Practical skills of ecological photography

Macro photographic equipment, I mainly recommend the combination of SLR camera+macro lens+flash.

1. Camera: Choosing a SLR camera in Quan Huafu and non-Quan Huafu actually has its own advantages and disadvantages. Full-frame cameras have better picture quality and more applications of body functions. Compared with the full-frame camera, the magnification of Canon's non-full-frame camera 1.6 is very advantageous in focal length, so there is no need to worry about disturbing insects because the shooting distance is too close. Film friends can decide to buy according to their favorite insect themes and their own economic strength.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Canon EOS 7D

2. Lens: Canon EF 100mm F2.8L is USM, and Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L USM are both main shots.

Canon ef 100mm2.8l is USM.

The shooting with Canon EF 100mm F2.8L is USM.

Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS USM lens has excellent imaging and color reproduction and a large aperture design of 2.8. High-quality anti-shake system can still play an anti-shake effect in macro mode, which actually increases the final shooting success rate and is very practical. Taking a full-frame camera as an example, the safety shutter should be1100s, but after the anti-shake mode is turned on, 1/60s can still guarantee the success of shooting. The focal length of 100mm is convenient for shooting a variety of insect subjects, with moderate focal length and relatively short working distance, which is more advantageous in shooting in a narrow environment.

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L USM

Shoot with Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L USM.

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L USM lens has the highest imaging resolution among Canon macro lenses, and its color is true. As we all know, dragonflies, butterflies and other insects are extremely sensitive to people's approach. If you shoot with 100mm, the working distance is too close, and it is difficult to shoot a large enough subject. The focal length of 180mm is very advantageous for shooting these subjects, and the working distance is relatively long, so it can be shot safely from a long distance without disturbing insects. And 180mm background blur effect is better, and the subject can be extracted from the messy background to make the picture more pure.

3. Flash:

The mainstream Canon flash 600EX-RT and 430EXII can be used as the flash of insect photography. If funds permit, Canon's double flash MT-24 is the best choice.

Canon 600EX-RT

Canon MT-24

Canon MT-24 can shoot insects from double light positions, which can increase the overall texture of insects. Film friends who shoot with a single light can also buy off-board flashers or wireless flashers separately for lighting shooting.

Second, the actual combat skills:

The most important shooting skill is to exercise your super observation. Develop good observation habits before shooting. Observe the object you want to shoot carefully for at least 2 minutes, and then take pictures. The most important thing of insect macro theme is to find the best focal plane to shoot. The so-called observation is mainly to observe the shape of insects and the best shooting angle.

Moths' wings are large focal planes, which need frequent practice to master.

Take the insect's head (eyes) as the focus, tilt 30 to 45 to find the best shooting angle to shoot.

Frontal photography can capture the real expression of insects and has dramatic effect.

The best shooting angle mainly focuses on grasping the overall posture of insects. Such as butterflies, moths, dragonflies, etc., pay attention to the focal plane of wings, mantis should grasp the posture of head and forelimbs, and beetle should fully photograph the texture of carapace. Of course, the eyes of insects can also be the focus of shooting. My favorite shooting angle is to focus on the insect's head (eyes) and tilt 30 ~ 45 to find the best shooting angle. This shooting angle always allows me to catch the most beautiful posture of insects. Frontal shooting is also a shooting method that I often use. Frontal photography can often capture the real expression of insects, which has a dramatic effect.

Flexible use of aperture. In insect photography, the larger the magnification, the smaller the aperture is needed. Aperture priority mode (AV mode) is preferred for shooting, and the required depth of field can be controlled freely.

When shooting AV files, use a large aperture (F4), which can get a good blurred background.

The theme is very small. 1: 1 When shooting, use a small aperture (F 16) to ensure sufficient subject clarity.

The choice of aperture, if the background needs to be clean, you can shoot with a larger aperture. If the subject is small (1-2cm), when shooting with large magnification (1: 1 magnification), it is necessary to shoot with a small aperture (f1-f16) to ensure the subject is photographed.

The morning light is faint. I turned on the anti-shake function with the shutter speed of 1/60s, and successfully photographed this insect with dew.

Turn on the lens anti-shake mode to improve the shooting success rate. Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS USM lens provides anti-shake function. In macro mode, the anti-shake effect is still effective. After testing, it can effectively improve the safety shutter 1-2. Make good use of this function. For example, when using a full-frame camera, in order to improve the image quality, you can use a lower sensitivity of 1/60s or 1.

The use of flash is very important.

It is recommended to use Canon's own ETTL mode, and the flash automatically determines the flash intensity and measuring distance, avoiding the trouble of manual flash. The ETTL function of Canon flash system is very accurate in measuring the number of flash. The flash of insect photography must have soft light. Flash is not enough without soft light accessories. If you make good use of soft light accessories, your insect photos will change a lot. There are many kinds of soft light accessories, and how to choose them also requires skill. Insect photography is more suitable for shooting with a large soft mask. The soft spots photographed by the big soft mask are more uniform, and there will be no serious "dead white" spots, which is very important for photographing the surfaces of reflective insects such as beetles.

Soft light accessories are not used, and the soft light effect is not good.

Actual soft light effect after using large soft light mask

Auto focus is combined with manual focus (zoom in and focus carefully on the LCD screen). Auto-focus is often used for macro shooting of insects and can be applied to most shooting contents. However, for some solid color insects (black or white), the bellows may be pulled during autofocus. At this time, it needs to be used together with manual focusing (LCD screen magnification, fine focusing) to achieve the effect of precise focusing.

Saving the photo format as RAW can solve the problems of white balance and more exposure. RAW file contains all the information of photos, including white balance, exposure compensation and so on. The post-adjustment space of RAW file is much larger than that of JPG file, and the white balance of RAW file can be adjusted after shooting. However, when shooting with JPG, if the white balance setting is incorrect, it means that it will be very difficult to adjust later, and even the color temperature of the picture cannot be changed, which means that waste films are produced.

About the color setting in the machine. The color in the machine is set to "normal" or "neutral color", so there is more room for post-processing. Novices can set the color space in the machine to "landscape mode" to enhance the saturation of photos. Maintain the consistency of color space in common monitors, drawing software and cameras. According to the application scope of the picture, if it is mainly used in Weibo or websites, the color space of the display, drawing software and camera should be set to SRGB, so as to ensure the accurate color displayed on the screen.