What are the skills of digital black-and-white photo shooting?

Black and white photography still plays an irreplaceable role in some people's minds. What are the skills of digital black-and-white photo shooting? The following is my experience sharing, let's have a look.

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Because of the small tolerance, digital can't show as many gray levels as black and white silver salt, but it has some defects. But the most basic, pure black, pure white and intermediate tones can still be photographed. Of course, there are not as many layers as silver salt, and the expressive force is poor. So pay more attention to exposure when shooting. The general feeling is that the highlight can't exceed level 2 and the darkness can't be lower than level 3, so the maximum tolerance is within level 5.

This means that if you want to show every detail of the picture in the range to be shot, the exposure value difference between the brightest place and the darkest place should be within level 5. For example, use spot metering, shoot in aperture priority mode, and set the aperture F5.6 If the shutter speed of the brightest point on the screen is 1/500 seconds, the shutter speed of the darkest point should not be lower than 1/8 seconds, otherwise the details will not be seen in the dark. This tolerance data should be a digital SLR. For the popular DC, because the CCD is smaller, the tolerance is smaller! So why does the camera with11.8-inch CCD show better image quality than the camera with 1/2.7-inch CCD? In addition to the noise factor, the tolerance is also very different.

Understand the exposure characteristics of DC, and then return to how to expose it. In fact, in the natural environment, the light ratio of most scenes (that is, the ratio of the brightest and darkest brightness) is far more than level 5, so it is not necessary to show all the details clearly when shooting a film. Therefore, it is very important to express the photographer's creative intention by determining the appropriate exposure combination. The leading figure in this field is Adams of the United States, and the divisional exposure method founded is a milestone in photography technology. I'm afraid this post can't solve the partition exposure method in detail, but its principle is actually not complicated: the sensitivity of film and CCD is less than the brightness range of the natural environment. Adams divided the brightest (pure white) to the darkest (pure black) into 10 regions (later he further divided it into 1 1 regions), and usually black and white silver salt tablets can be used. Color negative film can represent 6 regions, color reversal film and DSLR CCD can represent 5 regions, and popular small numbers can represent 4~4.5 regions.

Therefore, when shooting, firstly, according to the shooting intention, determine where the important midtones (so-called 18% gray scale, which is the basis of camera metering) are, and then measure the brightest and darkest parts in the picture that need to keep details to see if their brightness exceeds the above performance range. If so, you need to find a way. For example, a portrait with backlight, if the photometry of the face is taken as the standard, the background highlights will inevitably be too bright. If highlights need details, we must improve the brightness of the face to narrow the brightness difference of the whole picture. You can usually use a flash or reflector to fill the light. Let's take another opposite example: taking portraits outdoors on a cloudy day, the light is peaceful, and the characters taken have no three-dimensional sense, especially black and white photos, which are all gray. At this time, it is necessary to use a flash or an external light to improve the brightness of the character. If the light hits the face, the face is still exposed, and the background brightness will naturally be insufficient and darkened, so that the subject will be clearly highlighted.

When shooting scenery, we often encounter such a scene: blue sky and white clouds plus green mountains and green waters are very beautiful to people. The photos that can be taken back are either blue sky and white clouds, the sky is dark below, or green mountains and green waters, which is also caused by the brightness of typical actual scenes exceeding the tolerance of photosensitive materials (film or CCD). The traditional solution is to add a polarizer or a medium gray gradient lens to reduce part of the brightness of the sky and narrow the brightness range. Another method, especially suitable for DC, is to take two photos, one based on sky exposure and the other based on ground exposure, and then combine the two photos in Photoshop. Note that this method is best to use a tripod to ensure that the shooting positions of the two films do not change, otherwise the later synthesis will be very troublesome.

Five Skills of Digital Black and White Photo Shooting

Take color in the early stage and turn to black and white in the later stage.

Although most digital cameras on the market have black-and-white mode, it is not recommended that you shoot directly. The black-and-white mode in a digital camera is similar to the filter effect. When you select this mode, the images you take will be processed twice in the camera before you output black and white photos. This will have a certain impact on the quality and richness of the picture. Taking color photos in the early stage and then processing them with software can better ensure the image quality, and there is more room in the later stage.

Shoot RAW format

Since someone has suggested that you switch to black and white mode later, try to use RAW mode in the early stage of shooting. This is the original file of the photo data recorded by the camera, which can leave the largest adjustment space for the later period. For beginners, the only drawback is that it takes up more memory.

High/low sensitivity

As we all know, low sensitivity can bring good image quality, so try to use low sensitivity when conditions permit. However, if the brightness of the shooting environment is not enough, the sensitivity can be appropriately increased. You know, some people like to strengthen the graininess of black and white photos in the later stage.

Seize the opportunity to shoot

Because black and white images are composed of three colors: black, white and gray, more attention is paid to the use of light, which is why the shooting time is listed separately. Although the tone is single, good light can bring the audience into the artistic conception that the photographer wants to present. In addition, some photos with high contrast are also suitable for later adjustment to black and white. it wont hurt you to try it

Pay attention to composition

Composition is particularly important in black and white photography, so black and white images also test the basic skills of photographers. You can use the classical trichotomy to make a composition, or you can use the points and lines in the picture to make a reasonable composition. Beginners can start with simplicity and slowly bring more elements into the shooting range.