Shooting skills of black and white landscape works

Lead: According to Adams' theory, a good landscape work should contain 1 1 levels of different gray areas, that is to say, from black to white, there are 1 1 steps, and the more levels, the more attractive the work will be. Because the color itself will interfere with light and shadow, it can better focus on the tone of the work after being processed into black and white.

Rich levels represent the levels of light, so scenes with large light ratio are not conducive to multi-level display. When we encounter a scene, we can use the black-and-white mode of the camera to judge the lighting condition of the whole work, and then decide how to create according to this lighting condition.

First, understand the contrast.

In black-and-white photography, contrast intensity is one of the most important factors affecting the whole picture effect. In the gray world, you can't distinguish the subject by color, and contrast is the composition line you should look for. You don't have to look for strong contrast every time you shoot, but you should at least understand how the contrast of the shooting scene will affect your photos.

Second, the sensitivity is low.

Try to use a lower sensitivity before shooting, mainly to avoid the impure picture caused by too much noise in post-processing, especially in the gray-black area. The color can be roughly distinguished in the color picture, but these noises will interfere with the picture in black-and-white photography.

The noise of digital photos is different from that of film. To take beautiful digital black-and-white photos, the lower the ISO, the better, so that the quality and black-and-white outline of the photos will be more prominent.

Third, try to use the RAW format.

Using RAW format can record more details, and there is more clipping space according to the composition later, so shooting in RAW format is of great significance to post-processing.

Many novice photographers are not used to shooting RAW files. Although the volume of the RAW file is relatively large, it can be fine-tuned to a greater extent later (such as adjusting exposure, contrast, saturation, etc.). ), especially useful for taking digital black and white photos. Therefore, it is recommended to choose RAW or RAW+JPG format for storage when shooting.

Fourth, avoid strong contrast settings.

When setting shooting parameters, in order to make the scene more tolerant and to keep more picture details, try not to set too strong contrast. Various cameras have different setting methods to set the contrast of the picture. Here, you can set it according to your camera tolerance for later processing.

Five, the clever use of small aperture

Try to keep the aperture of F8-F 16, because the lens can record a clearer picture under this aperture, so in order to pursue the clarity of the picture or not deliberately pursue the illusory effect, it is necessary to use a smaller aperture to keep the picture clear, and don't forget to use a tripod in dark natural light (dusk and early morning).

Sixth, take advantage of decisive opportunities.

Choose cloudy weather: in the clear autumn, find a good time with clouds. When the sun goes down, there will be more surprises than at noon on a sunny day. When the sun is at an angle of 45 degrees, objects will show more details and colors.

Seven, pay attention to the light

Because black and white photos have no color, we can only use light and dark positions to express the picture. Pay attention to the direction and intensity of light when shooting. For example, shooting a portrait with sidelight can bring out a half-silhouette effect, while a single light source will produce shadows, so we can observe it carefully when shooting. Of course, silhouette is also a good attempt!

Front lighting can often increase the contrast of the picture; Side light is easy to express the texture of objects (especially to depict the facial details in portraits); One-way light can create shadows, the correct use of light can add color to black and white photos, and the failed use of light may disturb the theme of the work.

Eight, looking for high contrast

Because black and white photos lack color, the only thing that can express "feeling" is black and white contrast, so "contrast" is a very important element in black and white photos. When shooting (even if we take color photos and then turn them into black and white), we must first find out the environment with high contrast (obvious light and shade) before shooting.

Nine, take black and white photos with high light tone, medium light tone and low light tone.

Black-and-white photos are mainly divided into three categories: high tone, medium tone and low tone:

1, highlight tone:

Most high-light photos are white, and only a few are black. This kind of photos can bring readers a bright, light and elegant feeling, which is suitable for shooting beautiful scenery, children, girls and so on.

2. Intermediate sound:

Middle tone photos are the most general. When the black, white and gray parts in a photo are evenly distributed, it is a middle-tone photo. At this time, the feeling brought by photos often depends on the contrast of photos.

3. Low light:

Low light tone is the antonym of high light tone-the picture is mostly black, only a few prominent white, giving people a deep, mysterious, strong and strong feeling.

It should be noted that when shooting, we should not indulge in taking photos of a certain color, but carefully weigh the scene and decide which photo is more suitable. Light-colored photos should be exposed by one level, while light-colored photos can be lowered by one level to express a stronger feeling.

Ten, use black and white filters.

What is a very important tool in black and white landscape photography? Filter? Because all kinds of color filters can change the tone of works, so as to achieve the purpose of creating black and white works. The red filter is the most effective black and white filter, which can brighten the red tone in the scene and darken the blue, green and purple tones, which can strongly darken the sky.

Another common black-and-white filter is the yellow filter, which can darken the sky and make the distant scenery clearer when shooting large-scale works.

XI。 Look for patterns and textures

In color photos, patterns and textures are often ignored, because colors often steal the focus, and one of the elements of good black and white photos is to express unique patterns and textures. You can try more

Outline and texture are often not obvious in color photography (color will distract the attention of the picture), but in black and white photography, outline and pattern are often described prominently and exquisitely.

There is a saying that you should record it in a photography manual, try sidelight, find a unique texture from a new angle, and show a new shadow composition by photometry.

Twelve, shooting dynamic sky and water

Novices can add dynamic elements to black and white landscape photos! In fact, it is a moving cloud or water. Because the cloud or water is white, it will produce a white picture. The moving cloud and water will bring layers of light and shade, instantly making black and white photos vivid!

Thirteen, the combination of reality and reality.

Black and white works are more pure and direct because they avoid the bondage of color. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to the relationship between black and white. In addition to contrast, contrast, light and shadow, texture, it is also very important to grasp the authenticity of the picture.

Fourteen, post-production of color photos into black and white.

If you have some color photos, or want to take color photos and turn them into black-and-white photos with software, there are actually many methods, but the simplest method is' Image' >:' Adjustment'> Black & White option in Photoshop is internally adjusted. Of course, if you are shooting RAW files, it is more convenient to convert them into RAW editors!