Macro ecological photography fill light

Continuous light sources include tungsten lamp and timely halogen lamps. Their greatest advantage is that they allow you to accurately predict the final image effect. But it will produce a lot of heat, which is not suitable for a delicate life. They may have to match the slow shutter speed, so they are not suitable for shooting moving objects.

Second, the brightness range of the subject.

Generally speaking, digital cameras can't shoot all the colors that the human eye can see. On a clear day, the brightness range may far exceed level 8, and the bright place may be thousands of times brighter than the shadow. Ordinary digital cameras can only record a brightness range of about 5 levels, which means that the details of shadows or highlights may be lost, or both. We can change the light in many ways, such as using a soft mask or reflector, or using an electronic flash to create shadows? Fill the light? . Each accessory has its own characteristics, and it is worth trying more to see which one is more suitable for different subjects.

1, reflector

The main purpose of reflector is to reflect light to the shadow area of the scene and make it bright, thus reducing the overall contrast. We can use many things as reflecting surfaces, such as white cardboard, silver reflector, mirror and so on, which can reflect light to the shadow. Different surface materials and sizes determine their respective characteristics. Some manufacturers produce a series of circular reflectors, which can be folded into small bags for easy carrying. Lastolite produces various reflectors, including white, silver and gold. For most close-range and macro photography, you may only need a small reflector with a diameter of 30 cm, which is only about 10 cm when folded. White and silver are the most commonly used. Small pieces of white cardboard, silver cardboard or mirror cards are also worth standby. The silver cover of takeaway food packaging can be turned into a very useful reflector.

The light of this alpine plant is too strong, which leads to a deep shadow. In the picture below, a white reflector is placed on the right to reflect the light onto the shadow, thus obtaining a more pleasant effect.

2, soft mask

Place a soft mask between the light source and the object to soften the light. Create an effect similar to clouds covering the sun. Like mirrors, there are many kinds. You can buy a round foldable soft light mask or soft light umbrella in the market, or you can randomly change it into gauze such as brushed paper or greenhouse. If you use other materials instead of professional soft masks, such as drawing paper, you may need to verify whether its color is neutral and impartial. The simple method is to shoot 18% gray cards or similar items in the light of a soft box.

Step 3 flash

Electronic flash is characterized by small size, high power and uniform light. When used with a digital camera, it can be used as both the main light source and the auxiliary light in sunlight, just like a reflector. It is generally believed that flash can? Coagulation? Moving subjects, but the flash duration of many flashlights is only about 1/500s, which may also cause blur for high-speed moving objects. Like photographer Stephen? Stephen Dalton uses special high-speed flash equipment when shooting flying insects, which can flash 1/25000s or even less. If you want to take photos in this area, you need to check the technical specifications of your flash. When shooting indoors, you can completely use the flash to illuminate the subject; When shooting outdoors, the flash can be combined with sunlight in various ways. No matter how you use the flash, the general principle is that its effect should not be too conspicuous, and the more natural it looks, the better.

4, the combination of flash and sunlight

The combination of small electronic flash elements and sunlight can balance the light ratio. The output of the flash can be adjusted according to the intensity of sunlight, so as to adjust the flash intensity and realize various lighting effects. There are two main ways to use it:

Natural light is dominant, supplemented by flash.

Flash is the main factor, supplemented by natural light.

Natural light is dominant, supplemented by flash.

5. Ring flash tube

Ring flash is a kind of circular flash tube, which can be installed in front of the lens to provide average shadowless illumination for the subject. They were originally used in medical fields, such as dental or surgical photography. Because lighting has no characteristics, it is only used for some themes, such as illuminating the internal structure of morning glory. Some components can be combined with two or more ring flashlights and can be controlled independently, thus creating creative lighting effects. When we use the traditional ring flash, we can try to cover a part of the flash tube (usually in the lower left or lower right quarter) to shape the hierarchy.

6, macro special flash

Some manufacturers can install one or more flashlights in front of the lens, such as Nikon RC 1 remote control flashlight system, which is a ring device that can be installed in front of the lens, and eight small flashlights can be placed on it, and the position and angle can be adjusted at will. When you change from horizontal composition to vertical composition, this device can also be flexibly changed accordingly. Its ring can rotate, so it can ensure that the light effect of vertical composition is the same as that of horizontal composition. There is also a separate flash that can be used as a background or backlight. This system is wireless. Can it be controlled by a remote controller or a camera? Control mode? Supervision. The power of each flash head can be adjusted independently to obtain different light ratios. Each flash has a modeling lamp, which can accurately adjust the position of the flash, but the modeling lamp has little effect in strong sunlight.

7. Customize the flash bracket

When shooting very small subjects in the wild, there may be some occasions where it is not practical to support the camera with any tripod, so you need to hold the camera. As we discussed in chapter 3, some macro lenses have been equipped with image stabilizers, but we may need to use flash, especially when shooting small insects. Many photographers use their own brackets to fix one or more flashlights when shooting insect subjects in the wild. Like them, you need a flexible bracket so that the flash can be placed in a certain range of the lens, such as at the top, side or other positions of the lens. The bracket can be assembled by metal belt, rigid or flexible pillar and spherical tripod head. You need an extension cord to trigger the flash when it leaves the machine.

If necessary, a low-power flash can be used to fill the shadow caused by the main light. You should be as close to the lens as possible, and the shadow filling outside the lens range is meaningless. You can also add a small reflector on the other side of the flash to fill the shadow. Soft light can be obtained by installing a soft light cover on the flash or sticking it on the lens. The main purpose of the bracket is to provide a small and flexible component for outdoor photography, so it needs to be portable, light in weight and easy to assemble and operate. The brackets in Figure 5. 17 are not very convenient for vertical composition shooting. Many manufacturers produce flash brackets, such as Kirk, Really Right Stuff, Wimberley, Novoflex and Manfrotto.