How to control the contrast of light in landscape photography

In landscape photography, it often happens that the part of the scene irradiated by sunlight in the image is very bright and the part that is not irradiated is very dark. Although the contrast between light and dark can make the work look more stereoscopic, too much contrast will make it difficult to expose. At this time, the control of contrast is extremely important. For example, there are three ways to reduce the contrast of light.

HDR synthesis

Due to the low tolerance of the camera's photosensitive elements, it is impossible to reproduce the details of Gao Fancha seen by human eyes, while HDR (High Dynamic Range) refers to high dynamic range images, which usually depend on the scene environment. 3-5 different exposure value images (for example, -2EV,-1EV, 0EV,+1EV, +2EV) are taken by peripheral exposure.

Usually, HDR photos give people a false feeling. In fact, it depends on everyone's proficiency and aesthetic differences in software operation. Some people like heavy taste, while others can make HDR natural. In addition, many cameras now have built-in HDR function, which will automatically take three images of different exposure value for synthesis, which is very convenient, but the effect is not necessarily satisfactory. Therefore, if you are interested in HDR, you'd better work hard at the later stage of the software.

Scale reducing mirror

The gradient reducing mirror is a kind of filter. From full light transmission to full light transmission, the light transmittance decreases from top to bottom. The usage method is as follows: Write down the measured value in the dark, then set the camera to manual exposure, and then use the measured value as exposure value. When shooting, the camera must be fixed on a tripod, and the bright part of the picture should be gradually covered with the opaque part of the reducing mirror to reduce the exposure of the bright part and make the contrast smaller, so as to take an ideal photo.

Shake black card

The purpose of shaking the black card is simple, that is, to reduce the exposure of the bright part. It can be a piece of black cardboard or a photographer wearing black gloves to cover the bright part. Because it doesn't have a gradient like the above-mentioned reducing mirror, it must be shaken up and down or left and right to avoid black spots during exposure.

Its use method is very simple. First, measure the light in the dark, shoot with this exposure value, and then look through the viewfinder or LiveView. The black card is aimed at covering the bright part first, then it starts to shake after pressing the shutter, and then it can be quickly opened before the shutter is closed.

Remember, a long time is not as good as a short time, so depending on the amount of light entering, the cooperation of ND decompressor is often needed. When you start shaking, count the time silently in your heart. Be sure to pull away before the shutter closes, and don't leave traces of black cards. Of course, the camera must be fixed on a tripod, and it needs constant practice to be handy.

Generally speaking, the black card lottery operation steps are as follows:

First of all, we must master the time difference between bright and dark exposure. Assuming that the sky needs to be exposed for 2 seconds and the landscape needs to be exposed for 10 seconds to get a balanced image, then cover the sky for 8 seconds to expose the landscape. Then pull out the black card and let the remaining 2 seconds expose the sky and scenery.

Step 0 1. Assuming that the sky needs to be exposed for 2 seconds and the landscape needs to be exposed for 10 second, you can first set the shutter time = 10s on the timer shutter online.

Step 02. Cover the sky with a black card first, and count the seconds while shaking the black card slightly. When 8 seconds comes, quickly pull out the black card and let the sky begin to be exposed (2 seconds).

Step 03. After the exposure stops, an exposure balance image can be obtained.

Application of point metering

When shooting scenery outdoors, the control of contrast can be solved in the above way. If the contrast is not so big, generally speaking, weighing photometry can be used. However, if you are worried about the misjudgment of photometry (such as a large area of white or dark areas in the picture), you can use spot photometry to take an ideal photo. According to the author's experience, the middle tone position is measured by spot metering mode, and then the EV value is added to 0.5, so that the bright part will not be overexposed and the dark part will not be underexposed.