Photographers always tend to choose a niche that is most of the time very competitive. Like portrait photography, fashion photography, landscape or Dorset photography, product photography, etc. But do you know that some photography niche has a great demand and is very much low or not competitive at all? Yes earning from such kind of photography niche is easy at least than from the too much competitive ones. Livestock photography is one of those photography niches where there is a demand for a photographer but not that much photographer is available for people to hire. So if you want to earn more as freelance photographer then selling your gig to capture livestock photos can be of worth. To help you understand the basics of this type of photography and its advantages I have compiled a list of livestock photography tips in this article. Hopefully, this will help you capture some amazing livestock photos and sell them to earn some quick bucks.
Therefore, without waiting further let’s start!
Livestock photography tips
Best camera for livestock photography
There are lots of cameras available in the market these days. You can choose from a lot of varieties depending on what you are comfortable with. Some people love regular DSLR with mirrors whereas some love high end mirrorless Dslr. Well I would suggest using such a camera that has long battery life and a good sensor. As you are a freelance photographer you may need to buy a camera that comes in your budget and gives you flexibility. These are some of the mid range camera that I suggest for livestock photography –
- Nikon D500
- Sony a9
- Canon 7D Mark II
- Canon 80D
- Nikon D850
Camera setting for livestock show photography
Now if you are thinking of capturing photos of livestock animals on a farm or any livestock show then you should use a camera setting that gives you sharp and colorful image. Livestock animals may most of the time be on move and sometimes on rest. Depending on their behavior you should fix your camera mode. If they are on move then use shutter priority and if they are on rest then keep it on aperture priority. You should fix the focus on auto and with one point. This will help you focus on a pinpoint. Lastly, keep your ISO low based on the available light so that the image doesn’t get noisy.
Composition
Photography composition is the most necessary part for capturing photos of livestock animals. A well composed image drives the mind of the person looking at the image towards the subject as well as the scene. Composition helps a photographer to make their image engaging enough so that people share it with others. Always remember that many photographers may take photo of the same scene but the best photo is that one which has the best composition. There are various types of creative photography composition rules that you can apply to your livestock photography. It will help you capture images which are truly exceptional.
Perspective
You know once I took part in a photography competition and the theme of that competition was autumn. All the photographers including me went to the forest nearby and started capturing photos of the scene of autumn in forest. I remember I had captured the path leading to the forest with lots of fallen leaves on the ground. The image was stunning. And when I saw what others were capturing I found out that everyone had captured photos that were almost alike. But, the winner had captured something really different from everyone. Our images were captured from the perspective of a human being that made the images look boring and nothing new. The winner had captured the same scene but from the perspective from an ant. This way he took away the best photographer award under all of our noses. This is why a different perspective is always worth it. This is one of the most important livestock photography tips you should keep in mind.
Lighting
A sharp image needs a good source of light. The better the lighting condition you use while capturing a livestock photo the sharper will be the photo. There are lots of advantages of light in photography you should know about. Lighting always pops up the actual color of the subject and the objects in the scene. The livestock photography Texas photographers do is best because they use natural sunlight in their photography. This makes the images look natural and worth of sharing. Natural light is the best light source.
Best time to shoot
Well time is an important aspect of photography. The right time will always give you the best results. Livestock image is mostly captured outdoor in a hill station or such places. The benefit of such place is that you can use golden hours effectively. Golden hour is the best time to shoot any sort of nature related photos. This is the time when the sun is either rising or setting. The light condition is quite attractive at this moment; it gives a great color contrast to the photos. This is why capturing livestock photography during golden hour is the best time to shoot.
Prepare for the animal
So to capture livestock photos having an idea about the animal you’re capturing can benefit you in a lot of ways. If you know the animal’s regular routine and behavior then capturing a great photo is easily possible. You should follow the animal whole day or you can ask the owner of the farm about that animal’s way of living. Then you can get a good photo of them and will be ready to capture decisive moments.
Bring actions to play
Farm animals tend to be friendly and they are always in the midst of any kind of activity. Most farmers train their best animals to take part with them in livestock shows. They train such animals in doing activities like racing, poses, fights, etc. Capturing such moments with your camera can also be valuable. You can sell these photos to companies organizing the shows which they can use in their ads and banners, etc.
Have patience
Patience is a noble virtue and you obviously know it. Patience is very much important when you capture livestock photography. Livestock animals are always up to something, specially the newborns. They are in playful mood all the time. Be patient and wait for the moment they do something worth capturing by your camera. Like when they are getting fed by their mother. These special moments are a great seller. So be patient and wait for such moments. When you get the chance just capture it.
Post process
One of the most important part for you as a livestock photographer is to post process them. You always don’t get the perfect combination of light, composition, color, etc in your photos. The raw photos lack a lot of things that you can apply through post processing. Lightroom and Photoshop are the best tools you can use to edit such images and give them an attractive finishing. I know that it may be tough to understand all those photoshop related terms while editing the images. This is why you should take help or outsource these images from an affordable and professional photo editing company that provides clipping path services. They will give a professional touch to your images and will also save you time so that you can focus more on capturing photos rather than sitting on the PC and edit them. But make sure you post process the images or else your photos will lack quality.
Conclusion
To conclude I can say that livestock photography is a great and less competitive photography niche you can focus on and this the best livestock photography tips for anyone. This is not that much hard either and you are your own boss here. All you need is a good perspective, patience and basic knowledge about how to shoot photos with a dslr and you’re ready to earn bucks easily. Don’t forget to have too!
