4 Steps to Your Perfect Game Trophy Photo

You’ve been camping out in the bushes. It’s been 5 hours. You’ve been waiting for the perfect deer. You hear a sound from the bushes. Out of nowhere you see a 20 point buck strides across into the field the field. You take careful aim. Steady arm, hold your breath, and BOOM! He plops on the ground as your heart screams in joy. You just got yourself a prize winning, wall worthy 20 point buck! You want to take the best trophy picture so you can show the world your outstanding accomplishment. You take out your camera as you buddies load him up to the truck. You hand off the camera and grab you prize by the horns. Click! You just got the photo of a lifetime! Or did you? It’s real easy to make a good kill Turn to a bad time later with an ugly photo. What should you do? Well don’t worry. I will give you four easy steps on making sure you take a shot worthy of the kill and a frame on the wall.

Step 1) Location. Pick something with a good view. It doesn’t have to be anything breathtaking. By a creek or next to a large tree will do just fine. Even an open field gives a real nice backdrop for a great photo. Don’t use the back of you truck or in the middle of a trail or road. Though convenient it makes for a real bad trophy picture.

Step 2) Lighting. This is crucial because you want to capture the kill in just the right way so the game doesn’t look helpless. Use your vehicles headlights even in daylight to accent the undertones. Avoid pointing the light from right in front to try and eliminate the glossy eyes. Angle your lights from off to the side. If you’re shooting at night, don’t use the high beams as it may provide too much light.

Step 3) Cleanliness. This is probably the most important of all the steps. Always keep some water and paper towels to clean off any blood spots on the kill. Also position the game in a way all open sores and wounds are not visible to the camera. The cleaner it looks, the better the photo. Take this time as well to position the kill in a natural way. In the end it looks better esthetically

Step 4) Position. It is very important to take in consideration the position of the camera. Take pictures from multiple angles just to increase the odds to get the perfect shot. A good tip here is to remember objects look larger when shot from lower to the ground and smaller when taken from higher. Try to incorporate some of the scenery we talked in Step 1. It helps accentuate the picture as a whole. If you’re using film always take extra film with you just in case.

As long as you follow those four steps you should do just fine. A typical pose is with you holding the deer by the antlers. If you choose this stance make sure the deer is facing the camera in every shot as it makes it look tacky otherwise. This guide is just to provide you with easy steps to make sure you have a photo to show generations to come and to truly capture the moment. So always remember to pack you photo gear along with that rifle cause you never know when that trophy deer will walk around that corner and with it, one great trophy photo.