Monday, August 30, 2010

Game Camera Photography: Tip #1

Most hunters that use game cameras do so for one purpose - to monitor the bucks on their property so they will be better prepared to hunt one of those particular bucks when hunting season rolls around. While I follow this practice as well and have done so for years, lately I have focused my efforts on a different aspect of game camera usage - capturing a high quality image. And that doesn't necessarily mean a big buck.

When I am choosing a place to set a camera up in the woods these questions come to mind: What will the background in the picture look like? Will it be a good sunset or sunrise picture? How far away will the subject be when the camera takes a picture? There are lots of aspects to consider when you are trying to use the game camera for more than just a scouting tool.

I am no expert by any means, but after seeing thousands of trail camera pictures I have learned a few things about what to do and what not to do when using a game camera. In some of my next few posts I am going to discuss some of the things I have learned and offer up a few tips to consider when placing your camera in the woods.

Tip #1:
In my opinion, a high-quality game camera photo will never have a feeder in the background. That doesn't mean I don't have cameras at feeders, but when you compare a picture of a deer standing in front of a big, ugly 55-gallon metal drum to a picture of a deer walking down a trail through the woods there is a huge difference.

I checked a camera last week and it had this picture that I thought was a really nice image. It isn't a monster buck, in fact it is just a regular ol' doe, but there is something about this picture that I like. The sunrise creates a nice backdrop for the trees being silhouetted in the distance, and the deer is in a natural setting. This picture is one of the first images captured on my new 7.2 megapixel homemade game camera.


Stay tuned for more trail camera tips and images from the field!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I agree about the feeder in the background. My favorite pictures are taken over a scrape in late fall. You always seem to get good shots of all kinds of deer.