What are the lighting skills of still life advertising photography?

Photography is the art of using light, especially still life and advertising photography. This paper analyzes the lighting skills from two aspects: the expression of light on the texture of objects and the expression of themes.

The expression of fabric light on product texture

Because the structure, texture and surface texture of objects are different, the ability to absorb and reflect light is also different. Therefore, according to the different reflections of different textures on light, we can roughly divide objects into light absorbers, light reflectors and transparent body. This is just a rough classification. Some products are between light absorber, reflector and transparent body, or are composite products composed of light absorber, reflector and transparent body. However, only by exploring the light distribution performance of simple and basic objects can we shape complex objects. According to the texture characteristics of different still life products, this paper explores the regularity and regularity of typical lighting and shooting techniques of various commodities, and on this basis, draws inferences from others and pursues more perfect visual expression. Of course, this is just different lighting methods to express different textures. If it is to express other aspects of still life products, then the lighting technique should be created on this basis.

1. Shooting of light absorber

Absorber products include: fur, clothes, cloth, food, fruit, coarse pottery, rubber, matte plastic and so on. Their surfaces are usually not smooth (relative to reflectors and transparent body). Therefore, the reflection of light is relatively stable, that is, the inherent color of objects is relatively stable and unified, and these products usually have rich visual levels of their own. In order to reproduce the layering of the absorber surface, the light distribution position should be dominated by side light, side light and side light, and the light ratio is small, which makes the layering and color more abundant.

Food is a typical light absorber. The texture of food is always associated with its senses such as color, fragrance and taste, so people should feel the freshness, taste and nutrition of food and arouse their appetite. In figure 1, two soft lights are added on the upper and right sides of the main body, so the texture of all the food in the picture is very delicate and the surface is rich. In Figure 2, a soft light is lit in front of the orange, which makes the surface color brighter and shows the fine wrinkle texture on the orange surface very well.

2. Mirror shooting

The surface of the reflector is very smooth, and it has a strong ability to reflect light, just like a mirror, so the shape of the reflector is generally to make it show a "black and white" contrast visual effect. The reflector is metal with smooth surface or porcelain without pattern. To show the smoothness of their surfaces, we can't let multiple uneven spots or black spots appear on a solid surface, so the best way is to use a large area of illumination light or a reflector for illumination. The larger the light source area, the better. In many cases, the white line reflected from the reflective object may be uneven, but it must be graded and unified, so that it is true. If there is high light on the reflector with bright surface, it can be obtained by weak direct light source.

In order to make the upward side of the knife and fork receive light evenly and ensure that there are no flares and black spots on the knife and fork, a soft box cover made of two layers of sulfuric acid paper is used to cover the main object, and a large area of soft light source (the flash of octagonal lampshade) is used to hit the top of the soft box, so that its color tone is richer and its texture is displayed. If the flash light source is exposed directly without using a soft light box, the direct light will appear hard and the direction of the hard light is very strong, so the shape and size of the light will be directly reflected on the knife and fork, forming an obvious light spot, and then the texture of the object will be lost. Although hard light can also show the characteristics of the reflector itself, it is difficult to control and often makes the reflection negligible. If it is not for the special reflection effect, soft light is usually chosen when shooting the reflector, which can better express the texture of the reflector. It should also be noted that the lamp has a light source point, so the obvious performance of the light source point on the reflector should be hidden as much as possible. Generally, the light source points are hidden by adding a lampshade and a soft cloth on the lampshade. Due to the reflective characteristics of the reflector, we should also pay attention to the reflection of the camera and photographer, otherwise there will be black spots. Generally, you will choose an angle that is not reflected in yourself; Of course, there are other methods, such as digging a hole in the soft box made of sulfuric acid paper and putting the lens in it to shoot, in order to hide the photographer and camera as much as possible.

The key of light distribution of reflector is the treatment of reflective effect, so black or white cardboard is generally used to reflect light in actual shooting, especially for reflector with inconspicuous three-dimensional surface such as cylinder or sphere. As shown in Figure 4, the black line is reflected by long black cardboard, but the use of cardboard should be just right, otherwise many messy spots will be formed on the reflector, which will destroy the integrity of the reflector and fail to express its texture. Many commercial photographers not only use black and white cardboard, but also use gray cardboard with different reflectivity to reflect the visual effect of the picture, which can not only grasp the essential characteristics of the reflector, but also control different reflection levels and enhance the aesthetic feeling of the work.

3. transparent body's shooting.

Transparent body, as its name implies, gives people a transparent texture with a very smooth surface. Because light can penetrate the transparent body fuselage itself, backlight, side backlight and so on are generally selected. The light quality is hard, which makes it produce exquisite artistic effect and reflect the texture. Transparent body is mostly liquid or glass products such as wine and water.

When shooting transparent body, it is very important to reflect the transparency of the subject. Generally, transmitted light is used for lighting, and the backlight position is commonly used. The light source can penetrate the transparent body to form different brightness in different textures. Sometimes, in order to strengthen the modeling of transparent body and separate it from the bright background, black cardboard can be added to the left, right and top of transparent body to outline the modeling lines. In Figure 5, the backlight forms a bright background, the outline of the glass body is decorated with black cardboard, and the shape and texture of the glass body are enhanced with different bright and dark lines and blocks. Of course, when using backlight, we should pay attention to the fact that the light source cannot appear, and generally cover the light source with soft paper.

To represent transparent body in a black background, soft light can be used on both sides to separate the subject from the background, which can not only separate the subject from the background, but also enrich its texture (Figure 6). If a light box is added at the top, the outline of the upper part of the object can be displayed, and the transparent body is particularly delicate and transparent on the black background. If it is a transparent body filled with colored liquid, in order to keep the color from losing its original purity, white paper conforming to the shape of the object can be placed on the back of the object to set off its original color.

Light's Expression of Theme

In photography, light is not only used to objectively express the morphological characteristics of objects, but also used to convey feelings to people. It not only reproduces the visual information such as shape, volume, color, texture and space of still life products, but also shows many positive and beautiful aspects of still life products. Photographers should not simply observe light from the appearance, but should think about the emotional language contained in "light". Different illumination angles and brightness have different effects on the subject. It is the photographer's instinct to master the effect of light in photographic works and have a keen feeling about it. Just as painters skillfully paint objects, photographers use cloth light to "paint".

1, direct performance

Direct expression means that lighting directly renders the atmosphere or plot of the product. Most of this light acts directly on the main body. Because light is divided into cold and warm, strong and weak, bright and dark, the theme and atmosphere are different.

2. Indirect performance

Indirect expression refers to the companion, background or atmosphere of the rendered picture. This kind of light distribution is only to enhance the theme atmosphere, not to directly shape the subject, and it must interact with other lights that shape the subject.

Decorative use of pictures

This kind of light is used to decorate the whole picture or highlight the local features of the subject. The picture effect of light washing, the first ornament flare, the starlight effect and the multicolor ornament effect are all typical decorative lights. A small hole is buckled on the black background, and a flash is placed behind the background to emit a beam of light, which forms a starlight effect and makes the subject more gorgeous and dazzling.

Run out of background.

The illumination of the background is either uniform or gradual. It is necessary to destroy the tone of the whole picture, otherwise it will not only set off the theme, but also change the theme of the work. When the background is used up, we should pay attention to both contrast and harmony. Figure 12 is a blue spotlight on a black background, which complements the yellow subject, thus highlighting the theme.

Run out of tin foil.

In most cases, the use of the light of the foil is directly expressed by the light of the main body, but sometimes a lamp is specially set for the foil. Set off the light, don't destroy the light and shadow effect of the subject, and the light itself should not be too abrupt. Figure 13 shows that under the premise of shaping the main body of perfume with complete light distribution, a blue flash is used for foil to make the main body more attractive.

Influence of light distribution on shape and color expression

1, light modeling still life products

The expression of lighting on the modeling of still life products mainly refers to the three-dimensional sense and surface shape (outline) shaping of products. When shooting close-up or close-up, it is best to use positive complementary light to express the positive texture of the object, and the exposure should be positive brightness to make the modeling effect better. The main factors affecting this performance are the intensity (or light ratio) of light source and the position of illumination.

2. The expression of light in the color of still life products

"Light is the source of color" plays a direct role in the color reproduction of still life products. Only when there is light can there be color, and the change of light affects the change of color. People can only perceive the color of objects in light. If it is in the dark, no matter how beautiful and rich the color is, they can't see it. In landscape advertising photography, light has two effects on color: first, the direction of light; The second is the color of light.

The direction of light, in studio lighting, refers to different light levels of light irradiation, such as forward light, lateral light, reverse light and so on. These different light levels make the still life have different light and shade changes and make the colors different. Shun light refers to the light-receiving surface of the subject, which basically has no dark parts, and the tone level is dull and monotonous, with small contrast, but the color is delicate and peaceful, and the tone is bright. The picture 16 uses smooth light, and the colors of apples in the picture are very bright. Side light makes the color of the product have obvious contrast between light and shade, and the transition is natural and rich. In Figure 15, the color change of apples from bright to dark is natural and rich. Backlight has a poor performance on the bright colors of still life products, and the color tone is deep. Backlight is often used to express the overall spatial effect of color. Figure 17 In this backlit work, the inherent color of the apple is basically lost, but the level of the dark part is still there, and the color contrast of the apple is great.

The color of light mainly refers to the color deviation and color temperature of light itself, which has a great influence on the color reproduction of the shooting theme and the color expression of the picture. As we all know, under the fluorescent lamp and incandescent lamp, the same still life will show different colors, which is due to the influence of different color temperatures. For example, red is orange-red under incandescent lamps, but red or purple under fluorescent lamps. Picture 19 is an apple shot at a low color temperature, and the color of the apple is warm red, while picture 20 is an apple shot at a high color temperature, and the color is cool blue. The purplish red and blue effects of ivory telephone under fiber lamps with different light colors.

Through the analysis of three aspects of lighting expressing still life products, it is emphasized that lighting is an important modeling means of still life advertising photography, and choosing lighting means choosing the shape and color of the picture. Cloth lighting can enrich the color and tone level of works, make the main image more colorful, and thus make still life products more vivid and vivid. As visual communicators, commercial photographers need to make full use of light and shadow to visually recreate still life products. Light and shadow can not only objectively record the image of still life products, but also make the visual image of still life products more beautiful and impressive. Every small change in the lighting of still life products will bring different feelings to the works. Therefore, when a photographer conceives and creates, it is very necessary to analyze the lighting of the product through sketch, so as to predict the visual effect of the work, thus enhancing the artistic expression of the work and creating classic commercial photography works.

Still life advertising photography is the plastic arts of "light" and "shadow". It plays an important role in reasonably utilizing and exerting all irreplaceable functions of light in modeling, conveying the information of still life products and expressing the photographer's thoughts and feelings through the work vision. Analyzing the artistic effects of different visual images displayed by lighting can make the artistic images in still life advertising photography more vivid and make consumers more impressed with the works and their themes.