The APN Guide: Photographing Farm Animals

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When you think of domesticated animals, most thoughts tend to lean towards pets. But when we put "domesticated" into a different perspective, it's a much broader subject, including not just the traditional rabbits, dogs and cats, but also horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, and even llamas.

But how do you photograph these animals that are most commonly found around farms?

Two Sheep by Measels

Where to start


Sheep by Lain-AwakeAtNight

Some areas are far more urban than they are rural. So depending on where you live, either put on your boots, climb on your bike or get in your car and find the closest pasture with some kind of livestock. These are most likely to be found in the countryside. In case you don't even know where to begin looking, some farms are available to visit; so there's also the option of getting on your computer and searching for nearby farms that allow you to pay a visit, and contact the farmer.

Snow Cow by Goodbye-kitty975

Contacting the farmer


Pig by Udodelig

Even when you come across a farm nearly every day, doesn't mean the farmer will know who you are when  you walk up his footpath, camera at the ready. Make sure you have permission to step foot in and around the farm. The best way is to contact a farmer beforehand - you can find many farmers who'll open up their business online. Especially during lambing or calving season (early spring), farms are eager to share this beautiful moment.

When you visit, come prepared. Wear good shoes, preferably boots you don't mind getting dirty. Don't wear your best clothes; a farm can be a messy, dusty place.

Being in or around a farm, allows you to be a lot closer to livestock than you would simply watching  them roam in a pasture. Inside, you'll find many different kinds of animals; young and old, big and small. Animals inside will be closer together, sometimes truly huddled together, so photographing them might be a challenge - but you'll get to experiment with many different angles.

Cow by EdgedFeather

Animals roaming freely in pastures


When we were young by Unkopierbar
When you're lucky enough to live in an area where you often pass by a pasture filled with animals - sheep, cattle, etc. - it is smart to keep track of the seasons. Some animals are kept outside year-round, others are not. You don't want to go out with your camera, explicitly to photograph them, to find they won't be going outside for months to come.

A pasture can be surrounded by a ditch or a fence. Especially the latter can pose a challenge in photographing the animals. A sheep will be lower than the fence, a cow will stand higher. You can choose to crouch down, and photograph through any fence, focusing on the closest animal; or you might decide to stand above, and choose an animal further away. Make sure you carefully canvas the scene you're about to photograph - especially in a pasture, there's a chance more animals will fill your frame, and you don't want any "half-animals" in your photo.

Sheep in the morning dawn............ by Betuwefotograaf

Challenges you'll face


Fencing


Iowa Cattle Sunset by asloan2090

Photographing livestock is, in many ways, no different than other animals. They're not as eager to be petted as your cat or dog would be, nor are they as skittish as wildlife. In fact, one might say, it comes closes to photographing animals in a zoo: livestock is often kept in areas closed off by a fence and as mentioned before, this will pose its own challenge. You're restricted in how close you can get - and if you haven't previously contacted the farmer and have gotten the all-clear, you must respect the boundary this fence (or even the ditch) poses.

Forest sheep by HackingDutchman

Untrained animals


Levitating Lamb by thrumyeye

Livestock is often completely untrained. They know what a human is, but many of them aren't very likely to respond to you. They won't take your directions, so its up to you to work with their movements and reactions, adjusting your own behavior. When you're going for a close-up, focus on the eye. When you're going for a full-body shot, focus on the fur coat.

Make sure, at all times, that you respect the animals' boundaries. For example, looking a sheep right in the eye, is known to make them run away.With cattle, a bull's behavior will be decidedly different when there are cows around - the same applies to horses.

Fohlenzeit by Lain-AwakeAtNight

The weather


The Majestic Cow by BenHeine

Photographing animals in pastures, can make for beautiful landscape-esque scenes. However, the weather needs to cooperate to be able to shoot such a photo. Bright, overcast days are perfect; winter therein, would be perfect with the sun low in the sky, but also during summer, in the morning or evening. Positioning the sun at your side, will show textures better than having the sun behind you.

When you do aim for a landscape-like photo, apply the rule of thirds, choosing an foreground and making sure there's a decent foreground to keep the photo interesting.

Horse Duo by BenHeine


Resources and other useful links

Digital Photo Secrets: How To Photograph Farms and Farm Life
IFAJ (International Federation of Agricultural Journalists): In The Blink Of An Eye: Tips For Photographing Livestock
Envato Tuts+: The Complete Guide To Shooting Farming And Agriculture
Farmers Weekly: Top 10 Tips For Farm Photography

Take a look at these previous APN Guides on Domesticated Animals:

The APN Guide: How to photograph small animalsPhotographing your pet is fun to do and you create beautiful memories to hold on to. The benefit of domestic animals is that they are used to humans being around. Here are a few tips for how to make outstanding photographs of your precious pets. In this tutorial I will be focusing on smaller domestic animals such as: bunnies, hedgehogs, guinea pigs, mice and hamsters. Of course some tips will be useful for photographing larger pets as well, so do not hesitate to read this if you would like to photograph other domestic animals. 

#1 Take your time
Just like with very young children your pet does not understand what your intentions are. In general  you cannot tell them to look that way or pose like that. You will have to ''go with the flow'' and just see what your pet is up to. So be patient and monitor the behaviour of your pet. If you notice or feel it is not going to work: too bad, pack up your stuff and try again later. Do not push y
The APN Guide: Working with Dogs and HorsesMost of the time working with dogs and horses as animal-models isn't quite as complicated as you may think - all you need is a little empathy and patience.
To make your start into pet photography easy here are a few tips for you.
Finding your first models
It's pretty easy to find people who are willing to let their dogs and horses be photographed by you - just ask some pet owners, either friends or try to use a local facebook group. The best thing would be to start with a friend's pet so you can concentrate on working with the animal and you and your friend will feel comfortable in this situation.
For the first few sessions I would recommend to work with well trained animals so you can focus on your image and the mood you want to create.

The Owner
Yes, we are talking about working with animals as models but the most important person during the photoshooting is the owner of the pet. If he or she feels uncomfortable the animal will feel
The APN Guide: Cats in the StreetsNot everyone is fortunate enough to have pet cats, but you can always still have a chance photographing stray cats around your neighborhood and city! Here are a few tips and tricks to get you started.
Finding cats:
In some countries there are many stray cats. In Israel- where I live and photograph stray cats- There are quite a lot of cats. If you don’t know where to find cats, it's best to take note of every cat you see day to day. For example, if you are walking to work, or to a bus stop, and see a cat, or a large amount of cats then you should remember where you saw these cats and return later. Though the cats may leave the place, stray cats usually stay in the same area. Remember, they might be under cars!
Getting cats to cooperate:
Street cats are very shy and hard to photograph, especially if they run away when you come near them! Here are a few tricks to get a perfect shot without scaring the cats away.
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And don't miss the features and interviews yet to come :la:



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Kimi-Parks's avatar
Thank you for the tips! :)