How to shoot swans

Wetland is a unique natural ecosystem with multiple functions on the earth. It is the most ecological landscape in nature and one of the important natural resources for the survival and development of human society. Due to the good ecological environment protection, thousands of swans come here for winter every winter in Sanwan Wetland of the Yellow River in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province. In recent years, with the popularity of digital cameras, swans have become an important creative theme for more and more professional photographers and amateur photographers. Facing the natural beauty and charm of swan, I also raised my camera again and again to tell the story of swan through image language.

Preparation of photographic equipment

The development of digital cameras provides us with very convenient conditions for shooting swans. Memory card replaces film, mobile hard disk stores a lot, sensitivity and white balance are set flexibly, and new technology and new performance are fully reflected in creative practice. At present, there are many types and models of digital cameras on the market, including high-grade cameras for professional use and mass cameras for amateur use. High-end cameras have high degree of automation, good lens quality and high resolution, and the photos taken are delicate in color and rich in layers. But popular cameras can also take good photos. The prerequisite of a good work is not the quality of the camera itself, but the photographer's own proficiency in photography technology and digital photography skills, as well as his cultural and artistic accomplishment and aesthetic ability.

Use a camera

It is recommended to use 135 digital SLR camera, and10 million pixels or more.

Use memory card

It is recommended to use large-capacity memory cards of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB as far as possible.

Use a lens

It is recommended to use 300 mm, 500 mm or 600 mm fixed-focus lens to shoot long-distance targets. In addition, it can be equipped with 1X or 2X enhanced lens to increase the lens distance. You can also use 50-500 zoom lens, 100-400 zoom lens, 300-800 zoom lens, etc. The zoom lens is flexible and light to use, and can move the picture as needed, which is convenient and practical. You can also shoot the natural environment with a wide-angle lens.

Use a tripod

A stable tripod is recommended.

Use a telescope lens

Because the lenses used in SLR digital cameras are expensive, many photographers choose to shoot with monocles. Generally, the price of a 1000mm single chip is about 800- 1000 yuan, and the price of an advanced single chip is 3000- 15000 yuan. When using a monocular telescope, different connecting rings should be selected according to the camera used. Monocular telescope imaging is not as good as professional lens, and it is manually focused.

Shooting swans may not only use professional telephoto lenses, but also friends with bad cameras and lenses should not be discouraged. As long as I have patience and ideas, I think I can also shoot excellent works.

Camera settings

File format: shoot in RAW format first, and flexibly adjust the color temperature, hue and saturation during post-production. Secondly, JBJ format is selected.

exposure control

In photography creation, exposure can be said to be the most basic, but also easy and difficult. That's easy to say, because all cameras now have automatic metering systems. For subjects with average tone or middle tone, as long as they are exposed according to the exposure provided by the camera metering system, the effect of standard image can be obtained. It's hard to say that in actual shooting, the light and dark changes of the scene need to be mastered flexibly.

A photographic work should not only have a rich sense of hierarchy, but also keep certain details in the highlights and shadows. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to control the correct exposure. When creating Sanwan Wetland, I found that the ice surface is larger than the water surface, and the ice surface is dominant in the picture, which is easy to reflect light. I should increase my exposure to shoot swans in this light. According to my previous practical experience, I added an aperture or more to the exposure data of the metering system. For example, if the measurement is F8/500, it can be corrected to 5.6/500 seconds or F8, 1/250.

For the pictures dominated by dark objects, the exposure should be reduced in the exposure of the photometric system; Reduce the aperture or increase the shutter speed. For example, the metering is F4, 1/60s, which can be modified to F5.6, 1/60s or F4,1125s. For particularly dark objects, the exposure should be further reduced.

When shooting swans with water as the background, the exposure should be decided by the main swan. If you measure light according to the routine, you may be underexposed. To compensate for this, you can increase the exposure of the first or second aperture on the photometric reading.

In addition, pay attention to the light ratio between the subject and the background. After measuring the light ratio of the photosensitive area between the object and the background, we should correct the photometric reading, measure the light according to the shadow, and expose it according to the exposure equivalent to reducing the double aperture, so as to achieve the purpose of correct exposure.

If you want to shoot a swan well, you must learn to conceive according to different environments. Only by mastering the exposure flexibly can the works be unique in tone and color.

Main shutter speed

The opening time of the shutter is called the shutter speed. Correctly grasping the shutter speed is the basic requirement of photography, and it is also the key link in the shooting process. In the creative process, whether the shutter speed is correct or not will directly affect the quality of the work.

The main function of shutter speed is to adjust the time when light shines into the lens, which can affect the action speed expressed by the image.

In the creation, in order to correctly reflect the movement or stillness of the swan, I make full use of the shutter speed control according to the position of the swan picture, and render the contrast between movement and stillness through the contrast between reality and reality, thus strengthening the expressive force of the body image. For example, when following a swan, the speed can be adjusted to 1/60 seconds to 1/250 seconds. In short, according to the speed and shooting of the swan itself. When the swan takes off, its feet are off the ground, its wings are spread out in the air, and the spray behind it. When shooting, I consider the direction of swan movement and the distance and angle between photos. When the swan goes straight through the viewfinder from left to right, it moves faster than the swan walks towards the camera at the same speed. So when shooting the swan through the viewfinder, I used a higher shutter speed. Generally, it is set above 1/500 seconds, while the speed of swans flying in a straight line from a distance is below 1/500 seconds. For swans flying over the viewfinder at close range, the speed is above 1/8000 seconds.

When showing the dynamics of swans, I slow down the shooting speed according to my own practical experience, and generally use the speed below 1/250 seconds. If I show a dynamic diagram, I use the speed below1125 seconds.

For example, when showing the static state of a swan, at least the shutter speed used is above 1/25 seconds.

Whether the swan is moving or static, the shutter speed should be determined according to the speed of the swan and its intention.

Master the law of composition

If you want to shoot a swan well, you must master the common sense and rules of photographic composition. When you pick up the camera, you should be clear about what you want to shoot and what you want to show, and determine the composition of the picture according to your creative ideas.

1, framing range

When shooting swans, both professional photographers and amateur photographers will consciously or unconsciously make framing and composition. That is to say, when shooting with a camera, we must make clear how much range we choose, whether it is close shot, close shot or long shot. Generally speaking, the prospect is suitable for representing the broad background and environment of the shot scene. For example, when shooting flocks of swans in the water, I choose the standard lens, three or six continuous shooting, to bring the whole wetland environment into the picture. Trees and gullies in the background play a positive role in the picture, which is conducive to setting off the main body and rendering the atmosphere. To consider the depth of field, adjust the aperture to a small aperture. Close-range is suitable for expressing the main local characteristics of the subject, which is smaller than that of the long-range scenery and shows less about the environment. Close-range composition can leave a clear and strong impression because of its prominent subject. For example, when swans are flying, their dripping flying posture is very attractive, but in the face of fields, villages, gullies, forests and other environments where they fly, our lens can only take a part with the change of swan flight, which is conducive to better expressing the subject. Close-ups are suitable for showing important local details of the subject, while the reproduction of the environmental background is extremely brief. Swans pecking corn kernels, resting, washing, fighting, flapping their wings and flying can all be highlighted in a close-up way.

2, the layout of the picture

Composition plays a very important role in creation, which includes various elements, such as depth, perspective, balance and asymmetry, shape and structure, pattern and texture, lines, rhythm and so on. When shooting a swan, the swan is the main body and should be in the visual center of the picture. In my creation, based on the observation of various elements on the scene, I exclude everything that has nothing to do with the plot or atmosphere of the picture, and find beautiful and interesting pictures from them, so that they can play the role of setting off swans. When creating, how to establish the position of the subject on the screen should be based on the composition law of the well, and the screen should be composed in form and content. "Well"-shaped composition, also known as Jiugongge composition, is a form of photographic composition. The painting method of Jiugongge is: divide each side of the picture into three equal parts, and connect the equal parts of the opposite sides in pairs, so that the picture is divided into nine similar squares in a "well" shape. The four intersections of the "well" shape are the best positions of the main body. Generally speaking, the intersection on the upper right is the most ideal. This form of composition is more in line with people's visual habits, and the subject naturally becomes the visual center, which has the characteristics of highlighting the subject and making the picture tend to be balanced. Which point is the best depends on the actual situation. For example, the upper left corner of the picture is densely populated, the lower right corner intersection is the best location for the subject, and the lower right corner of the picture is densely populated, so the upper left corner intersection is the best location for the subject. For example, when a swan is washed in water, it will look dull in the picture, and the visual effect will be much better if it is placed on the left and right position lines or any intersection. Composition plays a very important role in the whole process of photography creation. In the long-term creative practice, people have summed up the stylized composition rules, including triangle composition, diagonal composition, frame composition, horizontal composition, vertical composition, circular composition, S-shaped composition, V-shaped composition, L-shaped composition, internal composition, balanced composition and so on. However, these laws are not absolute and cannot be copied mechanically.

Step 3 use lines

The choice of different shooting angles determines the shape and line structure of different objects. In creative practice, artists have described the expressive force of lines as follows: steady horizontal lines, solemn vertical lines, graceful curves, unrestrained radiation, oblique ray movement, lively round lines and steady triangular lines. When I was creating Sanwan Wetland, I judged objects through various line structures. According to the perspective of the picture and the sequence of lines, the lines appear smooth when the swan flaps its wings, but the time from spreading its wings to retracting them is very short. In a few seconds, this beautiful line will disappear. When shooting, we must carefully observe and be familiar with its changing law, so as to accurately grasp the line form presented by the expression and action moment and create different expressive pictures. The arrangement and combination of lines will produce a visual sense of rhythm and rhythm. In a creation, I found that the calm water surface formed a horizontal line under the action of the wind, and these lines were arranged in a limited space in an irregular shape, giving people a sense of rhythm and rhythm. When two swans swam to the extension of the line, I immediately pressed the shutter. In the picture, lines and space form a diagonal line, beautiful curves, leisurely swans, and different composition elements form a poetic picture.

The lines you can feel are not necessarily obvious. In addition to the main line, there is an invisible line, which is the internal connection between the scenes around the subject. If there is a swan in the lower left corner of the picture and a swan in the upper right corner, we will imagine that there is a diagonal line between them, which is an invisible line.

When we finish the composition of a work, we must pay attention to the basic principles of composition, but we must never turn it into a rigid way. If we can use it flexibly according to the specific situation of the subject and make a breakthrough in composition, it is possible to create a unique photographic work.

Application of color

In photography, color plays a very important role in the composition of the picture.

When creating with swan as the object, the subject we face is white, which gives people a clean, bright and elegant color effect. The Yellow River wetland where the swan is located gives people the impression that it is beautiful and charming.

The beauty of color is reflected by contrast, because the color of swan is single. In the process of creation, I try my best to dissolve the swan in the surrounding natural environment, and through the configuration of black and white, red and white, blue and white, yellow and white, I can produce artistic effects that complement each other. Photography is to reproduce the color of the scene with a lens, which is not as free as painting and is restricted by some objective factors. For example, the color temperature of the light source, the intensity of light, the incident direction and angle of light, the presence or absence of clouds, weather, etc. will affect the tone configuration of the picture, and even determine the tone of the picture color. When we use the view frame to form a picture, we should choose according to the color change of the scene and establish the color order of the picture. How to make the color of the work match properly and achieve the ideal effect, I think we should consider from the following aspects.

1, color contrast: highlight the main body through the contrast of contrast colors. When shooting, try to choose a color background that contrasts with the swan as much as possible to highlight it.

2. Simple color: through the analysis and refinement of natural colors, highlight the main body. Colors in nature are extremely complex. After analysis and refining, the simplest color is red, yellow and blue, followed by orange, green and purple. As far as lightness is concerned, at the end of the analysis, there are two "extreme colors" of black and white and a transitional "positive gray". Black, white and gray are all called "no pigment". The above three colors are very simple. We use these colors to standardize the order of pictures, and if used properly, we can enhance the color effect of pictures.

3. Color unification: Through the harmony of colors, the main body is excessively highlighted, and the colors in nature, whether blue waves and red sun, blue sky and white clouds, or rainbows after rain, can show the beauty of harmony and unity. When shooting, you can choose the tone of the scene or use the method of dividing light and shade by side light to make adjacent colors clear and there is excessive tone between opposing colors to achieve the purpose of color harmony.

4, color tone: through the establishment of color tone to highlight the main body. As the keynote, color should be able to express a certain mood or environmental atmosphere, occupy a large area on the screen, and give people a strong appeal visually. The creation of hue is formed by using angles and scenery to arrange a certain hue of scenery on the screen to occupy a larger area. For example, using the depression angle to bring the Sanwan wetland into the picture, or using the elevation angle to fill the picture with a large blue sky, you can form the tone of the picture. A swan has only one point in the panoramic picture, but in the close-up, it can fill the whole picture and become the keynote of the work. In addition, the use of light and color filters is also a means to create color tones. In the morning and evening, the light will form a warm tone, in rainy days, a blue-cold tone will appear, and in foggy days, a hazy and elegant tone will appear. After the snow, Chu Qing will have a kind of hot and cold timbre and a unique charm. Choosing different lighting conditions can form different tonal picture effects.

The art of capturing pictures

If you want to shoot a swan well and show its grace, you must be good at grasping the moment of shooting. The posture and movements of swans are always changing. In the process of this change, we should quickly choose those moments that best reflect the swan's movements and posture, and press the camera shutter to shoot. Mastering the shooting moment is one of the necessary skills in photography, especially for shooting swans. When shooting swans, I found that no matter how the swans spread their wings, fight and take off, they often die in an instant. If they are not good at making immediate moves at the most critical moment, they will easily lose a good opportunity and lose a vivid image.

A natural, vivid and interesting swan photo, with intriguing and thought-provoking charm, makes people fondle it. And the photos with dull expressions can only give people a very cold impression, so how can we capture the natural vivid and typical expressions? I think we must be familiar with swans, judge them accurately and catch them quickly. Mastering the shooting moment is not an easy task, so we need to pay attention to the following two aspects.

1 Be familiar with swans. Read as much information about swans as possible before shooting, and have a basic understanding of their living habits, living environment and daily activities. You should be further familiar with the law of swan movements in development and change, understand that those movements will appear repeatedly, and also understand the various postures and changes in the starting point, middle climax and time, so as to correctly choose the best shooting moment.

2 grasp the opportunity. When you enter the shooting scene, you should judge quickly and look at the light and angle according to the relationship between the swan's activity law and the main requirements. If you can have foresight when shooting, you will capture a moment with distinctive characteristics. In the use of cameras, any camera can be used to capture, especially some digital SLR cameras used now are very suitable for capturing. I use a digital Nikon D3 camera with high sensitivity and built-in anti-shake, which can take more than a dozen shots per second. No matter what camera or lens you use, you should be comfortable and handy.

The adjustment of aperture, shutter, framing and composition, focusing, and the quick and agile action of pressing the shutter need to be completed in an instant. The ever-changing swan posture is not allowed to be explored with shutter and GB card.

When taking snapshots, we should also pay attention to finding the right angle and the relationship between swans to strengthen the story of the picture.

Flexible use of light

Light is an important modeling method in photography modeling, and different types of photography will use different light sources. Shooting swans basically uses natural light. Understanding and making good use of natural light is the key to shooting swans well.

Making good use of light can give new life and new artistic conception to works. When shooting swans, the fairing lamp is rarely used, because the light irradiation direction of the fairing lamp is the same as the shooting direction, so it is impossible for swans to form obvious contrast between light and shade, and it is difficult to show three-dimensional sense and sense of space. However, even if it shines along the light, it can produce brighter colors and clearer lines, which is very suitable for shooting swans.

When shooting swans, sidelight is a good light. Under the action of side light, the edge light generated by swan increases the stereoscopic impression of the picture, with moderate contrast between light and shade, ideal color reproduction and rich tone levels.

Backlight is a silhouette light drawn from the back of the subject, which can produce a good spatial distance and a good perspective effect. Under the backlight, the swan's feathers are particularly plump. The light passing through the feather produces the edge light effect, which separates the swan from the background. It's best to choose a darker background to shoot swans in the backlight, which helps to highlight the main body.

Scattered light is dull and has no obvious directionality, and the light received on all sides of the object is almost equal, so it is impossible to cause obvious contrast between light and shade. In creative practice, I think it is an ideal light to shoot swans with this kind of light. Due to the low contrast, all parts of the swan receive light evenly. If we consciously use the weak contrast characteristics of scattered light, we may get a soft and quiet atmosphere and a more subtle aesthetic feeling.

In shooting, the light is constantly changing. When observing the swan from a fixed position, different shadows and line structures will be produced at different times due to the different directions and angles of light irradiation. Especially in the morning and evening, the angle of the sun changes rapidly, and sometimes different light effects will appear within a few minutes. So in the use of light, there is also a question of timing. We should use it flexibly according to the situation in practice. As long as you carefully observe the angle and direction of light, the change of swan's hue and line structure, you can determine what kind of light is the best. Only by properly choosing the light can it help to express the main idea.