Photo Manipulation

[BTDT]

A different perspective:  I wish more people would LOOK at a natural photo.  I do not own a photo shop program, nor do I know how to do it, so when I talk pictures, I have to be patient, and keep everything in mind from feet, ground, background, sunlight, etc. 

It is very frustrating as a seller to have someone ask for photo's and then to have them tell you they are not "fancy enough".  For kicks, I took a natural photo, then actually clipped her out, had her set up on a halter, then paid someone to "clean it up".  Sure enough, it did the trick.  I have to wonder if some of those people buying cattle have a clue what a "non-show" animal looks like.  So I would echo the statement to never buy cattle off of a photo.

So I guess I have learned a few things:  People are buying cattle that have no idea what they are looking at, too many people put too much faith in one judges opinion, and a good photo shopped picture is worth at least $2500 and a natural photo is worth zero. 

 

[DSC]

Some of you have hit the nail on the head. Most of these people buying these show steers and heifers do not have a clue what one actually looks like that has not been photo shopped. As a seller it does get frustrating when someone keeps asking for more pics then tells you we are passing on him. Then find out they bought one off an online sale where they had fancy pics. Most the pics I take are with my phone. I have taken some with a camera and have tried to "fix" them but it takes a ton of time. Most of these people are blind to all the photo shopped pics and expect that all pics should look like that. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[blackdirt cowboy]

Geez. Didn't mean to cause such a debate. I just honestly didn't know what the point of changing the angle was. I would never buy cattle off of pictures or videos alone, without seeing them in person or on the advice of someone who I trust that has seen him.

 

[librarian]

Robert Wallace, the author of those Farm Live Stock of Great Britain books, went to Buenos Aries in 1903. He complained about the photographers there and published this photo in his later book to show the perspective he thought was most useful and accurate for judging an animal.
https://books.google.com/books?id=yV_ZAAAAMAAJ&dq=Robert%20Wallace%20argentina&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q=Robert%20Wallace%20argentina&f=false
His comments:
A River Plate Bull Of The Devon Breed, from a Photograph by the Author, to show how an Animal ought to be placed in front of the Camera.

There is a bulletin or something about that Exposition in 1903 that goes into more detail, but it don't remember the title. He seemed pretty convinced an animal should be photographed from above and slightly behind.

The other thing that drives me crazy is how they used to put all that straw around their feet to make their legs look shorter. Their legs were short enough!
Modern complaint: cows posed with back leg obscuring the udder.

 

[DLD]

Same reasons different map projections look so different.  You are taking something multiple things that are 3-dimensional and projecting them onto a two dimensional image. 

Photoshopped or not, I think people are crazy for trying buy or judge cattle off a picture.  All I can ever tell is whether or not one is worth making the effort to look at.  And I'm probably often wrong on ones that I think aren't.

+1
And I'm sometimes wrong about the one's I thought were worth going to look at too...

 

[aj]

I try not to look at the pictures. They have the validity of photos on the hotdateharmonyitsjustlunch level. I do know the worst thing you can do it marketing is use a bad picture. What they look like is kinda irrelevent....its what the calves look like that matters.

 

[vc]

It's not just photo shop, I have a feeling that the water bill goes up a bit when they are taking sales picks as well. Seen picks where the calf has that full deep bellied look in the sale catlog, but in person they are not even close. Especially the greener calves, must be rinse, clip, fill, then photo.

 

[ifinditfunny]

DSC nailed it.  I have tried to go snap quick pictures with my phone of good cattle that aren't all dressed up and people pass 100% of the time.  A picture that isn't all dolled up is worse than no picture in my experience 100% of the time.  I have gotten to where if I don't have time to do it all fancy I wont do it at all.  People don't know what they're looking at and assume quality isn't there if the pic is all fancy.  Its absolutely maddening.  If your in the business of selling you have to do it or they don't sell PERIOD! 

 

[hntwhitetail]

DSC nailed it.  I have tried to go snap quick pictures with my phone of good cattle that aren't all dressed up and people pass 100% of the time.  A picture that isn't all dolled up is worse than no picture in my experience 100% of the time.  I have gotten to where if I don't have time to do it all fancy I wont do it at all.  People don't know what they're looking at and assume quality isn't there if the pic is all fancy.  Its absolutely maddening.  If your in the business of selling you have to do it or they don't sell PERIOD!

+1

 

[librarian]

The software for this is free. Just stand them in snow....

 

[SJcattle]

I think this is a very interesting thread. Photography is a true art, a good photographer can make a bad animal look okay and an okay animal look fantastic! Sometimes some photo's sure do appear to be over edited and such, something as simple as removing a halter and adjusting the exposure/lighting etc... is definitely acceptable in my opinion, but there are some where you half wonder if they've straightened that topline, filled in the flank etc... 

I guess the true question here is, are you proud of selling that animal? If someone were to buy an animal based off a photo, get the animal and don't even recognize it... you have failed as a breeder in my opinion. You want people to continue to come back and do business with you, so having your animal presented well is a must, however falsely presenting an animal is a big no no in my books.

Turning the coin though, there are some photo's out there that don't do animals justice. I have gotten catalogs where you simply pass over an animal as they do not look very correct in the photo etc... but then you see them in person and it's like a complete 180. I guess the lesson here is always view the animals in person to get that full depth of field.