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Those racks, it’s what fall is all about when you’re a wildlife photographer! Just as trophy hunters look for the biggest set, so do wildlife photographers. But how do you make them look as big if not bigger in your photo than they are in the wild? This 50-52″ rack isn’t a huge one but it is respectable. The first thing in making the rack appear large in the frame is to shoot UP on the subject. Not eye level, not down, but an upward angle is a must in making the antlers appear large. This is just a basic human response to shooting up. It appears more masculine, more majestic and for a bull Moose, bigger! Next is the lens you shoot with. Longer is not always the best choice. In this case, I’m shooting with the 200-400VR2 (with D4s) because I love how 400mm communicates the strength of the animal. My preferred focal length is 300mm but getting that opportunity is a challenge. Lastly, it’s the pose the bull Moose takes, or you capture.
Personally, the pose you see right above is my favorite way of making the rack appear it’s largest. The way antlers grow, there is a large space between the head and the palm of the antler. That space visually makes the rack appear smaller in a photo when shooting straight on since you have no other visual reference as to size. You don’t know how great that space is in the photo like you do when you’re there in person being starred at by this magnificent critter. So when you have a side profile, that space between the head and palms is smaller and so making the rack looking larger. At the same time, minimizing how much of the Bull’s body you see makes a difference as well. Moose are freakin big and that mass dwarfs the size of their rack in the photo. So cropping into the body or hiding part of it adds to the illusion of massive antlers. Understand that without that rack, it’s just a cow Moose and most don’t want to photograph a cow. They want a Bull and Bulls with big racks simply grab the viewers attention. So when you find it, keep in mind that you photograph has to scream giant rack just like the impression it left when you saw it in person.
Oh … and the post title? You can’t imagine all the search engines that grab that title and all the disappointed folks who click on it thinking they’re going to get a helluva show. I gotta get a LOL whenever I can :-)