How to shoot lotus flowers well

. Lotus has been called "the gentleman in the flower" since ancient times. Its style and posture reflect the essence of China traditional culture, so it is also a natural model in the eyes of China cultural people. For flower lovers and photographers, lotus is an eternal theme. Compared with ordinary flowers, lotus does have unique beauty. No matter flowers, leaves, buds and stems, they all have their unique charm, and even the broken branches and leaves in the lotus pond will give people a unique aesthetic feeling. It is very advantageous to shoot the lotus flower with a digital camera, because the lotus flower, as a big flower, can only be watched from a distance, but can't be played. Therefore, it is usually shot with a long lens from a distance, which will bring difficulties to finding scenery and composition, and it is inevitable to shoot some unnecessary content in the picture. Digital photos will be very convenient in post-processing, such as modifying small flaws, so it is convenient to get a more perfect image. The shooting skills of lotus flowers in summer are like red leaves in autumn and white snow in winter; Lotus in summer has always been one of the subjects photographed by photographers. Many beginners often have such questions: flowers or flowers, leaves or leaves, why are my photos not as good as others? In fact, to answer these two questions, we must start from two aspects-equipment and skills! Hardware equipment is different from ordinary flowers and plants. Shooting lotus flowers requires higher equipment, because generally speaking, the shooting location you choose is always the lotus pond or the lake. Lotus flowers are far away from people and cannot be shot at close range. Otherwise, how can you say "you can watch from a distance and don't play"? So you must have a telephoto lens before shooting the lotus. SLR users can generally choose a lens with a focal length of more than 200mm, and the larger the aperture, the better. For example, 70-200mm/f2.8 of various brands with a rangefinder of 1.4 or 2 times is enough. If you are an ordinary photographer, you can buy a camera with a large zoom ratio, such as Canon S3 IS, Sony H series and Panasonic FZ series. Before going out, in addition to checking the battery and memory card, don't forget to bring a tripod to ensure that the camera is stable enough when shooting. In addition, experienced lovers may also bring a watering can and a long bamboo pole to sprinkle water on the lotus and pick away unnecessary obstructions in the picture. Of course, when using bamboo poles, be careful not to hurt the delicate lotus. The lotus in the main lotus pond looks beautiful in various ways, but not every one can get the same beautiful effect under the lens. So, when we come to the lotus pond, don't rush to set up the camera to shoot. We might as well take a walk along the lotus pond, and at the same time use our own eyes to find, compare and screen, and finally determine the object of shooting, to apply a popular saying at present, that is called "sea election"! Common themes mainly include: the most common is of course the blooming lotus, remember to find the petals full! As the saying goes, "Xiao He just shows his sharp corner", sprouting is naturally indispensable. Falling petals represent the beginning of decline. Stamens, don't have a sense of desolation. With beautiful flowers, don't forget the green leaves. The highlight subject is the same as other subjects. The most important thing to shoot lotus flowers is to highlight the main body. There are many methods, and the skills that beginners can easily master are: using color contrast to make there is only one lotus in the picture, and contrasting "red flowers" and "green leaves" to set off the main body. Using the contrast between reality and reality, open the aperture and blur the foreground and background outside the subject as much as possible. A more direct way is to take a macro, and fill the whole (or most) picture with a whole flower, and the main body will naturally stand out. Use lines, such as the special arc of the lotus branch itself, with simple pictures to achieve the purpose of catching people's eyes. The above methods can cooperate with each other. For example, this photo uses a combination of color contrast and virtual contrast. Compared with the above relatively simple techniques, advanced lovers may pay more attention to the use of light and shoot more artistic pictures than those seen by the naked eye. In the morning, the hue effect of light is clear, the light ratio is large, the direction is strong, and the light-receiving surface of the object is golden yellow. At that time, the lotus was moist with rain and dew, shining with endless color implications in the sun, which was particularly vibrant and full of vitality. It can be said that it is the prime time to shoot lotus flowers. The light after nine o'clock depicts the state of things close to people's usual visual habits. At noon, the light, color temperature and heat of the light increased, and the lotus and green leaves began to shrink, unable to present a vibrant lotus posture. The color of the lotus under the oblique setting sun is more intense and profound, and the lotus in bud is charming, gentle and demure, especially poetic. Shooting lotus flowers, whether realistic or freehand, should pay attention to the three-dimensional effect, texture, sense of space and other screen effects. Because the separation between the subject and the background is not obvious in the sun, the light is dull and monotonous, which is not suitable for use. Instead, it is necessary to use front light, side light, side backlight and even backlight to effectively show that the lotus is back to normal, with rich image levels and strong light and shadow effects. Generally speaking, scattered light and less intense side light are the most suitable light for shooting lotus flowers, but the most brilliant photos are often born under the backlight. The petals under the backlight are transparent and the texture is clear, showing special charm. But backlighting usually occurs in the oblique sunlight in the early morning or afternoon. The light changes frequently at this time, so the timing is difficult to grasp. More importantly, when you seize the opportunity, don't forget to control the exposure and don't overexpose the petals. In fact, after reading so many photos above, everyone should feel this way. In addition to light and angle, if some common things such as bees, dragonflies or water droplets are introduced into the picture, the whole picture will not be destroyed, but will be more dynamic. Bees are notoriously diligent and always fly, so it takes a little luck besides patience to make them appear in the correct position in the picture. In contrast, dragonflies fly faster, but they have many opportunities to stop. As for water droplets, they can be artificial or photographed in the early morning after rain, but in contrast, natural water droplets are always more natural. Ok, so much for lotus photography. In short, the creative feature of lotus photography is to show different contents and forms of works on the same material, that is to say, to show the same theme through different angles, different colors and different aesthetic feelings and create different artistic images. Therefore, to avoid similarity in lotus photography creation, we should first have differences in the performance of the main image, and reflect that "ten thousand flowers are dazzling and oblique, and only two or three are pleasing to the eye." "Looking horizontally, the ridge edge becomes a peak, and the distance is different." This is also the embodiment of the aesthetic consciousness and artistic skills of lotus photography creation. When shooting lotus flowers, we should try our best to take the natural environment as the background, such as blue sky, water reflection or lotus leaf as the background, which can show its natural charm. However, if you encounter a messy background, and it is unavoidable, you can choose to darken the background from the perspective of backlight, or use depth of field to control the background blur, or add artificial background, or even process the background through darkroom processing, so as to achieve the desired effect. The deepest skill is the sublimation of the theme, which needs your heart to discover.