How to use colors and lines in photography

How to use colors and lines in photography

The composition is simple, and light and shadow can bring out a special taste. After taking a lot of portraits, scenery and other photos. Try to use the combination of colors and lines to take artistic photos of urban buildings when you are free! The following is a collection of how to use colors and lines in photography, hoping to help you on the road of photography exploration.

How to use colors and lines in photography (1)

Sometimes in cities with poor air quality or weather, when taking pictures, it is often shrouded in smoke. You can try to take pictures in weak light and turn these shortcomings into advantages!

1. Take a low-light photo.

Low-light photos mainly reduce the exposure of photos, take some dark photos, and try to avoid bright and dark subjects. When the air is bad, you can shoot another taste.

2. Use gradient gray filter to balance the light difference.

Because the brightness of the photo will be a little lower, the ground will be darker if you take it directly. At this time, it is necessary to use a gradient gray filter to balance the light difference between the sky and the ground, so that more details of the ground can be revealed.

3. Strengthen a little contrast

Because there is smoke or suspended particles in the air, we can enhance the contrast when the camera is set or later to make the photo more "three-dimensional".

Add dark corners

In order to make the low-light photos more atmospheric, we can add dark corners with Photoshop.

How to Use Colors and Lines in Photography (2)

In a bustling city like Shanghai, there are many people and cars, and even at night, it will still be brightly lit. We can take an effect similar to this photo.

1. Key points of shooting car tracks

To shoot the trajectory, generally speaking, we can use M-Mode to lower the aperture, lower the ISO, extend the shutter, and install it on a stable tripod. It is best to use the cable as the B shutter, and then use the black card to assist the repeated exposure, which can make the trajectory more dense.

2. Local light/dark technique

Did you see that the high-rise buildings in the photo are darker in color, which makes the overpass and car tracks stand out? In fact, we can use the lightening tools and deepening tools in Photoshop to fine-tune the parts in the contrast film, which can not only enhance the effect but also preserve the nature!

How to Use Colors and Lines in Photography (3)

It may seem difficult for a novice to take such an effect as "Dream City", but in fact, one or two tricks can take good-looking sci-fi photos! Now let's see how to do it!

1. shoot at the right time

See the gradient colors and clouds in the sky? There are two times in a day when you can shoot this color, that is, before sunrise and after sunset (called magic hour). But it should be noted that although the time is correct, the sky, cloud cover, air and so on. It should also be coordinated. It is best to shoot in sunny and rainy days.

2. Balance the light difference with tripod and black card.

Compared with the ground, the sky is very bright. If you shoot directly, if the sky is overexposed or the ground is underexposed, there are several ways to balance this light difference, and "shaking the black card" can be regarded as a relatively direct one, and novices are also recommended to learn. Shaking the black card requires a tripod and a slow shutter, and it is best to release the cable.

One thing to note is that if you use a black card, there will be a chance that "the dark place that covers the sun cannot be brightened". You can see that the top and bottom of the tower in the above photo are different, and we can remedy it in the following third way.

3. Use the later stage to fine-tune the light and dark levels.

After the shooting is finished, if you still feel that there is something that needs to be fine-tuned, you can adjust it with Photoshop shadows/highlights. I suggest you shoot RAW files as much as possible to make more room for the later stage.

How to Use Colors and Lines in Photography (4)

1. Find geometric lines or textures.

Man-made or not, the world is full of lines or textures. As long as you look around carefully, you will always find one or two places worth shooting. Open your "photographic eyes"!

Looking for interesting light and shadows

Try to find some special light sources, which can be lights or candles, and then find out the shadow it casts, both light and shadow. This kind of photo will be very nice.

Step 3 set off the atmosphere with tones

Don't rush to color when shooting. Even if we take a color photo, we can adjust the appropriate color in Photoshop to match the atmosphere. Try the following steps:

A. open Photoshop, and then go to Image & gt adjustment & gt desaturation to remove colors from photos.

B. Go to Image & gt Adjust & gt Color Balance and adjust your favorite color at will.

C. go to the image & gt adjustment & gt brightness/contrast enhancement contrast column.

If you are interested, you can also add dark corners to the photo, and a photo full of feelings will be completed!

How to Use Colors and Lines in Photography (5)

1. Open your eyes and look for lines and patterns.

Buildings are good subjects for shooting. It does not move, there are many different kinds of lines, geometric patterns and so on. It is a' good place' for novice photographers to train their' photographic eyes'!

When shooting architecture, you can boldly look for interesting pictures. Let's start digging from different angles! Try to look up, the space between windows is also a "geometric pattern", and the window itself has its lines, which is already a beautiful picture!

Pay attention to the light

The building will not move, so the light in the morning will be different from that in the afternoon. You can start with the buildings you usually walk through, observe the light changes at different times of the day, and find the most beautiful moment to shoot.

3. Black and white highlight lines

Try to turn the photo into black and white, which will make the lines of the photo more prominent and more tense. It is recommended to use Photoshop CS5 or above to open photos, and enter the Image & gt Adjust & gt Black and White Options, which can make your black and white photos more attractive by adjusting the options of different colors!

How to Use Colors and Lines in Photography (6)

1. Take a special angle.

If you often take pictures of the whole building in the distance, the photos will be average. Try to find a special angle from far and near, and turn the lines of the outer wall into a part of your photo!

2. Use reflective surfaces to increase creativity

Many modern buildings also have reflective glass exterior walls. Make good use of these reflective surfaces to shoot blue sky and white clouds and create a unique picture. Please remove the CPL filter at this time to avoid affecting the reflective effect. .

Good shooting subjects abound. Whether you can take photos of your own style depends on whether your "photographic eye" is well trained! Even if you don't have a camera around, you should always practice finding out what you can shoot, and you will definitely make progress over time!

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