Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

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TundraPuppy
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Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by TundraPuppy »

I got bored this afternoon, and I've been tossing around an idea that I've had for a few months now and thought I should revisit it and get it down here in case anyone else thought it would be interesting.

All the mission packs we have so far are about hunting (ie: shooting and harvesting animals), except for the Whitehart Travel Missions, which is a refreshing change of pace. Because, at least imo, hunting isn't just about shooting and harvesting, but also appreciating the outdoors. Not just where you are, but the animals you share this planet with.

One of the tools that we have which doesn't get a lot of love is the digital camera. It's low res, not that useful overall, and feels like it doesn't really have a place. I personally think that should change, and it seems like this would be a great opportunity to show the other side of hunting - the appreciation and respect of the animals.

So this is a mission pack I whipped up pretty quickly. 10 missions, all photography based. Some are easy, some are though, and hopefully they will all make you grin a bit. And the pictures they should provide might be pretty neat as well.

Now, saying this, I also suggest that the camera is tweaked a bit. First, it needs higher resolution. Secondly, it needs a zoom in and out using the mousewheel. And last, for these missions to work well (without the "take pictures 200 m away from the animals"), you'd need to do something like frame animals with an outline once they are "in the frame/focused", similar to spotting them using binoculars - some of the missions require more than one animal in frame per shot.

With that said, here are the missions, titles, descriptions, and objectives.

Feedback is always appreciated!




1 - Bitten by the Shutter Bug

Mark Shutter here, editor of Outdoor Optics magazine! We're looking for someone to help us with a little photography work for our issues, and Doc immediately suggested that you're just the person to help out.

First, I'd like to give you and your camera a little warmup. Next time you're in the field, just snap a picture of an animal. Any animal will do, I just want to make sure you're up to the task.

Doc thinks pretty highly of you, so I'm sure you'll do great!


[ ]Photograph any animal.




2 - Starting at the bottom

Not too bad for a practice snap! You've certainly got what we're looking for, and with a little practice, I think you'll go places for sure!

Our next assignment is an easy one. One of our junior writers is working on an article about moose. She'd really appreciate it if you could get a photo of a moose. A bull moose, with decent antlers that will look really sharp when we place it at the top of the page.


[ ]Photograph a male moose.




3 - Family Matters

While a lot of our photographs here at Outdoor Optics are about being at the right place at the right time, sometimes we have to encourage the animals a bit to perform. I've been thinking that we could really sell some copies if we could get a photo of a male and female whitetail deer in the same shot. Something about "A Happy Deer Family" that will melt the hearts of our readers.

Like I said, sometimes the animals just don't perform the way you want them too. You might want to dust your deer caller off,or pick up some scent sprays for this one.


-Photograph at least one male and at least one female whitetail deer in the same photo.




4 - Get the Quackers, I'll say Cheese.

You're back a lot faster than I expected! And the photo looks great!

I'm glad you're back though, there's a new hunting reserve that has people flocking to it, and they're all wanting to see ducks. So we're going to give them ducks. Or rather, you are.

Go out and get us a photo of a duck. But not just any duck - a duck in flight. Majestic, soaring, reigning over the skies. We'll slap that photo on the cover and make a mint!

Oh, and make sure it's a male duck. The green will look fantastic.


[ ]Photograph a male mallard in flight.




5 - Spooky action at a distance

Welcome back! New assignment for you, hot off the press!

We've got a three page spread about sneaking up on animals, and how to identify if they have seen you or not. It's tricky - once you spook one, they take off, and there you are, looking through your camera at nothing. And once it's spooked, it's even harder to sneak up on it. Their senses are heightened, and they are ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

A photo of something impressive, say a Roosevelt elk bull, would do great, but make sure it's spooked and alert. Stomping it's feet, looking around quickly, that sort of thing. Not only will that let our readers know what to look for, but it will also show our competitors that we've got the best photographers working for us in the business! Who else could get a shot like that?


[ ]Photograph a Roosevelt elk bull who is in the alert state.




6 - You want me to do what?

OK, so this is an odd request.

Wildlife photography is really beautiful, but it's also pretty calm. It seems like it's always the same thing; a deer with the sunset behind it, a field of elk, a mallard landing on the water. It's all beautiful stuff, but there's no sense of excitement, no sense of tension, no sense of... danger.

Until now.

Normally I wouldn't ask you to do this, but you've obviously proven yourself as a great photographer, and hey - we gotta sell copies of our magazine. So this is what I want you to do. I want you to find a wild boar. I want you to get it angry. And I want you to photograph it while it's charging you.

I know it's dangerous! But think of that photo!


[ ]Photograph a wild boar while it charges you.




7 - You can barely see the pixels

Barely a scratch on you! Either you're light on your feet, or you heal quickly. Both are good qualities! But enough about that - let's talk about Black Bears.

You know how bears are supposed to like picnic baskets? Well, we wanted to do an article about Black Bears and include a hilarious picture of bears all walking around a giant picnic basket. Problem was we didn't have a giant picnic basket. But we do have photo editing software! So that's no problem. The real problem is we don't have a photo of a bunch of Black Bears.

So here's what we need you do to. We need you to bait some bears, then we need you to photograph them. Three bears will do nicely, all in the same picture. Then, we'll just edit the bait barrel out, and stick a giant picnic basket in. It will be hilarious, trust me.


[ ]Photograph three Black Bears around a bait barrel in one shot.




8 - Valentine's Vixen

You ever see red fox? Of course you have! And they are gorgeous! Especially the red fox around here - for some reason they're a bit bigger than usual. Almost like someone's been feeding them. But anyway.

Each year we do a Valentine's Day special, and we thought, what is cuter for Valentine's Day than two foxes, clearly in love. Maybe not in love. I don't know, we just want two foxes in the same photo. Then we'll put pink hearts all over it. It's going to be amazing!

The problem is that foxes are shy little critters. Seeing one is hard enough, but two? You'd have to be an expert photographer for that. And I'm talking to that very photographer! Males, females, who cares - no one will be able to tell anyway.

Personally, I suggest you use a tree stand, ground blind, or something like that. And a caller. But that's just what I would do. Feel free to come up with your own solution. You're the artist!

[ ]Photograph two red fox in one shot.




9 - The antlers make the man

The noble red deer! Powerful! Strong! Brave! How do they hold their heads up from those enormous antlers?

The latest issue is almost finished, but we need three shots of red deer. Male red deer - we want to see antlers! And we need these photos quickly - the issue is almost off to be printed. So do them all in the same photography session.

And don't use the same deer, every red deer in each photos has to be unique. We can tell, you understand. Those antlers.

[ ]Photograph a unique red deer male.
[ ]Photograph a unique red deer male in the same session.
[ ]Photograph a unique red deer male in the same session.




10 - Flattery will get you everywhere

It's not often that I say this, but you're gifted. A photographic genius! A master at the shutter!

And thus, I give you the most difficult assignment I have. No one else can do it. The mere mention of it around these offices makes even the most seasoned photographer shudder.

I need you to photograph a rare species. It doesn't matter what species, just that's it's rare. Unique. Priceless. Like you.

Now go. Bring me back a photograph that will win this magazine an award. Your photo on the cover, and your name under the photo. Everyone wins!

[ ]Photograph a rare-colored species.
Last edited by TundraPuppy on February 3rd, 2014, 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Flanker305
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by Flanker305 »

Awesome idea. Very nice work - thanks!
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BlindTyldak
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by BlindTyldak »

I absolutely love the idea in general, but unfortunately it would take a whole bunch of coding to make it work. At least I think it would, I'm no coder. :lol: I think of games like Afrika and Pokemon Snap and while they had more stringent parameters for the photos - like how much of the frame the critter filled, a percentage rating on how good the photo was, etc. - they still had to be able to recognize the animal as in the frame within a certain range and whether or not it fit the criteria of a certain mission or not.

This video is from the game Afrika . . . sorry all I could find was a version with Japanese text, but around 1:11 it goes into the photo selection screen for missions and how they were graded. Is this sort of what you had in mind, though probably not quite as involved?

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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by TundraPuppy »

I would honestly suggest just using the spotting that is already in the game for determining whether an animal 'counts' as being in the frame, or at the worst, forking off from the spotting code to tweak it. I wouldn't rate photographs in terms of quality or grades - just use a successful or unsuccessful sort of binary rating as to whether it counts or not. If the deer are in the frame, and you 'spotted' them, then you're good.

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good idea is a lot of the underlying framework already seems to be in the game in one form or another. We have a camera, we have spotting, and we have animals. They just aren't tied together at the moment.

This isn't something I'd envision as being overly complicated. It's just an auxillary sort of mission series, similar to the Whitehart Exploration missions. Just a little different taste of what you're normally used to doing, and helps flesh the product out a bit more/provide a bit of a different experience should you choose to pursue it.
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by Tod1d »

I love it! Great idea. I'm slightly against the bear shot (in principle) because it requires the purchase of a bait barrel. (unless you have a friend with one).
But a very creative idea.

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TundraPuppy
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by TundraPuppy »

Tod1d wrote:I love it! Great idea. I'm slightly against the bear shot (in principle) because it requires the purchase of a bait barrel. (unless you have a friend with one).
But a very creative idea.

Be Well

A few of the missions would (in theory) require purchases of equipment to make it easier - tree stands/blinds and the like for getting multiple species in view at once. Not all of them, but enough to encourage players to plunk down a little cash to support the game. No different from the rest of the missions. I tried to make the missions to where a few encouraged the player to help support the continued development of the game, but the majority can be done with patience and a little luck.

And yes, obviously you can find a friend who will let you check out their bear site, or blinds/stands. It's a bit more fair that way, in that it doesn't require you to personally purchase a weapon, for example.
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ColoradoKid
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by ColoradoKid »

I like the entire idea. :) I am not sure how it could actually be done and I think coding it would be a huge project. However the concept is great. I have voted for some photography missions/competitions for quite a while.
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by Exanimis »

I agree with most of this idea, replace the bear mission with an up close feral hog photo and give us more control of our album. We need a way to delete photos and to edit them. I would like to be able to label/name my photos, as in feral hog #100 or at least add a description to it if I choose.
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by DonderDeer »

I love this idea and I think all of the missions are perfect.
Even if someone doesn't have a barrel they can ask a friend, which encourages community spirit and doesn't necessarily force anyone to buy their own, unlike most mission packs.

It's really disheartening for someone like me, who likes to complete all goals %100 in games, to see that I have to purchase weapons to progress with missions. :/
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Re: Wildlife Photography Mission Pack

Post by TundraPuppy »

DonderDeer wrote:I love this idea and I think all of the missions are perfect.
Even if someone doesn't have a barrel they can ask a friend, which encourages community spirit and doesn't necessarily force anyone to buy their own, unlike most mission packs.

It's really disheartening for someone like me, who likes to complete all goals %100 in games, to see that I have to purchase weapons to progress with missions. :/
That was my idea. I want something that you -can- complete by finding a friend if it comes down to it, but it's ultimately easier to just toss some em$ the developer's way and buy your own barrels and bait. Not only does that support the developers, but it encourages people to try bear baiting to see if they like it.
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