Professional skills of flower photography

Lead: Flower photography is an art. If you follow the prompts, your next flower photo will be much better. Let's have a look!

1, do not shoot down.

In daily life, when you walk in the field and see wild flowers, or walk on the garden path in Shang Huashi, you will bend over and look at those flowers carefully. If we stand by and look down on the flowers in our daily way, the photos we take will be ordinary. Why? If you want to take a photo with visual impact, you must take it from an angle that we rarely look at every day. In other words, don't shoot down, but squat down and choose an angle that is level with them. There is one thing that professional photographers often do, but amateur photographers ignore it. If you want to shoot flowers well, you should be prepared to get your hands dirty (at least your knees). The above picture shows their differences: the left picture is a typical aerial photo; The picture on the right shows that 30 seconds after the photo on the left was taken, the same flower was shot with the same focal length lens under the same light, but from the side (squatting on one knee) instead of the top of the head. You can see the difference between photos taken from unconventional angles. So, if you want to shoot flowers well, at least don't shoot them. By the way, when you are squatting there, try to be as low as possible (lower than the flowers), and then shoot from a charming angle.

Step 2 shoot with a zoom lens

A macro lens (close-up) is not needed for flower photography, but a zoom lens can be used to take good flower photos for two reasons:

(1) You can often enlarge the flowers to almost fill the whole picture;

(2) The focal length of the zoom lens can be aimed at the flowers, not the background.

First choose the aperture priority mode (set the mode dial to A), and then use the minimum aperture value allowed by the camera (that is, if your lens is f/5.6, use f/5.6). Then focus on a flower or a dense cluster of flowers. When doing this, the background is blurred, so the picture has a strong visual impact.

Tip: Protect your knees.

If you plan to shoot a lot, there is a very cheap accessory that you can't buy in the camera equipment store, and that is knee pads. They are very useful. You can buy it in a well-equipped household goods store, convenience store or garden store.

3. Use a macro lens to focus at close range.

Are you surprised by the close-up photos of professional photographers (you can usually see bees passing on pollen)? Actually, they took it with a macro lens. The macro lens can reproduce the images of the subject and flowers at the ratio of 1: 1, which only the macro lens can do. The macro lens has a shallow depth of field. When you shoot a rose, the petals in front are very clear, and the petals in the back are naturally blurred. I'm not talking about a bunch of roses in a vase, but a rose. Remember, remember, when using a macro lens, you must use a tripod to shoot. Take a picture with your heart, and any slight jitter will ruin the picture. You can refer to the sharpening technology in the first chapter to show amazing macro flower photography.

Tip: Use a macro lens instead of a zoom lens.

It's simple, just add a close-up lens to your daily zoom lens (we'll talk about it on the next page). As I said, this kind of close-up lens (also called binary close-up diopter) is cheaper than the complete macro lens. As long as it is added to the zoom lens, it will have zoom function. You can buy a unit close-up filter. Although the edges of photos are generally not very clear, it doesn't matter for taking flowers.

4. Is the macro lens too expensive? How about a close-up shot?

I learned this trick from my old friend Moose Peterson (a famous outdoor and natural scenery photographer). He can convert a long-distance zoom lens into a macro lens, the price is only 1/4 of the macro lens, and the weight and volume are only110. It looks like a thick filter (about 1 inch thick). By combining Nikon and Canon lenses like traditional filters, the zoom lens is turned into a macro lens. The advantages of this close-up are as follows:

(1) is small and does not occupy space;

(2) Only a few ounces (1 ounce =28.35g), so it is very portable;

(3) Most importantly, it is very cheap (at least 4,000 RMB compared with an original macro lens).

It's called Canon Close-up (even a Canon lens can be combined with a Nikon lens. This is what I know. Canon equipment can be used in combination with Nikon equipment. I matched the Canon close-up 500D with Nikon 70~200mm anti-shake lens (77mm), and the effect was very good. How much is this combination trick? Depending on the lens size you want, it ranges from 560 to 1 100 RMB. That's good, right?

5. When will you take the shot?

There are three ideal shooting times.

(1) cloudy and cloudy. After clouds cover the sun, the shadows are softer, and the bright colors of flowers will not be diluted by direct sunlight. So cloudy days are the favorite weather for flower photographers. In fact, there may only be another time that is more suitable for shooting than cloudy days. What is this?

(2) Shortly after the rain. For flower photography, this is a very magical moment. At this time, there are clouds in the sky and rain beads on the flowers (of course, to protect the camera and yourself, don't shoot when it rains). If you have a macro lens, taking pictures with it will have amazing effects at this time. When you shoot with a macro lens, don't forget to take pictures of rain beads on leaves and stems, which can set off the color and delicacy of flowers. (Of course, if you use a macro lens, don't forget to shoot with a tripod).

(3) If shooting in sunny days, try to choose morning and dusk. In order to make full use of the light at this time, shoot with a long zoom lens, you should stand in the position of the flower backlight, so that you can shoot with a very magnificent (and of course limited) background light.

6. Don't wait until it rains? Simulated rainy day

This technology is ridiculous at first glance, but you will be very shocked after telling you how to do it. Don't wait until it rains, just take a watering can full of water and spray it on the flowers. I found a very beautiful little watering can in Walgrees beauty shop. As long as you spray it with a watering can a few times, there will be very lovely water drops on the petals. No one will know that you spray with a watering can, instead of waiting patiently for the gift of Mother Nature. Take a small watering can and put it in the camera bag (empty bottle, of course). Once, one day after a spring rain, I took some photos of the yellow roses I gave my wife on the lawn of the White House. You can also try this method. It works every time.

Tips unrelated to photography:

There is another little-known advantage of putting the watering can in the camera bag: ironing wrinkled clothes. Spray a few drops on shirts, undershirts, photographic vests and other clothes before going to bed, and you will find that wrinkles are gone when you get up the next day. I know this has nothing to do with photography.

Step 7 shoot flowers on a black background

Is there a shooting method for flower photography? Taking a flower on a black background makes the photo attractive. Of course, you can add a black background to Photoshop, but this method is too laborious. What does a professional photographer do? Put a black background behind the flowers when shooting. My old friend Vincent Versace is a very influential landscape photographer. He told me this method? He wears a black jacket when he goes out to shoot flowers. If he sees the flowers he wants to shoot, he will ask his assistant (or friends, wives, passers-by, etc. ) Raise the back of the jacket behind the flowers. I know, it sounds exaggerated, but just try it yourself. If I shoot flowers indoors (almost every time I buy flowers for my wife or my friends send us flowers), I will buy some black velvet or velvet and put it behind the flowers as the background. You can support it with something (I once put a velvet background on my son's cookie jar). Leave a few feet between the flowers and the black background (so that the light will dim and the black background will look black) and you can start shooting. So, what kind of light is the best? Please continue reading below.

Step 8 shoot on a white background

Another very popular flower photography method is shooting on a white background. Buy a roll of seamless white paper from the local camera equipment store (very cheap), but it is usually wider than you need. Unless you are shooting for a flower shop, you usually don't want to see a vase. So I will go to the office supplies store and buy two or three 2030-inch whiteboards (similar to bulletin boards, but thicker and harder). Usually I put a white board behind the flowers (in a vase), and then use another board to reflect the natural light (from the window with indirect light) to the white background, so that the photos will not look gloomy. Similarly, there is a gap of about 3 feet between the flowers and the background. In natural light, it is much easier to photograph flowers on a white background than to add a white background in Photoshop.

Shower curtain using skills:

If you have a shower curtain (the usage of which will be discussed below), there is another way to save money: use it as a white background. If you use a shallow depth of field, you will never know that the white background is a shower curtain. Don't shoot with f/ 1 1 or f/ 16, or people will say:? Nice shower curtain? Or? Did you take it in the bathroom?

9. Ideal light source for indoor flower photography

If you shoot flowers indoors, you don't need to buy expensive photographic lights (not necessarily), because the flower picture taken with soft natural light is better. When the soft sunlight outside the window is not direct but scattered, the photos taken are great. If your window is dirty, it may be better, because it makes the light more diffuse and softer. Therefore, in rooms, studios, offices and other places, we must find a window with no direct sunlight. Then put the flowers near the window and let them take photos sideways (if they are facing the light, the photos taken will have no three-dimensional effect). Now set up a tripod and shoot at the same height as the flowers (remember, don't shoot from above). Now you can shoot in beautiful and soft light without spending a penny (at least you don't have to buy a photographic lamp).

How to artificially create ideal natural light;

If you are facing the harsh sunshine outside the window, you can change the light artificially and buy two things in supermarkets such as Wal-Mart: (1) white frosted shower curtain (or shower curtain pad); (2) Some pushpins or pushpins. Pin the frosted shower curtain to the window, so that you can enjoy shooting with this ideal scattered light. Don't worry, I won't tell this secret to anyone.

10, where can I take beautiful flowers?

This question sounds confusing, but I can't remember how many times I talked to the photographer. They always say: I have never thought about this question. ? In order to take beautiful photos of flowers, you need to go to a flower shop to buy flowers (see, this is a simple question). You can choose any flowers you want (I like to take pictures of roses, calla lilies, lilies and daisies), and the flowers you buy must have good patterns (fresh). You can refuse any flowers with spots or bad patterns they give you, and you don't need them to pack them. It takes less than 100 RMB to photograph the blooming and amazing flowers (although sometimes it takes a day or so for the roses to bloom).

1 1, let the wind stop.

If you shoot flowers outdoors, you may encounter natural enemies of flower photography? The wind. The tripod is set up, the camera is aimed at the subject, and the focus is completed. We can only wait there until the wind slowly stops. Nothing is more depressing than this. It's even worse if you shoot with a macro lens, because even the slightest shaking will cause disaster (exaggerated, the photo will be blurred). You can try the previous method and block the wind with your body (in fact, this is very ineffective), but you can actually solve this problem with the camera itself. Select the shutter priority mode (used to control the shutter speed, and the camera adjusts other settings according to this speed to make the exposure moderate), and then increase the shutter speed to 1/250 seconds or faster. Generally speaking, this freezes wind-induced motion (unless it is a hurricane). If the faster shutter speed still doesn't work, there is a second scheme that can be implemented, that is, turning the wind into the main body. By the way, if you can't beat it, then bow down? Use a slow shutter speed, so that you can see the flowers moving (press the shutter and you will see the trajectory of the flowers moving), ok? Do you see it? The wind, don't have a view. Try this? Watch the wind? Maybe you'll like this way of shooting.