How to Photograph Peonies

Peony, glorious and luxurious, is a beautiful and fragrant country. However, there is a lot to be done when photographing peonies in terms of composition and lighting. There are many varieties of peonies in different colors. Their characteristics are: huge flowers, short flower stems, lush branches and alternate flowers and leaves. It is not easy to take good pictures of peonies. How to take good pictures of peonies? The author's experience mainly lies in scientific framing and correct lighting.

1. Photograph the composition of peonies.

1. Break the routine and find new angles. Choosing different angles means carefully observing the shape of the peony flowers and finding the "side" that best expresses their beauty. Wherever you find it, quickly take a photo of it at that angle to prevent the light from changing. When photographing peonies, you can choose: elevation angle, depression angle, front, back, left, or right elevation composition. If you can find an angle that is not visible to normal eyesight and can show the beauty and appearance of one or several peonies being photographed, then it will be easy to create something new and outstanding. You can take pictures of relatively novel peony flowers that "I have when others don't have them" and "I have advantages when others have them".

2． The main body should be highlighted when operating the screen and allocating the screen area. That is: let the photographed peonies occupy a larger area and important position in the picture, and enhance the clarity of the peonies, and the green leaves as their companions cannot dominate the scene.

3. Express the peony's demeanor and promote its moral character. While paying attention to shaping the look and shape of peonies, be sure not to damage the flowers! Because peonies grow one foot long and shrink back seven inches, and only the growing peonies are the most beautiful. Make full use of its natural growth state, use anthropomorphic expression techniques, give it new spirituality, show what emotions it has in what posture, describe what words it wants to talk about in what posture, or publicity. A certain spirit it expresses in what posture. I strive to make the peony flower works I shoot reflect my own hopes, expectations and certain thoughts, and show the author's personal style. I want the pictures not only to express the glory and splendor of the peonies themselves, but also to express some kind of truth. The theme of , goodness and beauty.

4. Background selection and processing. The selection and processing of background mainly refers to mastering several contrasts: such as the contrast between light and dark, virtual and solid, color and size, etc. When photographing light-colored peonies, you should choose a dark background, and vice versa; in addition, we can also blur the background as much as possible to highlight the subject. The method is to use the green leaves of another peony or other plants farther away from the peony as the background when photographing the flowers on this peony, and use a larger aperture to shoot; you can also use different colors Background paper (cloth), and artificially add and change backgrounds of different colors.

2. Lighting for photographing peonies.

It is best to use scattered light when photographing peonies, because peony pictures taken under scattered light are soft and bright, and the light ratio is ideal (but it should be clear that scattered light also has directionality). Other commonly used light is the front Side light and backlight should be used with caution, otherwise the layers of the flowers will be lost. When shooting, you should use the camera's spot metering to meter the subject of the flower. At the same time, you must also understand that the illumination angle of the light will also change at different angles. Therefore, the exposure should be measured at the position of the shooting angle. Once the position is changed, the exposure should be measured again, and the exposure must be determined based on the metering value of the peony flower itself. The metering value of the background and background scenery can be ignored.

3. Things to pay attention to when photographing flowers. In different weather and different time periods, the posture of peonies is different. The flowering period of a peony flower from blooming to withering is about 7 days, which may be earlier or later depending on the temperature of the weather. Generally speaking, nine or ten o'clock in the morning is the best time to photograph peonies; when the sun is strong and the wind is strong, you should pay attention to shade and wind protection; it is best to use a tripod, shutter release cable, reflector, polarizer, etc. Photography accessories; set the aperture size and shutter speed according to the number of peony flowers photographed; you can also pay attention to using a variety of techniques and techniques, such as multiple exposures in the early stage, etc. It would be better if you can bring a photography assistant with you.