Matters needing attention in shooting waterfalls

Lead: Summer is here, and it is a good season for sightseeing. In this rainy season, waterfall shooting naturally becomes the mainstream of photographers. Here are some precautions for shooting waterfalls. Let's go and have a look!

Precautions for shooting waterfalls 1. Necessary equipment

1, tripod

I don't want to introduce the function of tripod here. I believe everyone understands that shooting night scenes, waterfalls and fireworks requires the cooperation of tripods to make good films.

Maybe a friend will say, who has nothing to do and runs around with a tripod on his back every day? Or when you are playing, you can't go out with a tripod on your back, can you? Then it doesn't matter! In fact, you can take pictures without a tripod, but it's better to use a tripod. So how do you shoot it? Depending on the light, several times I took photos of the waterfall without a tripod, and when I came back, it was still good and there was no paste. After the picture is good enough, be sure to squat and shoot without a tripod. When shooting, we usually habitually hold the lens with our left hand and press the shutter with our right hand. Therefore, when shooting, all we need to do is tie up the position, and then put our left hand on the left leg as a tripod and the left knee as a support point. That's all that matters. Tie up the standing posture, which is equivalent to half a tripod, and then set the shooting parameters. Setting the shutter within 0.6 seconds generally does not paste. Here are some photos of waterfalls without tripods for your reference:

The shutter of this photo is a fifth of a second, because the waterfall itself is relatively large and there is no tripod, so you don't have to expose it for too long.

This photo was exposed for 0.6 seconds, and the family of three just posed and didn't move, so the portrait and waterfall didn't paste, and the light was not very bright at that time, so the shooting effect was good.

2. Decreasing mirror (ND mirror)

Some people may not be familiar with the variable diameter mirror. Let's introduce it here!

Reducing the mirror can bring more exposure means to your creation, turn day into night and give full play to the creative space; Many times, due to the intensity of external light, we can't get enough shutter time, so we can't realize our photography intention. For example, when shooting water in the wild, we hope to use the shutter of 1 sec to make the water flow appear soft, like cotton. However, due to the strong light, that is, using the camera's' minimum aperture' and the lowest ISO shooting, the shutter speed is still around 1/30 seconds. At this time, the only way is to use one or even two ND8 lenses to weaken the light entering the lens. There is a simple formula, assuming that the shutter speed of normal exposure of your camera is t, and there is no addition and subtraction device, then under the same light conditions, aperture size and ISO, the shutter speed of normal exposure after adding subtraction device is t * x, which is the number marked behind the subtraction device, X=4 for ND4 and X=8 for ND8. Due to process reasons, the greater the coefficient behind nd, the greater the influence on color temperature.

Second, the weather environment.

1, light

The second point mentioned above refers to the reduction mirror. Let's talk about it in detail here. Under what circumstances do we need to get a thinning mirror? Of course, if there is a reducing mirror, it is an excellent weapon to shoot waterfalls in any case. It works like a tripod, but some people don't reduce the mirror, so there is nothing they can do. The sun is direct and the light is sufficient. When the waterfall is in the open air, you should have a tripod. Without a tripod, the waterfall is just a photo of the shape of the water flow, which can't capture the soft texture of cotton wool.

This is the East Lake in Chenzhou. Although it is useless to bring a tripod, the light is too strong and there is no reducer! This is the only way to shoot.

2. wind

When using a tripod to choose a long exposure, if there is wind, try not to use leaves, flowers and other things that are easily blown by the wind as the foreground. Avoid if you can, or the foreground will be mushy.

Third, choose the prospect.

Shooting a lot of things, if there is no beautiful scenery around, shooting pure scenery and even shooting people will be dull, and shooting waterfalls will be the same. Choosing a good prospect will make your work have a better dynamic effect.

? Fourth, security issues.

Roads and rocks will be slippery after rain, so be sure to pay attention to safety and protect the camera, and try not to take pictures in places with moss. When I went to Zhou Luo Grand Canyon to photograph waterfalls in May, I was so excited when I saw them that I forgot to look at the road under my feet. I just slipped after taking a photo and almost fell into the grand canyon and was washed away by the current. If it rains, prepare plastic bags or fresh-keeping bags in advance, preferably with a rain cover to prevent water from entering the camera when shooting.

Friends who look carefully should have noticed that there are obvious traces of water droplets splashing on it. At that time, I hid for a long time when taking this photo, and I specially asked my friend to bring an umbrella, which didn't help. The wind is so strong that rain and water droplets splashed by waterfalls blow on the camera! So it is necessary to prepare plastic bags, fresh-keeping bags or buy a rain cover.

Fifth, choose the timing.

As I said at the beginning of writing this article, it is very important to find and seize the opportunity. There are usually not many waterfalls when going to the local area, but after a period of heavy rain, there may be waterfalls, or there will be waterfalls there, which will be more spectacular and beautiful.

The choice of shooting time is also very important. When there is no polarizer and it is sunny, it is best to shoot in a dark place after the sun goes down (the dark time in Changsha in May is around 7: 30), so that exposure can be carried out for a long time. The following photo was taken at 6: 54 pm on May 1 1, and the exposure time was 25 seconds.