Preparation of Maple Leaf Shooting Equipment and Application of Light

Lead: The golden and flaming maple leaves are definitely on the list, and the gorgeous colors make many people flock to them. Watching and photographing maple leaves has become a must-see trip in autumn. Here, the editorial department of DIGIPHOTO starts with the preparation of equipment, hoping that readers can enjoy autumn scenery and leave the most beautiful figure of maple leaves with cameras.

Maple Leaf Shooting Equipment Preparation and Light Application Basically, any camera can be used as the main force to shoot maple leaves, and the key point is whether the focal length of the lens can meet the shooting requirements. Although the standard lens is enough for most scenes, in order to capture the close-up of maple leaves, the telescope head is still an indispensable equipment. As for the super wide-angle lens, it can come in handy when shooting big scenes according to personal needs. If you find it troublesome to carry multiple lenses, travel glasses are also a good choice. If you have spare capacity, you can prepare some auxiliary equipment to improve the image quality, such as C-PL polarizer or tripod.

Body: Regardless of brand or film size, it is recommended to give priority to the existing body.

Ultra-wide-angle lens: for example, 16-35mm or 17-40mm, which can blend into the vast scenery and create strong visual tension.

Standard lens: for example, 24-70mm(FF) or 17-55mm(APS-C), which can attack and retreat, and can meet most shooting needs.

Telescope head: 70-200mm is the most popular, used to shoot local sketches or close-ups, which is easy to show shallow depth of field effect.

Tripod: No matter what style, the main function is to stabilize the fuselage in low light environment.

Polarizer: it can filter out polarized light and reflection in the atmosphere and enhance the saturation of blue sky and maple leaves.

Flash: It is recommended to use light external flash, which can supplement light in backlight or low light source environment.

Cable release: it can be used with tripod in low light environment, which can improve the shooting success rate.

▲ Left: No polarizer; Right: There is a polarizer. Adjusting the polarizer in place helps to improve saturation.

Maple leaf control file

If you are a user of Canon camera, don't forget to download a set of Maple Leaf PictureStyle named "Autumn Color" from Canon official website before you set out to hunt maple leaves. It can accurately reproduce the colors of red and yellow, and help players easily take bright and bright maple leaf photos. Users can set the style file in the camera through EOS utility, or use it on the designated photos through the original D PP software package after shooting.

▲ Use autumn tones.

▲ Default value standard.

Front lighting

Guang Shun's greatest advantage is that he can faithfully present the details and colors of the shot scene. Therefore, when you are moved by the colorful maple leaves in front of you, you might as well consider taking photos from the perspective of Guang Shun, so that the maple red in the mountains can show more outstanding colors. In addition, when maple leaves are set in the blue sky, the smooth direction will also make the blue of the sky more saturated and thorough, making the picture look pleasing to the eye and adding points to the work. However, the outline and lines of maple leaves are not obvious in the light, and it is not easy to produce shadows, so the light is not so ideal in three-dimensional presentation.

▲ It's easy to get proper exposure in the case of smooth light, but you can still use exposure compensation to make the image further conform to your own creative concept.

Photography: Liu Qian.

▲ When shooting along the light, all scenes are bathed in light, which can fully present colors and details. Photography: Lin Jiaxing (top) and Yang (bottom).

Backlighting

Backlight is the light source behind the maple leaf, so as long as the exposure of the subject is well grasped, it can not only show the light transmittance of the maple leaf, but also set off the beauty of its outline and lines. In order to avoid the influence of backlight environment on main metering, it is suggested to use spot metering mode or increase exposure compensation to show clear and transparent texture. In addition, backlight photography has a great chance to confront the sun head-on. At this time, you can try to narrow the aperture, so that the sunlight appearing from the cracks in the leaves presents a star-like effect, adding different elements to the maple leaf photos. However, we should pay attention to whether the glare and ghost of the lens will affect the visual experience, and we can grasp the ideal picture from several angles. As for the top light at noon, because it is difficult to present the outline and level of maple leaves, it is generally not conducive to the shooting of maple leaves. However, as long as you master the above characteristics and switch to backlight, you will have a chance to shoot good works at noon.

▲ When the front is facing the sun, try to narrow the aperture to show the effect of Starlight Glimmer and add different elements to the photo. Photography: HIGRACE.

▲ Backlight angle framing is easy to present the bright texture of maple leaves. Photography: Yang.

▲ The backlight environment can make good use of spot metering to achieve ideal image effect. Photography: Huang Qiqi.

Oblique ray

When shooting most subjects, the level and texture brought by oblique light definitely have the effect of extra points, and it is also a very recommended way to shoot maple leaves. Because the light comes from the left and right sides of the subject, it can not only show the outline and details of the maple leaf, but also help to show the three-dimensional sense and shadow. Especially the oblique light after sunrise and before sunset is the most charming, because the incident angle is low, it can present a dramatic light and shadow effect. Because of its strong three-dimensional sense and distinct layers, it is very popular with players, so as long as the shooting time is properly controlled, you can shoot an image with ideal light.

In addition, a large shadow with oblique light is likely to form a picture of Gao Fancha. At this time, we should pay attention to photometry and apply exposure compensation in time. For example, if the background is a valley or a rock covered by shadow ridges, the camera may need to add exposure value, but the main body of the maple leaf is overexposed. At this time, the exposure compensation should be reduced to restore the appropriate brightness and color of the scene. Or, you can also improve the shooting success rate by peripheral exposure and then selecting the appropriate photos.

▲ What are the details of the how bright and background of the maple leaf? Making good use of different metering modes and exposure compensation is helpful to quickly adjust the image effect.

Photography: grizzly bear.

▲ Oblique light brings obvious shadows and contrasts, which helps to present a three-dimensional sense. Photography: Guo Zhibin.

▲ As long as you master the shooting time, you will have the opportunity to capture charming light. Photography: Yang.

Original recording format

When reading maple leaves from different angles, we should always pay attention to proper exposure correction, so as to make the image conform to the picture in our hearts. Exposure compensation and peripheral exposure functions are small helpers that can be well used, and you can try your best to leave a beautiful figure of maple leaves in the first time. In addition, remember to save it as a RAW file format and keep the best post-production flexibility, which will be very helpful for exposure correction.