Practical skills of news photography

How to make good use of spotlight

In the process of news interview and shooting, photographers should be familiar with the conventional expressions of various topics, fully understand the agenda of various activities, observe the terrain on the spot, and choose the best shooting angle. In addition, we should also consider the influence of outdoor light on the activity site, whether the indoor lighting illumination is appropriate, and how to set the flash. If possible, you can shoot in different setting modes to ensure foolproof; When shooting outdoors, we should consider the influence of sunlight on shooting, and fill the light with a flash when necessary.

Usually, meetings and large-scale activities are held in low-light atmosphere, which puts higher demands on our photography work.

There are three situations that need to be photographed with the help of live light: First, the flash is not allowed in the news scene. In this case, it is necessary to properly improve the sensitivity of the camera and the shutter speed to ensure the imaging quality of shooting; Second, the shooting scene is too big or the subject is far away from the shooting location; Third, the photographer should highlight the atmosphere in the picture.

When taking photos with spotlights, try to choose large-caliber lenses, such as 70-2 10mm/F2.8, 28-70mm/F2.8, etc. This kind of lens has a large aperture and can ensure a certain shutter speed, so the imaging quality will be better. Generally speaking, most of us use hand-held cameras for indoor shooting, which requires that the shutter speed should not be lower than the minimum. When shooting with a lens of 17-35mm, the shutter speed should be controlled around115-1/30s. When shooting with a 28-70mm lens, the shutter speed should be controlled at about 1/30- 1/60 seconds. The speed of the safety shutter is related to the focal length. The safe shutter speed is the reciprocal of the focal length, that is, the safe shutter speed = 1/ focal length. For a simple example, if the Canon EOS 30D uses a 50mm lens, then 1/80 seconds is the safety shutter (because the focal length conversion coefficient of EOS 30D is 1. 6. When installing a 50mm lens, the actual equivalent focal length is 80mm). )

How to use flash well

The flash we are talking about here refers to an external flash, and its flash head can be adjusted at will. We should have the experience that direct exposure to the subject by flash is easy to cause overexposure. In this case, we can try to adjust the flash head to a certain angle, extend the reflector, and the light source reflects through the reflector and the ceiling. This operation can eliminate the projection of the subject and improve the influence caused by uneven illumination; If the venue space is small and the subject is relatively close to the camera, you can adjust the flash to 90 degrees and reflect light through the ceiling and surrounding walls to brighten the subject.

In the actual combat of daily news photography, we can try different flash methods and accumulate experience in using flash. When shooting a leader's speech or a fleeting scene, I suggest that you turn the flash to TTL automatic mode, which can save us a lot of time, have a higher success rate and a higher insurance factor.

How to shoot the leader's speech and the panoramic view of the venue

Before shooting scenes such as leaders' speeches and speeches, we should fully communicate with them and tell them that they can keep smiling properly, adjust their sitting posture, and try to cooperate with the photographer when they feel ready to take pictures. Photographers can also give the leader a gesture or hint before preparing to take pictures, so as to grasp the best shooting opportunity for continuous shooting and snapshot. In the shooting of the press conference, we should always be on high alert and pay close attention to the movements of the spokesman. When you find that the speaker is getting better and better, you should go to continuous shooting immediately and put his best expressions and gestures in the camera.

It should be noted that the microphone, water bottle and other items in the venue may block the main body and destroy the composition. Meeting photography should pay attention to finding the best angle and avoid obstacles as much as possible.

It's really difficult to shoot at the venue. We should make full use of spotlights and flashlights. When shooting a large conference attended by hundreds of people, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the audience, the leaders of the rostrum and the exhibition board of the rostrum. At this time, it is necessary to skillfully use the flash. I found a trick myself: turn the external flash up slightly. At this time, the flash output is the maximum flash, which ensures that the distant podium is fully exposed, and objects close to the lens will not cause overexposure. When there is enough light in the venue, you can turn off the flash, choose a larger aperture and shutter speed (pay attention to the minimum shutter limit mentioned above), and measure the average light according to the LOGO on the back of the podium or the people sitting on the podium.

How to choose news pictures

The press release forms of news photos mainly include single photo, group photo and thematic photography.

A single photo is the most commonly used publishing form for photographers in their daily work. The basic requirements for shooting a single picture are: to show the typical instantaneous value of the image, and to pay attention to details, emotions and body language of the characters.

A group photo can be a description and expression of different aspects of the same news scene, or a combination of different scenes under the same theme. Group photos are mostly used to show news events from many sides and angles and deepen the theme. I participate in the news and photo reports of the National People's Congress every year. After the two sessions, I will select the photos of the meeting site, the delegates' discussion site, and the delegates and members' inspection, exchange and writing proposals, form a group photo and publish it.

Thematic photography refers to reflecting a news theme from multiple angles through multiple photos. Every photo tells a story or a plot, and there must be an opening photo, an climax photo and an ending photo, which are connected in series to form a complete story. Special photography should pay attention to the use of different scenes such as big scene, middle scene and close-up, as well as the collocation of horizontal and vertical photos, which has a long time span and diluted the timeliness.

The photos we finally choose to publish should have the following elements: first, the actions and expressions of the people being photographed are natural; Second, the moment that best represents the essence of news events; Third, there are both close-ups and big scenes; Fourth, the picture composition is reasonable and ornamental; Fifth, the picture is dynamic; Sixth, the captured images.

News photography should put visual impact in the first place

? News value? And then what? The value of image? It has always been considered as two major elements of news photography. Value of the image of news photography mainly refers to the visual impact or visual attraction of news photos. For a long time, many researchers and practitioners of news photography believe that news value is the first of these two elements, because news photography belongs to the category of news rather than art.