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"That's the One!" Cattle Photography Tips

Writer's picture: Abby RopersAbby Ropers

Welcome back to the SAC ranch blog! I took a few months hiatus from blogging as we've been preparing for our third annual Scott Angus Cattle "Belles of the Grade" Select Female sale (October 23rd 2024).


Mother and Daugther Angus Donor Cows in SAC Donor Program
Mother and Daugther Duo in SAC Donor Program

I bit the bullet this spring and decided to invest in my first camera. For those camera nerds reading -- I chose the EOS Rebel T7 with a Double Zoom Lens Kit. I reached out to a couple of family members/professional photographers to get advice on which camera would be best for my purposes and this "Rebel" series seemed to be a common starter camera that would give me some high quality pics the ranch could use for catalogs, social media promotions, and videos without completely breaking the bank. Believe me, some camera kit options would have broke my bank account twice over!


The plan for 2024 was to practice on cattle in the pasture, and maybe try and take some pictures of donor cows and such. Mom and I went out a few evenings to "figure out the camera" and had some pretty good luck. A camera is like any other tool/device, the more you use it and research HOW to properly work the settings...the better you'll get! Thank goodness for You Tube and the ability to watch professionals teach (on my EXACT camera) how to set my camera for different lighting and other camera tips.


Long story shorter, we decided to give catalog pictures a try one morning a week before our schedule photographer was planned to come. I photographed five animals in our picture pen with the help of the whole family and we had surprisingly great success! After Mom reviewed the pictures, she exclaimed that she thought we could pull off taking ALL the catalog pictures for our female sale -- 50ish lots. The catalog pictures are a BIG deal when it comes to a registered business because out-of-state cattlemen and cattlewomen often rely on accurate photos and videos to make their lot selections. Needless to say, I was VERY hesitant making this leap...but decided that was the reason I DID buy the camera in the first place so...we went for it and did ALL the catalog sale lots! Next are some tips I learned in my first year of photography.



Black Angus Cattle Photography Tips from an Amateur Photographer:


  1. Three is the magic number: There's a fine line correlation between photographing young females and the number of picture crew helpers. We found it worked best (for most cows) when you had the photographer and only two other people in the pen. One to move them from the back, and one to stop them from the front. Any more people seemed to make the animal too nervous and any less people made it difficult to face the pretty girl in the right direction.

  2. Sunny Communication: I think this probably goes for all photography....other than underwater photography maybe? But where the sun is in the sky makes all the difference in a vibrant beauty queen versus a dull dud. Any cattlemen who have participated in "picture day" of their animals know the heart break of when their animal strikes the most perfect pose....but in the wrong angle with the sun! #frustrating The trick here is to let your crew know the EXACT angle required before starting to line up that cow. This angle could change within 20 minutes so it's important to continue this communication between lots. Even as the cow is walking a certain line, I would say "ok, she's lined up great if you can stop her soon" or "too much shadow on her face, turn her towards the North", etc.

  3. Color Exposure Tips from the Experts: Believe it or not, the true ebony color of a black angus cow is NOT the easiest to capture. "Auto" settings on the camera tend to bring out warm tones: browns, yellows, oranges and not the cool tones: blue, purple, black, etc. My first pictures taken were disappointing to that point because the COLOR is very important to a registered buyer...and I was capturing brown instead of ebony. From my research, I quickly learned there are THREE main settings to get your exposure perfect for sunny or cloudy days:

    1. Aperture: The amount of light that enters the lens. A lower aperture (f-stop) lets in more light.

    2. Shutter speed: How fast the shutter opens. A faster shutter speed lets in less light.

    3. ISO: The sensitivity of your camera's sensor to light. A lower ISO produces a darker image, while a higher ISO produces a brighter image.


      SAC Pride 3201 angus bred heifer
      Lot 11: SAC Pride 3201
  4. The Friend Pen: Especially for the nervous virgin heifers, we found putting one of our more docile females in a small pen next to the picture pen made a HUGE difference in calming down the photo subject. Pictured above was one of our "friend pen" heros: SAC Pride 3201.

  5. Patience for the Perfect Pose: There's many players in the perfect pose: having the correct back foot placement to show off the udder, proper weight distribution from front to back legs to show off muscle definition and body structure, an alert proud head including forward facing ears and soft open eyes, etc. Sometimes, to get the photo subject to pose with all these elements correctly can take "forever"...or at least it feels this way! Obviously patience is key and like the Grinch's heart, my patience grew three sizes larger this summer picturing cattle. When we finally got a great pose, being an amateur, I took MULTIPLE pictures of the photo subject and shifted a few feet towards the front and towards the back of the cow JUST to make sure I got at least ONE catalog worthy shot....if she gave me that much time!

    Heifer Eye Level Position
    Heifer Eye Level Position
  6. Height Matters: My last tip is maybe the most important. Generally, Angus cows are shorter than a taller human (I'm 5'9'' in boots for reference). A good rule of thumb to get the proper height of your photo is your camera should be at the cow's eye level. Any higher and you'll lose some of the beautiful girl's depth. Any lower and you'll lose her gorgeous top line. This being said, squats and kneeling are a common requirement to get the right height position. You can skip leg day during picture week -- you'll get a major leg workout on picture day!


Scott Angus Cattle: Belles of the Grade- Select Female Sale Catalog
Click for E-Catalog

Hopefully these tips help you out with your future cattle picture day. If you have any questions about Scott Angus Cattle program, feel free to contact me directly or through our website's contact form. As mentioned above, our Belles of the Grade: Select Female Sale is right around the corner! (10.23.24 at 2 P.M.) Let us know if you'd like a catalog mailed to you. You can also ask questions you have in the comment box below. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook or Instagram as we share lots of day to day there as well as notifications for future blog releases!


Well, until next blog, here's to content comfortable cattle!


Abby Ropers with Scott Angus Cattle



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