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Jesse's Hunting > Hunting Articles > Hunting through the Camera Eye > Take a Camera Hunting
Take a Camera Hunting
Chris Fullilove - JHO ProStaff
- TX
March 27, 2005
With the introduction of affordable middleweight to high-end digital cameras, more and more hunters are now able to carry yet another piece of gear out to their hunting location with them. Taking your camera on the hunt is a great way for the outdoorsman or woman to satisfy the photo bug and to pass stagnant time during the hunt.
There have been countless postcard caliber sunrises coming up over the creek bottom, or scenic landscapes observed during that golden glow of the evening during my years in the outdoors. There are often many things observed by an outdoorsman during the hunt that touch a nerve of appreciation for the outdoors. Why leave these great observations, memories, and visions in the field?
Use all the elements for a photo
Clouds, shadows, and even fog can play a big part in creating a mood or atmosphere for your photos. |
The photo doesn't require a wall hanger to make a great photo. In fact, one of the most powerful elements of a photo doesn't even include wildlife or grand landscapes. It has to do with weather. Clouds, sky, rain, and fog can all add power and mood to your photograph. Add some compositional subjects, such as a large tree, winding road, a lily pad covered pond, fence line, trail, mountain range, wildlife or a sunrise as the focal point and you have the ingredients for a powerful landscape or wildlife photograph. Hunters holding out for a trophy often pass up animals that would make great subjects in a photo.
Photography while hunting can be tricky. Keeping the camera close by, yet out of the way is essential. I take advantage of the Crooked Horn bino-flex system to keep the camera close and secured to my body at all times. I can easily capture a couple of photos while hunting with minimal effort.
A couple of problems that the hunter will have to deal with are early morning and late afternoon photos. Typically the early morning or late afternoon scenarios offer unique lighting and wildlife potential for photographs. Unfortunately, with the reduced amount of light, the camera will want to slow down the shutter speed in order to allow enough light into the lens to expose the photograph. This can be undesirable because when the shutter speed slows down; you are vulnerable to shaking the camera and creating a blurry photo. One way to circumvent this situation is to set the camera on shutter priority, with a setting no slower than 1/120 second. Doing this will guarantee that the camera will take the photo quickly without leaving room for the operator to shake the camera.
Another problem, especially when sitting in heavy foliage, is not being able to focus on your subject. Sometimes there are trees, branches, grass, and other obstacles between you and your subject. What can happen is that the auto-focus will focus on these objects and not your subject. To help prevent this, you may need to zoom all the way in on your subject, half press the shutter to preserve the focus, then while maintaining the half press, zoom back out to reframe the photo. If you are already zoomed out all the way, you can also try half pressing the shutter on structure close to your subject. 
Autofocus can work against you
Autofocus can be a challenge in hunting situations, since it may lock on objects other than your target. |
Taking the camera to your hunting location can complement your motivation and desire to be outdoors. Significant effort has already been put forward for the hunt such as finding good locations that contain game and by getting to your spot before the sun comes up; take advantage of this effort by observing and appreciating your surroundings via the camera lens.
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