Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Photography major - Five basic principles of photography

Five basic principles of photography

Graphics/Wang Xueyi

1, cultivate a pair of beautiful photographic eyes. That is to say, observing, this is a beautiful structure, this is a kind of cognition of beauty, and what content can be chosen. We should be able to distinguish and understand these things, arrange their logical expression relations reasonably, and show what should be expressed in an appropriate way.

Generally, photographers start with natural scenery and then shoot people, and I am no exception. Usually taking pictures as a souvenir is not photography. Photography is the embodiment of the use of light and shadow, and it is a representative moment of people and things. In practice, I don't know how to design the movements of characters, but in the natural gestures of characters, I can suddenly find that the instantaneous angle or movement is beautiful, and with my own re-creation of movements, I can freeze a satisfactory ideology, perhaps because of the accumulation of beauty in daily life. I also think that appreciating and trying to figure out the artistic conception of excellent words and pictures at ordinary times will greatly help you to increase your understanding of aesthetics and exert a subtle influence on beauty.

2. Be sure to understand composition. Composition is the most important basic skill of photography. You need to know where the elements you need should be placed in the frame, and the composition of many elements should be clearly expressed. Numerous composition methods are not described here. Of course, you can jump out of the basic theory of composition and play freely, which shows that you can skillfully use composition and jump out of the three realms. This is a great thing. The best composition is to leave it. I remember a famous writer talking about writing, saying that the best state of writing is the state of no skill, that is, the state of being superb.

There are similarities between composition and shooting angle. Finding the right angle to satisfy your composition reasonably and fully is a very interesting thing in the shooting process, so you should constantly try the angle.

3. A photo should be vivid. Shooting is the output and expression of personal aesthetic cognition, especially the shooting of people. People often say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Many photographic articles especially remind that the focus should be on the eyes of the subject. Unless there are special circumstances, I generally don't let the subject look at the camera to avoid taking a commemorative photo. Photography is the reappearance of people's daily life, and it is a freeze-frame to capture the moments of life. Only by guiding the eyes of the subject to make vivid movements can the photographer take vivid moments and a photo have lasting appeal.

The unique artistic language is the soul of a photo and the catharsis of the author's expression of feelings.

4. A photo should be concise. Elements unrelated to the shooting theme should not enter the picture. According to the jargon, painting is the art of addition and photography is the art of subtraction. Painting is a stroke on a white paper to outline and add fullness, and photography is to find order among many chaotic elements. Get rid of irrelevant elements, make the theme stand out, let the viewer's vision go straight to the center of your performance, and let your picture language hit the nail on the head.

This is also the difference between photography and painting.

5. Know a reasonable later period. What is emphasized here is a reasonable later period. Photos are the solidification of real moments in life. In the later period, we must never break away from primitive religion and take the expression of truth as the basic principle. "Art comes from life above life", which can be high, but can't be separated. Once divorced from the authenticity of photography, there is no difference between painting and photography. Everything has a degree, especially the control of chromaticity. In the later stage, the basic degree is gone, and the meaning of photography is biased.

On the premise of no special requirements, the objects that have nothing to do with the theme, hinder the expression of the theme and cannot be avoided in the early stage will be processed in the later stage. In the process of composition, we should reserve enough space for later adjustment, and make overall arrangements for a game of chess to play an irreplaceable role in the later period.

Of course, directional expression making can be ruled out here, which is another matter.

From the photographer's point of view, follow five basic principles, and a photo that you think you can see is thus released. If it helps you and learns from it, it will be very lucky and Amitabha's business.

Life is so beautiful, let's create our own uniqueness together!