Photographing cattle

[regolith]

I'm curious now, didn't want to de-rail the latest thread with professional type photos:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=76295

I've read many times basic advice for photographing cattle, then you go out there and do it and the darn things are moving in front of each other, lifting a hoof to scratch an eye-ball, tossing their heads and generally showing their worst side.
How do you persuade them to stand square with their heads up like that? In dairy cattle there's often a halter in view or photoshopped out.
NZ dairies tend to be photographed grazing, heads down and at a kind of three-quarter angle to show the rear udder. In theory it should be easy; I don't think I've managed to replicate that yet.

This was ten minutes and a few lucky shots; I've got other days that I've taken photos of these three and not considered a single one fit to post. A lot of cows if you move too close will turn to face you and won't give you any other angle.
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=76183

 

[IluvABbeef]

It takes a LOT of patience, regolith. A heck of a lot more than just spending 10 minutes out with them! Quite often you have to spend at least a half hour to an hour with them to get the perfect shot (or "perfect" shot) or even just get what you want. The type of camera you have helps too, one with a very fast shutter speed (like it clicks the second you press down the button) is best over one that takes a second or two to actually take a picture. Because timing, after all, is everything. And taking tons of pictures of them also helps too, that way you can go on your computer and sort through them to see which are the best and which to toss.

What camera do you have btw?

 

[regolith]

I've got a Ricoh CX5 - older pictures I post were CX1 or Caplio RR350.
Still learning to use this camera. It's got a big 'writing to memory' delay that I should be able to adjust somewhere, because it's showing the image just taken for at least a second during which time it won't take another picture. Because cattle move fast a lot of good shots can be missed in that delay.

I can quite see spending half an hour to get a good shot... though part of the difficulty is that when you're with the herd they're responding to you and if an individual cow realises she has your attention she'll either leave or stick her nose in the camera.
Using zoom gives a nice effect but it does seem to alter the colour and quality of the pic considerably... still getting used to this camera so I might be able to adjust that.

 

[IluvABbeef]

Those little point-and-shoots are terrible for that delay. In most of these cameras I haven't been able to find a function that could change this sort of thing. I think the least you could change it to is probably a second to half a second and that's it. I've had that problem with the Fujifilm A500, and had to rely mostly on luck and good timing and being at the right place at the right time to get a good shot.

 

[alisonb]

Am sure there are quite a few people(including myself) on the board that would like to know how to photograph cattle properly so if we have any pros out there please chime in .

What I do know(I think) -
Check your background
Have someone(or dog) help you
Have something to distract them
Point + shoots are frustrating, SLR is much better
Use portrait lens/selection
Lighting - time of day/weather
Have spans of patience

Now the pros can step in and tell us how it is really done ;-)

 

[1wlimo]

On the time delay, the faster the memory card the faster the down load from the camera to the card and the quicker you can take shots. I now use a class 10 card. More expensive but much faster.

 

[bigbull338]

i have a friend that has a photo pen setup just for taking pics of their sale cattle.an they have it planted to rye grass so the pics are pretty.i would hate to say how much they use the photo pen.

 

[IluvABbeef]

This is what I've learned from the pros:

- Never shoot into the sun. This is very important, as it can distort and over expose the picture. Best to shoot with the sun beside you or behind you.
- Shoot at a point where you're kneeling down and have the center of the lens pointed at the shoulder or behind the point-of-shoulder of the animal. Also make sure the animal is broad-side to you, not in front nor behind.
- Stand where you can get most of the animal filling the picture, but not so close that some of the animal is cut off, and not so far that the animal looks tiny
- Make sure the background isn't too distracting for the viewer, like a picture that has too much going on in the background.
- Take LOTS of pictures, over 20 or 50 of the same animal is best so that you can pick and choose the best one or two out of the 50 to 100
- Take your time
- Use the flash function only when appropriate. If at all possible, use the manual setting to get the best shots (though you will have to know your f-stops, ISO, aperture and white-balance settings, among others, especially if you're using the manual setting on a dSLR!)
- The higher the pixel count in the picture (like 4830 x 3465 versus 640 x 420, for example) the higher the picture quality. That's why cellphones are the worst thing for taking pictures of cattle. ;-)
- Photoshop can be and often is your friend! But be careful not to go over-board and make a picture into something that isn't really a true representation of the animal.

Heck I'm still learning. I'm not considering myself an expert, but at least I know my way around a camera, a little bit more than a little P&S.

 

[regolith]

& watch where your own shadow lands. I like to take shadow pictures deliberately, not by accident.

How about using the warmer morning/evening light? It can limit the available time, but daylight can be really hard to judge and what seemed like a bright blue sky day in NZ often means over-exposed useless images, cloudy skies can be even worse with not enough contrast for the animal to stand out.
With the P & S focussing on the pasture (no sky) then composing the image and shooting before the camera changes its focus can help with the contrast.

 

[3waycross]

This is what I've learned from the pros:

- Never shoot into the sun. This is very important, as it can distort and over expose the picture. Best to shoot with the sun beside you or behind you.
- Shoot at a point where you're kneeling down and have the center of the lens pointed at the shoulder or behind the point-of-shoulder of the animal. Also make sure the animal is broad-side to you, not in front nor behind.
- Stand where you can get most of the animal filling the picture, but not so close that some of the animal is cut off, and not so far that the animal looks tiny
- Make sure the background isn't too distracting for the viewer, like a picture that has too much going on in the background.
- Take LOTS of pictures, over 20 or 50 of the same animal is best so that you can pick and choose the best one or two out of the 50 to 100
- Take your time
- Use the flash function only when appropriate. If at all possible, use the manual setting to get the best shots (though you will have to know your f-stops, ISO, aperture and white-balance settings, among others, especially if you're using the manual setting on a dSLR!)
- The higher the pixel count in the picture (like 4830 x 3465 versus 640 x 420, for example) the higher the picture quality. That's why cellphones are the worst thing for taking pictures of cattle. ;-)
- Photoshop can be and often is your friend! But be careful not to go over-board and make a picture into something that isn't really a true representation of the animal.

Heck I'm still learning. I'm not considering myself an expert, but at least I know my way around a camera, a little bit more than a little P&S.

Took the best picture of a bull I have ever taken tonight with my cell phone.....go figure. All i did with the photo editor is crop it and change the lighting a little bit.

 

[IluvABbeef]

This is what I've learned from the pros:

- Never shoot into the sun. This is very important, as it can distort and over expose the picture. Best to shoot with the sun beside you or behind you.
- Shoot at a point where you're kneeling down and have the center of the lens pointed at the shoulder or behind the point-of-shoulder of the animal. Also make sure the animal is broad-side to you, not in front nor behind.
- Stand where you can get most of the animal filling the picture, but not so close that some of the animal is cut off, and not so far that the animal looks tiny
- Make sure the background isn't too distracting for the viewer, like a picture that has too much going on in the background.
- Take LOTS of pictures, over 20 or 50 of the same animal is best so that you can pick and choose the best one or two out of the 50 to 100
- Take your time
- Use the flash function only when appropriate. If at all possible, use the manual setting to get the best shots (though you will have to know your f-stops, ISO, aperture and white-balance settings, among others, especially if you're using the manual setting on a dSLR!)
- The higher the pixel count in the picture (like 4830 x 3465 versus 640 x 420, for example) the higher the picture quality. That's why cellphones are the worst thing for taking pictures of cattle. ;-)
- Photoshop can be and often is your friend! But be careful not to go over-board and make a picture into something that isn't really a true representation of the animal.

Heck I'm still learning. I'm not considering myself an expert, but at least I know my way around a camera, a little bit more than a little P&S.

Took the best picture of a bull I have ever taken tonight with my cell phone.....go figure. All i did with the photo editor is crop it and change the lighting a little bit.

Can we see it?

ETA: NVM, I believe I found the pic posted in the beginner's board in one of the bull vs. steer threads...

 

[IluvABbeef]

& watch where your own shadow lands. I like to take shadow pictures deliberately, not by accident.

How about using the warmer morning/evening light? It can limit the available time, but daylight can be really hard to judge and what seemed like a bright blue sky day in NZ often means over-exposed useless images, cloudy skies can be even worse with not enough contrast for the animal to stand out.
With the P & S focussing on the pasture (no sky) then composing the image and shooting before the camera changes its focus can help with the contrast.

Yep, lighting is EVERYTHING to a good picture. Sometimes the cloudy days can be the best for a picture, since too much contrast can be a bad thing too. For sure the f-stops and aperture settings are what determines how good a picture you can take. I've learned from trial-and error that the aperture the more exposed a picture will get. Lower apertures like 1/2000 is good for really bright days, higher ones (1/10 and up) for darker days.

And as 3way demonstrated, even with a cellphone (yeah, go figure) if you have the perfect lighting the picture will turn out very well, just as well as with a dSLR.