How does texture serve as a photographic theme?

When it comes to shooting natural scenes, it usually refers to creating pictures of objects, patterns and textures in a natural way, paying attention to small details. Such photos are unlikely to reflect the picture quality of objects (trees or plants), but need to focus on their more abstract composition.

One of the joys of shooting textures is that there are many suitable objects that can be shot anywhere, which increases the depth of the picture. The following are some photography techniques that can help landscape photographers improve the composition skills of photo textures.

Look for patterns, textures and details before shooting.

Examining the surrounding environment carefully before shooting, even common objects such as bark or rock surface can become an interesting abstract theme of photography, combining light, texture, color and pattern.

Arrive at the shooting location a few hours in advance, without taking the camera out of the casing. Please observe carefully, and then try to find out the potential small objects suitable for shooting. Look for details, big or small, carefully observe the patterns on the trees, and consider the shapes of bark, tree crowns, leaves or needles. Take time to explore the diversity of plants, explore the rocks in this area, they can be covered with colorful lichens or have interesting textures, and look for interesting lighting conditions.

Shoot flower texture

You can spend a lot of time shooting in the local botanical garden to improve your texture composition skills. Here, many attempts can be made to find out which texture components are effective and which are not.

If you are waiting for sunset or sunrise in the wild, you can also spend some time shooting small scenes, limit yourself to one or two infrequently used focal lengths (try to use 50mm, 100mm and 200mm), choose one or two themes and take many different photos.

Sunrise and sunset are fast, so shooting a small scene is often a slow and thoughtful process. It takes time to examine and study the details of this place. Prepare to spend some time trying different technical methods, including using different focal lengths, shallow and wide depth of field and different shutter speeds when dealing with moving objects (such as water).

Use shallow depth of field

In landscape photography, clarity is almost always considered as a key technical requirement. Overcoming this way of thinking is one of the most important skills to better perceive photo composition, especially when shooting close-up natural objects (such as plants). The macro lens with the smallest aperture (f/2.8) has the closest focal length of 100mm, and the depth of field is very shallow, which means that many elements of the subject will not be focused, thus taking an abstract image.

By approaching and using shallow depth of field (for example, f/2.8 or f/4.0 depends on the lens), many elements of the plant can be out of focus, so that you can focus on the lines, outlines and flowers of the plant. When shooting this kind of object, moving the focus slightly in all directions is helpful to get many different perspectives of the same object.

Curves bring elegance to the appearance, and soft colors are very pleasant with little interference. Other photos also have their own merits, but they are not satisfactory. Some photos have some unattractive elements.

Reduce the use of tripods

Tripod is an important photographic tool, but it may be inconvenient to use tripod when looking for texture. When you use a lower aperture to get a greater depth of field, sometimes you need a tripod, but first you need to explore the subject without a tripod and hold the camera in your hand when shooting. This gives freedom of movement and more space. Under natural conditions, when you take a camera and shoot with an aperture as low as f/22, the light is usually bright enough to get good results.

If you need to shoot an object with a larger depth of field, please do not use a tripod. Try to shoot from different angles, feel how close you need to be to the subject, and do some tests before adjusting. This method allows more attempts and eliminates the trouble of having to fix the embarrassing settings repeatedly.

Some small objects (such as small plants) have all kinds of interesting details, and eliminating interference is helpful to create more expressive images. Try to shoot small objects with the minimum focal length of the lens. To demonstrate how close-up photography can eliminate interference, simplify composition and change boring themes, please look at snapshots of the same type of plants.

The use of different lights

Landscape photographers are not so strict about light, and they can shoot even if the light is not good. Different effects can be produced under various lights, and the required light can be easily adjusted by reflection and shadow.

When looking for a shooting scene, consider the following lighting options:

Transparency: Light passes through an object, such as a translucent plant or a wave.

Reflected light: the colorful light emitted by the light source will be reflected back to your subject, for example, the light at sunset will be reflected to a wet surface (sand or stone).

Backlight: Light from the back of the subject, usually illuminating its edges.

Side light: light that shines on an object from the side, for example, when the sun is low in the sky. This kind of light can enhance the texture and increase the depth.

Soft plane light: indirect light, which can minimize shadows, glare and strong contrast.

Direct light: Strong light that can enhance contrast, highlights and shadows, and sometimes even glare.

Looking for flat objects

For flat subjects, it is best to shoot at a low aperture (such as f/22) and a deep depth of field.

Find a flat object and set the camera on the same plane as the object (so that the sensor is parallel to the plane of the object). After setting up the camera, please use the real-time zoom preview and depth of field preview to check and adjust the focus, which can help you take clear photos.