Application of high-speed photography

The shooting of birds is the theme of many photographers, which can not only record vivid and beautiful moments, but also integrate the photographer's humanistic feelings of loving nature and cherishing life.

The characteristics of bird activities are quiet and dynamic, and they are often shown to people in a flying posture. And dynamic pictures are much more vivid than static ones. Therefore, the shooting of bird themes is mainly dynamic, supplemented by static.

On the premise of high-speed shooting and continuous shooting, it is decided whether to adopt single-point focusing or regional focusing according to the characteristics of bird activities.

First, the static picture is undoubtedly a point focus or even a single focus.

We know that the focusing methods of SLR cameras generally include multi-focus, area focus, point focus and single focus. Facing focus is also called center focus, and single focus is more accurate and detailed than point focus. The meanings of the four focusing modes can be literally understood. From front to back, the smaller the focus area, the more accurate the focus.

For example, multi-point focusing, almost all elements in the picture should be taken care of, and the shooting should be clear and realistic; Regional focus (center focus) only focuses on about 20% of the elements in the picture, which makes the imaging of these 20% elements clear and realistic, and other elements can be ignored. Point focusing is to ensure that a certain point in the picture you choose is clear and realistic; Single-point focusing means that focusing requirements are more accurate than point focusing.

Among the four focusing methods, except for multi-point focusing, the whole picture needs to be considered and taken care of, while the latter three only take care of one point (one part) but not the rest, and the position of this point or one part can stay at other different positions in the picture by toggling multiple keys (also called square keys and eight keys), so as to realize the real focusing on a certain point or an area.

According to the characteristics of the above focusing methods, if the bird in the picture is still, naturally choose point focusing or single focusing, which is the most scientific and practical focusing method.

Second, the dynamic picture can only be focused by area or multi-point to face the flying birds. In theory, you can choose point focus or single focus to track the flight of birds and shoot them in time. However, in this case, it is impractical to chase the "point" with the "point", and it is basically impossible to "stare" at the bird's position to shoot, so the more practical method can only be regional focusing or multi-point focusing.

Naturally, some people will ask, since it is regional focus or multi-point focus, will the elements unrelated to the subject be photographed clearly and realistically?

There is some truth in this consideration, but there is no need to worry. In most cases, the birds we photographed are empty and monochrome. When shooting in these monochromatic skies, the flying birds and the background will never be in the same "plane", that is to say, the birds must be in front (in terms of the depth of the picture) and the sky is behind. When shooting bird elements, we will use a larger aperture and a smaller depth of field, so we don't have to worry about the seamless integration of the background and the subject.

It should be mentioned that shooting with a larger aperture (note that it is only "larger" rather than "very large" or "maximum") can also maintain a faster shooting speed and lower sensitivity, which not only ensures the timely imaging, but also improves the image quality as much as possible.

Third, in general, it is more practical to use regional focus. If the pictures we encounter are mainly dynamic, or our own shooting experience is not very rich, our choice is of course multi-point focus or area focus.