How to master black cards and long exposure skills

How to take a picture of a city full of dreams, in which highlights and shadows are clearly visible? Most novices and even enthusiasts will say that using Photoshop or HDR editing is convenient and quick, but it lacks the fun of shooting and can't see the immediate effect. The most important thing is that novices rely too much on software and lack the mastery of exposure, so I hope to share some of my experiences with you, starting with "black card long exposure".

Equipment preparation

A stable tripod and tripod head are necessary. It's best to prepare wired release (if it has timer function), and if it doesn't, you can use self-timer function. Next, prepare a large non-reflective black cardboard to completely cover the lens. Many novice photographers will ask: Where should I buy a black card? In fact, ordinary stationery stores can already find these black cardboard, so there is no need to look for them specially. Some photographic equipment stores have so-called special black card sets, which are only bought when there is money and nowhere to spend. Next is a camera at door B. There is no limit to the lens (but I often use a fixed focus lens). You can also bring a small DC to compose music. Of course, we need a watch that can still see the time clearly in the dark.

Preparation before shooting

1. Selected location:

Try to avoid places that will be blown directly by strong winds, especially the strong winds on the side, which will gently blur the photos and blow the camera down. If you really want to shoot in this place, please try to fix your tripod and camera.

2. Composition and photometric determination:

Because the theme is long exposure, it is necessary to repeat the composition and metering before the official shooting to avoid wasting time. The small DC mentioned above will be very useful in composition, because it is very mobile, so we can take some photos with the small DC as the reference before the actual shooting-turn off the flash of the small DC and take a black-and-white photo, so that you can easily see the area and distribution of the brightest and darkest places on the picture, and then carefully measure the light and adjust the camera to the aperture to give priority to metering. Please write down the exposure time of each district when metering, and if necessary, please write it down in a notebook.

Official shooting

Everything mentioned above is ready, and shooting is officially started.

First, cover the brightest part of the picture with a black card (as shown above, the brightest part is buildings and vehicles coming from the road far behind), and quickly move the test position up and down or left and right by hand (depending on the picture, if the author shoots with a fisheye lens, he needs to pay more attention to the swing range and try the best angle position), and quickly move the black card up and down or left and right to avoid prominent edges in the picture in the future. For beginners, it may take longer to take the position test. Then you can pre-lift the mirror (if your camera model has this function) to reduce the impact of slight vibration on the picture when the mirror is lifted.

Assuming that it takes 65,438+00 seconds to expose the bright part and 45 seconds to expose the dark part, we first complete the exposure of the darkest part (cover the brightest part with a black card) for 35 seconds (45 minus 65,438+00 seconds), then remove the black card and expose the dark part and the bright part together for 65,438+00 seconds (the total dark position is * *)

This is the easiest way to take a black card photo at one time. In fact, as long as you master this basic skill, you can develop into more gameplay such as multi-area exposure. For example, with film, you can shoot surreal works with reciprocity law, or shoot the same picture with different temperature zones. But these advanced skills will be discussed later.

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Why use a black card to expose for a long time?

There are various brands of dimming filters on the market. Can't you use them? Dimming filters can really come in handy when the difference between light and shade is not too exaggerated, but in the environment with large light difference in the example, black cards can be more efficient and flexible, of course, the cheapness of black cards is also the main reason.

Another reason is that when using dimming filters, it is easy to produce glare and other bad light refraction effects for some lenses with poor workmanship. Even the top lens will have unpredictable reflected stray light because of the shooting angle.

If you want to shoot a dream city, that is, most parts of the picture are clearly visible, but you don't want to or won't use post-software (such as making HDR), using black cards is the most direct and effective method. If you are ready for the later stage and use the black card properly, you can get the ideal early stage material more easily and reduce the time for modifying the software later.

Is there really no harm in using a black card to help shoot?

There is no perfect method in the world, of course, the use of black cards will be encountered, and it is easy to miss those who are fleeting, especially those who are unfamiliar with the use. In addition, when using a black card, the mobility is very low, so be sure to bring a tripod. For filmmakers who are still groping for the theme of shooting, it may be frustrating at first. There is also this kind of long-term exposure. For some parts of the body that are easy to overheat, noise particles or light spots often appear in the upper corner of the image (this situation can be remedied by repeated exposure).

Others are suitable for black card assisted shooting.

The most commonly used twilight scene first exposes the foreground sea surface and stone beach, and then photographs the sky and the sun.

_ Reduce overexposure at the highlight level. For example, the second phase of Guo Jin is the most popular theme, but the strong spotlight at the top often turns the photos into white. If you cover the top bright light with a black card first, and then pull up the black card until the architectural theme is exposed, you can take a high-definition photo like the one on the left (Figure 2).

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In order to reduce the overexposure of car tracks and roads, many people have successfully photographed car tracks, but the buildings on both sides may be too dark. If it's like the situation on the left, it's not allowed to go back to the studio first and then change it slowly. You can earn your time back on the spot with a black card.

Another time-limited example. Because the property management company needs to turn on the light to facilitate shooting, if you go back to the studio to modify it slowly, you may not get the ideal effect. Instead, you use a black card to finish the photo close to the result first, and then it becomes very easy.

Black card plus re-exposure (changing the color temperature during re-exposure) can easily make a finished sample and add other colors to the original boring scene. This technique must pay attention to the fact that the pan/tilt must be super stable, and the action should be as light as possible when changing the fuselage settings.

Keep the sunset and Xia Hong, but can't see the lights on the building. This can be synthesized from two photos in the software, but it often becomes an excellent edge line. If you use a black card with re-exposure, you can take photos with a strong sense of illustration. Take the whole picture for the first exposure, and then cover the sky with a black card after the building lights up, so that the building can be exposed slowly and the sky doesn't have to be stained by the gray after sunset.

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This introduction to the use of black cards is very suitable for beginners to refer to and try. Even if you only have a semi-professional DC (such as G 10 commonly used by the author), you can play it. More use of this technique can strengthen your understanding of more light and shadow manipulation. I hope everyone will have a good time and try their best to bring into play the creativity brought by the black card.

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