Photographing Tracks & Sign

Some great advice from the Mammals of Texas iNat project:

Tracks are an excellent way to document many of the more secretive mammals, but how you photograph them dramatically effects whether others will be able see enough to provide an identification.
Here are a few tips on taking photos of tracks that will help make it easy for others to identify them later.

1) Include a scale. Whenever possible, include a ruler in the photo. If you don't have a ruler, use a coin or paper currency as those are a consistent size. Pocket knives come in many sizes and are therefore unhelpful for use as a scale.

2) Shade the track. In bright light, your photos will often look much better if the track is shaded. This also eliminates dark shadows that can distort the track.

3) Take a close up and a contextual photo. Take a good close up photo of the track as well as a photo from a little ways back that includes the gait pattern and other associated tracks. A photo of the general area that shows the habitat can also be helpful. Because iNat allows it, submit all of these photos in a single observation as they all serve as clues for track/sign identification.

Good luck & keep up the good work!

Posted on October 30, 2013 07:11 PM by dbroman