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Basic methods of landscape photography

Many photographers are not keen on taking landscape photos. Although we think those landscape photos are similar, this kind of work is still being shot in large quantities. We measure other people's photos by the three-point method, and then incorporate useful ingredients into our own landscape photos. Sometimes, we climb mountains with 40 kilograms of photographic equipment on our backs, just to take two photos; In a car trip, we can take 20 photos with a "stupid camera". Is this the landscape photography that makes us bend over? Some people say it's not as troublesome to take pictures of scenery as people. Is that really the case? Imagine the problems you may encounter when taking a "simple" landscape photo: you have to be restricted by the weather (good weather may be more than bad weather), geography (whether the sun will definitely set there), biology (whether plants are in the best growth period), terrain (the best shooting point is on the ridge that needs to climb for two hours) and so on. . . . Sometimes, all the tricks or techniques used to shoot people seem useless at the moment. Of course, when you shoot flowers, you can get more ideal lighting effects with the help of reflectors and other equipment. However, if you want to illuminate the dark side of a mountain in landscape photography, you can't do it just by lighting a lamp.

In fact, the landscape as the main body is not completely passive. How to express this theme depends on whether the photographer can give full play to his rich and powerful imagination. No wonder so many photographers are only satisfied with taking some standard documentary photos instead of creating real landscape photos. If you want to shoot a masterpiece of landscape photography, you must learn from the masters in the end. From their representative works, we can clearly feel their following characteristics:

Patience: It can be said that people who have no patience can never be a good landscape photographer. The ideal light is absolutely impossible to get easily. As for patience, it doesn't mean just passively waiting for the clouds to clear away, or the wind to decrease again. By patience, we mean that when you find a scenery that you think is really worth shooting, and the shooting conditions are not ideal, you will shoot it later that day, or change the season, or even spend years waiting for the right shooting opportunity. For example, Larry Ullrich's Lily of the Bay took several years to complete. The author discovered this landscape in a park in California many years ago, but the shooting conditions were always unsatisfactory. He wants to shoot when the lilies are in full bloom. The light is soft and there is no wind. After several years of observation, he finally waited for the ideal shooting opportunity. Ullrich's camera is a 4X5 professional camera with a 90mm/F4.5 super wide-angle lens. The camera is fixed on a tripod. Using ISO 50 Fuji Viagra film, the exposure time is 65438 0 seconds, and the aperture is F27. When shooting, he deliberately waited for a few minutes until there was no white foam in the waves coming from the sea, and then pressed the shutter, thus obtaining the all-blue seawater as a concise and lively background, adding a bit of charm to the whole picture.

Try all shooting angles: When you look through the viewfinder and indulge in the charming scenery in front of you, you will think that this will be a really valuable scenery photo. Next, consider further: the shooting angle you choose is just a point in a 360-degree circle around the subject. How can you be sure that only this position you choose is the best shooting angle, and it is not anywhere else? A photographer put forward the concept of "circular thinking". In these photos we introduced, we can clearly see the effect of these photographers using "circular thinking". In order to find the best shooting angle, the circle walking around the subject does not have to be horizontal. It may be a high hillside or a pebble beach by the river.

Be prepared: If you observe for a period of time, you will know in advance that a quarter to six in the morning will see a magnificent scene in the distant mountains. Then, it's best to get ready for shooting one hour in advance. Besides a flash and a watch, take everything you need and spare parts. I remember one year when I went to Kashgar, I wanted to take a photo of the front of the Aitig Mosque. In the observation the day before, I found that the front of the mosque faces east, which means that I will get good results only in the morning light. But there is still a problem that there is a lot of haze in the air of Kashgar, and shooting near noon will only have a foggy effect, so I chose to shoot at the first sunshine in the morning. As a result, the picture of the film is blue, and the early morning sunshine has a warmer tone, which further strengthens the golden color of the wall of Etiquette Mosque.

Be familiar with your equipment: the change of natural light often makes the situation of your subject change instantly. In shooting, it is unforgivable to miss an excellent shooting opportunity because of the mistake of adjusting exposure compensation or using autofocus switch as exposure lock switch. Therefore, it is necessary to fully grasp the equipment you use.

Take more pictures: among these landscape photographers, no one thinks it is unnecessary to adopt closed exposure. Their idea is that as long as there is no problem with the method, it is possible to take an ideal photo. Sometimes, if you change the shooting angle slightly, the effect may be completely different. You may wish to take more photos with different exposure combinations and angles. If your exposure combination is reasonable, the photos taken will not be called "waste films".

We should learn to make use of bad weather: fog, dark clouds, storms coming ... all these factors can be used. In fact, among all the excellent works we have seen, many photos were not taken under the clear weather conditions in Wan Li.

Give full play to your special imagination: it requires not only patience, imagination and perseverance, but also half luck. If you really want to acquire the skills of landscape photography, you should practice it often ... Sometimes you have to try to bring the three-dimensional sense of space into landscape photography, so that your works can avoid the shortcomings of being dull and lacking a small sense of depth.

Don't ignore the role of additional equipment: indeed, even if you turn on the flash, it is impossible to illuminate the shady side of the whole mountain, but you can use the flash as an auxiliary light to show the details of the foreground. If you have the opportunity to take photos of this theme, you will find that although you simply add some foreground details, what you get is a work that can give people rich associations.

Keep a healthy body: it takes a lot of physical strength to engage in landscape photography, which is beyond the reach of sick seedlings. If you adopt the creative method of "circular thinking", it means that you have to walk a lot around the theme, sometimes even a big circle. Therefore, it is very important for photographers to wear a pair of comfortable shoes suitable for hiking, just like the camera and tripod they choose. Try not to take a bus, because you can't take excellent landscape photography from the expressway. People who try to photograph the scenery for the first time can notice that the scenes on both sides of the expressway are usually foggy.

Mastering composition through actual shooting: We can say with certainty that none of these photographers applied all the three laws when shooting. Indeed, many photos conform to the typical composition rules. These photographers know exactly when to break these rules. Good composition can only be accomplished through constant observation, careful understanding, whimsy and courage to practice, but it is impossible to shoot a masterpiece of landscape photography by copying the composition rules rigidly.