from sticking up in front of the shot.
7. Take the pictures BEFORE the animal is dressed! It will look cleaner, and more alive. Speaking of alive, it may sound extreme, but you might want to invest in a set of taxidermists’ eyes. It doesn’t take long for a dead deer (or whatever) to get a “Dead” eye. You can easily slip these fake eyes into place and not only will you have nice lifelike eyes, but no “Eye Shine” from the flash.
8. Get the Hat out of your eyes. Or if the sun is in your eyes, don’t use your hat to shade your eyes. The shade will block out half your face. Change the angle of the shot so you can look wide-eyed and not squinty.
9. Make sure that you get the firearm in the picture. This helps to tell the story.
10. Clothes. Make sure you are wearing hunting clothing. You may have stripped down to your last layers in preparation for the work that is ahead, but put on that hunting jacket for a few minutes longer! You don’t want pictures of you standing beside a beautiful trophy dressed in your red plaid lumberjack shirt and suspenders! Throw on your camo or orange jacket and hat for the pictures.
11. Use your flash to fill shadows. Even if you think it is light enough.
12. Get close. Too often people THINK that they are going to get what they see in that viewfinder and they wind up with a picture that looks much farther away. Don’t be afraid to take some shots from what you think is “Too Close”.and for that matter, take some further back too.
13. Digital Cameras are GREAT. There is nothing like the instant gratification and feedback of a digital. If you don’t like a shot, simply erase it and try again. If you go this route, remember to save the pictures to a disk! You lose your computer, you lose your memories.
14. Avoid pick-up beds, 4-wheeler racks, and hanging pictures. They may seem the most practical for the time-conscious hunter, but they just look terrible! Make it as natural of a setting as possible.
15. Get your hunting partner in some of the pictures! Don’t forget the spouse or kids for some shots too.
16. Remember EVERY animal is a trophy….doe, young buck, or new world record, every animal deserves a good picture.
17. Lastly, have some fun with the pictures…take some shots that are unusual or that might help to replay the hunt.
