Photos help preserve that special hunt

Make sure to capture that special moment with a photo worthy of sharing with friends, family and more.

Hopefully all of our readers will be successful at deer hunting in the coming weeks, so be sure to take some good photos.

That photo will forever be a reminder of the day’s exciting events. Make sure you capture that special moment with a photo worthy of sharing not only with friends and family, but with countless people across social media.

There has been a lot written about taking better hunting photos in the past few years. Some people make jokes about the photos of the deer in the back of the truck, commenting that maybe the hunter shot the deer in the truck. Other writers work themselves into a frenzy being critical of photos of deer in the truck or the garage. To those people I say, get a life! Most deer photos are not go- ing to wind up on the cover of a magazine. And not everybody has three or four buddies handy to keep loading and unloading a deer from the truck for a photo.

But if you have the opportunity to stage a photo to share or even frame for your den, here is some advice for better photos.

When hunting, safety is always top priority even when it comes to getting a great photo. When setting up a great hunting photo this season, keep the action of the firearmopen and the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

While the sight of blood certainly doesn’t bother hunters, not everyone who may see your photo is a hunter. And like it or not, the future of hunting depends on the support of non-hunters. You should simply take a few moments before shooting pictures to wipe away any excess blood on the deer’s body and face and tuck its tongue back into its mouth.

If you have the opportunity take the time to get some nice shots of the deer in a natural setting. Things can get hectic when a deer is down, especially if it’s already late in the evening when it happens. The priority becomes getting the deer out and getting home.

Take a few minutes before the hard work be- gins to clean the deer up and take a few really good photos, you’ll never regret that extra time spent in the field. If you can’t get good photos in the field, at least try to get some in your yard, with as natural a backdrop as possible.

One of themost common ways to ruin a good photo is with poor lighting. That can be a night shot where the photographer was too far back for the flash to be effective. It can even be a daytime photo where the sun shining into the camera lens creates a bright background with all the important parts of the picture being too dark. Get as close to the subject as possible without using the camera’s zoom (unless you are purposely trying to get a shallow-depth-of-field effect).

This is especially important at night, so the flash can effectively light up as much of the subject as possible. During daylight photos, pay particular attention to how the sun is affecting the photo and where the shadows are falling. Position the hunter in a way that the sun is directed onto the subject and his/her deer. You can even use your flash to help eliminate some of the harsh shadows, especially those created by ball caps. Better yet, take off the cap or at least tip it way back.

We can now snap a picture with our digital camera or even our phone and instantly see how it turned out. Yet many times we still end up with a photo we wished we’d spent more time on. The key to getting a great picture is often getting LOTS of pictures. Don’t just take one or two shots and hope they work. Take lots of shots from different angles and different camera orientation.

We spend countless hours each season scouting, preparing and actually hunting. When the moment of truth finally arrives and you are able to reap the benefits of all that hard word, don’t skimp on the photos. Take some time to clean up the deer, position it in a nice, natural backdrop, put a big smile on your face and get lots of great pictures to share with all your friends. Years later, when you look back on those photos with fond memories, you’ll be glad you did.