Project Photo
Guidelines in Animal Photography, courtesy of Sheri Martin.

Advertising your stud and your cattle can only be beneficial. A good photo of a cow will be remembered long after words are forgotten. The subject of the photo should be carefully reviewed and planned to fit in with your advertising program.

How to send in your entry
If submitting photo's via email please scan photo's at 300 dpi otherwise send in your photo which will be returned. Please include name, age, address, phone number and the category you wish to enter.

Who to photograph
• High production cows
• Deep pedigreed cows
• Bull mothers
• Sale animals (or dams/sisters)
• Deep pedigreed heifers (the future!)
• High indexing 2 year olds
• Show cows and heifers – eligible for photography awards
• Members of your best cow families

Where
• Ideally at the home farm where the cow (and people) are in a relaxed frame of mind.
• At shows is OK as the cow is usually prepared as best she can be, however backgrounds are generally poor as is temperament in both cows and handlers!

When
• For mature milking cows, ideally about 3-4 months into lactation.
• For milking 2 year olds, preferably towards the end of their lactation - this gives them the opportunity to "body down".

Preparation
• 90% of the preparation should happen prior to photographing!
• A comparative expression often used is “You don’t wear your dairy clothes to your wedding.” Cows are the same – dress them up for photos.
• The animal should be halter broken or at least educated to hold her head at a high angle.
• Optional - She should be prepared better than if she was going to a show! Clipped, uddered, washed and full - a show is soon forgotten, a photo lasts forever.
• The desired number of people to assist photographing is six.
• 1 on the halter
• 1 on the nose
• 1 on back feet
• 1 on each shoulder
• 1 on the tail

Background
• Preferably a "soft" background of trees in the distance. Buildings are not desirable, with straight lines taking away from the shape of the cow.

Set Up
The object of taking photos is to highlight the best features of the animal and minimise the faults.

The Block
Standing animals on the ‘block’ is used for a few reasons.
1. To give the animal height and stature through the front end.
2. Most cow photos are taken slightly off centre from the cow; the block enables the photographer to balance the cow out from the angle it is being taken from.
The height of the block is important and needs to be suited to the individual animal. Too high or low makes the animal seem unbalanced.

The Light
Always photograph the animal with the sun behind the photographer. Be aware of shadows, particularly through the rear udder. Early morning or late afternoon is the best times, try and avoid the midday sunshine where the sun is directly above you. Ideal light is during overcast days where there is little shadow.

Leg setting
• The animal should be balanced. It is very easy to stretch animals (particularly maiden heifers) out with their back legs too far back. Generally it is easy to work out if the animal is too stretched out, they probably wont stay in that position very long because they are not comfortable.
• Front legs should be straight and have a small gap (see daylight between them).
• Back legs don’t need to be too far apart, in balance with the front legs; hocks should be square and with the weight evenly distributed.
• The back leg set up
o Uncalved heifers the leg closest to camera should be back, the offside leg should be forward. This gives the heifer stretch and balance and shows the flank of the animal.
o Milking cows the leg closest to camera should be forward and the offside leg back. This gives the cow balance and exhibits both the fore and rear udder.

Head carriage
• Should be at a comfortable height, slightly turned towards the photographer.
• Heifer needs to be alert with both ears forward and eyes open.
• Head held too high or too low will unbalance the heifer.

Summary
• Make sure everything is right when photographing cows as one thing wrong will distract from the finished product.
• Be patient when photographing, remember that it is an unusual situation for an animal to be in and they may be more difficult to handle.
• Remember that a photograph is an investment - use it effectively
• Don't be afraid to advertise what you've got!

A picture is worth a thousand words!