Shooting skills of starry sky and stellar orbit

The annoying winter has passed, and the temperature is not so cold when taking pictures in the mountains in spring, summer and autumn. At this time, in addition to morning photography, the starry sky, the Milky Way and the train tracks on the mountains are also one of the most sought-after landscape photography themes. In this article, we will take you into the vast starry sky with simple words and expressions. Let's take a look at the shooting skills of starry galaxies and stellar orbits.

The vast starry sky, the endless starry sky, the Milky Way, the star track and the car track are all good subjects for shooting at night. The Milky Way is like a river, shining across the starry sky. In the northern hemisphere where Taiwan Province Province is located, the Milky Way is the most obvious in summer and the darkest in winter. At this time of late autumn, after sunset, you can see the banded stars extending from south to north.

The best galactic time is from March to July.

On the whole! In late autumn and early winter, you can see the Milky Way in the southwest after sunset. It rises near the east at midnight at the end of March in spring 1: 30, around 23: 00 at the end of April, 2 1: 30 at the end of May and 19: 30 at the end of June. It didn't fall to the horizon until midnight in July, and it ended 2 hours earlier every month in late August, September and 65438+1October. That is to say, in the southeast after sunset at 10, you can see the falling Milky Way.

▲ 10 ends. After shooting the sunset, walk south on the main peak trail, and you can see the Milky Way hanging vertically like a ribbon.

▲ The Milky Way moves in the night sky, which makes people lament the vastness of the universe and the smallness of human beings.

When is the best shooting time for the works around the stars?

The most suitable shooting time for the works around the stars is half a month later, two hours before the moon rises, or half an hour before the moon ends. What are the advantages of these two time points? Shooting started two hours before the moon rose. You can capture the orbit of the star that exceeds 1 hour before the moonlight appears, and then fill the landscape appropriately with the moonlight that is lacking on the moon, and then collect the shutter. When shooting begins half an hour before the moon is absent, use moonlight to make up the scenery first, and then extend the shooting time of the star orbit after the moon sets.

Tips for shooting the Milky Way

The method of shooting the Milky Way is extremely simple, and it is extremely important to complete the exposure within 15-30 seconds. Because the stars move for a long time, they will easily turn into strip orbits, so it is suggested to use a large aperture above 2.8, plus a very high ISO(3200~6400), and then expose at 15-30 seconds.

Because there is almost no light damage in He Huan, you can see stars everywhere. Generally speaking, the moonlight is strong for two weeks before and after the full moon, which is more suitable for shooting night scenes, and the days without the moon are more suitable for shooting starry sky, milky way and star orbit.

At the full moon, the valley is like day.

On the night of full moon or strong moonlight, the scenery is easy to present completely, which is very suitable for shooting night scenes. With the help of moonlight, it looks like sunlight after a long exposure. Actually! On such days, the orbit can also be synthesized by digital synthesis. The only drawback is that because of the strong moonlight, the number of stars in the sky will decrease and the number of orbits will also decrease.

▲ In the moonlight, the railing drags a long shadow, and the night scene photos exposed for a long time are like daylight. If it weren't for the star track and the car track, it's hard to imagine that this is night.

Preparation tools and shooting steps for shooting the orbit of stars

Because it takes a long time to expose the star orbit, the faint starlight in the sky can be kept in the image. Therefore, the tripod and electronic wire release of the fixed camera are absolutely indispensable shooting tools! (In order to avoid image jitter caused by mirror vibration when the shutter is started, it is recommended to enter the camera menu first and lock the mirror in advance! )

Focus: Please switch the lens to manual focus MF first. If the environment is dark and it is difficult to focus, you can aim the camera at the "far" light or the moon in the sky first. If there is a scale on the lens, cut to MF first, then look at the scale of the lens, and focus the lens on the "infinity symbol", which is actually to shift the focus to the infinity (pan-focus) of the lens.

Photometry: first take a photo with a large aperture and high ISO for photometry. After shooting, check whether the leftmost side of the histogram shows the highest peak and is close to the edge. If so, there are too many black and unrecognizable scenes in the picture. When taking photos for photometry, it is suggested to increase the EV value (increase the ISO or extend the shooting time) until there is a gap on the leftmost side of the histogram and there is no overexposure peak on the rightmost side, so that the exposure value can be used as a parameter to convert the growth time exposure.

In this shooting experience, exposure compensation of 1-2 can usually be added to the night exposure without light damage on the natural mountain, especially in moonless or moonless environment, the normal exposure is almost increased to 2 or more, so that more detailed dark details can be obtained.

Change the exposure time to shoot the star track: for example, first use the aperture of 2.8 and ISO3200, and temporarily set the shutter time to 30 seconds to shoot the starry sky image. Then see if exposure value meets your needs. If the photo is too dark, increase the ISO or extend the shutter time until the photo fits your exposure value. If the image brightness with aperture of 2.8, ISO3200 and shutter time of 60 seconds meets your needs, you can convert the long exposure required for shooting the star track.

So we preset ISO to 200 and aperture to 5.6 to shoot the star orbit, and the required exposure time is as follows:

First, calculate the complete step of ISO: 3200→ 1600→800→400→200, and the difference between 3200 and 200 is 4 steps, so the shutter time can be extended to 60→ 120→240→480→960 seconds = 16 minutes.

The complete step of aperture: 2.8→4→5.6, with a difference of 2 steps, so the shutter time is changed from 16 minutes to 32 minutes →64 minutes, and then the conversion time is 64 minutes, and the star orbit photo of 1 hour can be taken.

Different shooting directions

When the shooting direction is due north, shoot a circular star orbit, and when it faces east and west, shoot a strip star orbit similar to a meteor shower.

If you want to shoot the star orbit in your mind, you can not follow the photography schedule.

Some people may think that summer is more suitable for shooting works around stars? In fact, photography is an accidental encounter, and you don't have to use 100% thinking. How to explain it? If the focus of shooting is the Milky Way, then summer to early autumn is of course the most suitable. However, as long as the weather conditions permit (there is no cloud in Wan Li, and there is no light damage), as long as the topic selection is clever, the conception is proper, and the exposure skills are proper, the works around the stars can be filmed in any season.

How to shoot the full moon and the lack of the moon, or the environment without moonlight?

On a moonlit night, the environment is easy to have details, but there are relatively few stars in the starry sky, the exposure time is short, and the number of star orbits is relatively reduced. On a moonless day, there are more stars in the sky, but the dark parts are prone to mania and have fewer details.

When the moonlight is strong, you can shoot several works continuously from the same angle, or even shoot a few stars with high ISO and short exposure time, and then use the computer's star-orbit superposition software to do star-orbit connection or animation or even time-reduced images. (or you are worried that there is not enough power to get exposure in 1~2 hours, you can also save the photos taken by this method. Only the last camera is out of power, so you can't take pictures. Other photos can be synthesized by computer connection after you go home. )

In fact! So far, I'm still shooting the star orbit with the method of "one exposure to the end" The reason is that I personally think that photography should try to complete the necessary steps in front of the camera and try to use less synthetic software. In this way, you can find ways to observe the world, reduce your dependence on software and increase your thinking and creation in front of the camera. With the evolution of the digital age, it is of course necessary to supplement the knowledge of related drawing software. As long as there is enough power, it is a way to shoot long tracks with software!

When there is no moonlight, you can use fill light equipment (try to use a warmer color to fill light, and the color taken when the color temperature is too cold is not very pleasing) to properly fill light for the scene and increase the main details. Whether it is necessary to fill the light is actually a matter of opinion, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Techniques and methods of portrait shooting

The so-called portrait photography is a form of photography with characters as the main object of creation. An excellent portrait photography is the sum of many successful factors: expression, posture, composition, lighting, exposure and production, which are all components of a whole. Today we are going to talk about the expression and emotional photography of characters.

Emotion is closely related to the exertion of artistic creativity. A good emotional state can give full play to creativity, which can not only improve the efficiency and creative quality of portrait photography, but also better express art in works.

Sometimes I want to shoot indoor portraits to practice my hands, but I think renting a studio to practice is still very expensive. It's not as complicated as you think. As long as there is a white wall at home, it is not difficult to shoot good works, let alone practice.

First, black and white+background, layout shooting atmosphere

Even if shooting in a simple environment, we should do a good job of preparation and planning in the early stage, and pay attention to two steps to successfully complete the shooting. If only the white wall is used as the background, the shot will be a bit monotonous. At this time, in order to fill the background, we decided to build a simple background with two props. Watch your shooting range, lay a background larger than the shooting range for your picture, and leave some margin for shooting, otherwise you will shoot impurities outside the background.

Use non-reflective and soft black and white chiffon as the background cloth, showing a soft background effect. In the process of fixing the background, the wrinkle effect can be made properly, so the length of the background cloth is about 3 meters. When shooting, we used 3 meters of black and 3 meters of white, which matched each other to arrange the background, giving the background a sense of ups and downs.

1, ground chiffon effect: Because each floor is different, in order to unify the ground and background, chiffon is also laid on the ground in the area occupied by the model, which makes the work look more integrated. If you don't have chiffon at home, you can actually find black clothes to spread.

2. Position of the model and the background: There should be a distance of about half an arm between the model and the background to blur the background and create a sense of space when shooting. Don't let the model cling to the background.

3. Angle of soft umbrella: Because there are many models sitting in this shoot, the soft umbrella is slightly inclined downward, and the angle with the horizontal plane is 120 degrees. The height of the lamp holder is adjusted according to the height of the model after sitting down, which is about 60 cm high.

4. Background laying area: In order not to shoot the wall outside the set, the edge height of the background cloth should be laid 40-50 cm above the model's head; Because the background cloth needs a drooping feeling to make the picture full, the width can be about 2 meters under certain drooping conditions.

Second, black and white pictures highlight emotions.

According to the theme of this shooting, most of the walls in the house are white without any color. In order to prevent the monotonous work, we might as well choose black and white to shoot. Without the interference of color, black and white portraits can better highlight the emotions of characters through composition, expression and posture.

In the shooting menu of Canon EOS 5D Mark III, you can directly shoot portraits in black and white tones by entering the photo style option bar and selecting monochrome. Compared with the black-and-white tone in the later stage, the use of black-and-white tone in the early stage allows the photographer to control the atmosphere of the whole picture and the mood of the characters more stably.

You can shoot black-and-white effects by selecting monochrome in the menu, and you can also adjust details such as sharpness and contrast in monochrome settings.

Third, the correct use of flash.

The pose of the model reflects the emotion. In this shooting, it is more important to coordinate the posture and flash, adjust the posture and flash, and let the work express emotion more completely.

The flash selects manual mode.

Because the shooting was done in a windowless room, the function of the flash is to fully illuminate the characters, which is simply to shoot portraits indoors. If the flash mode is set to M manual mode, it is actually easier to operate because the light output can be controlled by itself. When shooting, the power output of the flash is set to116, and the position is fixed at an angle of 45 degrees in front of the model.

The cooperation between shutter speed and flash.

Indoor shooting often lacks light and requires the use of flash. At this time, it is recommended to use lamp holders and soft umbrellas to shoot indoor portraits, which can not only make the flash light soft, but also shape the three-dimensional sense of the characters. At this time, we must pay attention to the cooperation between the shutter speed of the camera and the flash speed. The flash synchronization speed of Canon EOS 5D Mark III is 1/200 seconds. If the shutter speed is faster than 1/200 seconds, the picture will be underexposed, so it is recommended to keep the shutter speed slower than 1/200 seconds. If you feel overexposed, you can adjust the aperture and aperture

Right: Error | Left: Correct

Fourth, pose to highlight the mood of the model.

For the shooting of emotional portraits, facial expressions and eye expressions are actually more important. When posing, the focus of communication with models should be the expression of expressions, especially the eyes. Therefore, in order to highlight emotional expression, it is not recommended to pose in a complicated posture on the body, and it is best not to block the five senses in your hand, otherwise it will affect the display of facial expressions. Always keep the model upright, don't hunch over and curl up, and face the flash.

Wrong picture: the posture of the hand blocking the lips affects the expression of the eyes, and blocking the chin makes the outline somewhat deformed.

Right: Don't have too many physical movements, and better express your emotions.

Tip: Beautiful models reveal the secrets of grasping emotions.

The emotions expressed in this theme are some sad and confused emotions. After the photographer communicated with the model, she quickly entered the state. When the camera was aimed at her, she grasped her emotions well. So how did she do it? When shooting, we asked the model Zhang Xian.

Zhang Xian: When you hear the photographer tell me that I need to express a confused state, don't focus on the eyes staring at the camera, but lose focus, just like the state of eyes when people are in a daze. If you are nearsighted, you are out of focus when you take off your glasses to see the world.

Although this trick is shared by models, the photographer can also tell you the model you want to shoot, so that she can get this skill point of grasping emotions.

Fifth, the foreground+perspective creates a different sense of picture.

In order to add more scenes to the portrait taken in front of a wall, we try to shoot from different perspectives and change our perspectives to show more creativity.

Manufacturing prospect of gauze and mineral water

It is often the use of foreground that sublimates the emotional portrait, and the appropriate foreground will highlight the atmosphere of the whole picture. In this shooting, we chose to put the tulle in front of the camera to create a hazy feeling. At this time, we should pay attention to controlling the position of the tulle in front of the camera, and move the tulle while observing in the viewfinder to avoid the tulle covering the whole picture and highlighting the facial expression of the model. When moving the tulle, pay attention to the smaller movement range. A little movement is often a large change in the viewfinder, so you should have patience to control the amount of tulle in the picture at this time.

If there is no tulle at home, in fact, mineral water bottles are also possible. Compared with tulle, when the lens is blocked by mineral water bottle, the picture will have a dazzling gradient effect. It should be noted that in order to make the shooting effect more transparent, the mineral water bottle is filled with water when shooting and appears in the picture close to the lens.

Sixth, find the right posture

It is also a good choice to shoot from another perspective. You can use the floor or bed in front of the selected wall to make the model lie down and shoot from the top. It is also recommended to use the foreground mentioned above when shooting. Gauze allows the model to hold down the lower part and the photographer to put the upper part in front of the camera, so that there will be different levels of transparency when shooting, creating some deep sense of space and obscurity, so that emotions can be released more in the picture presentation.

Generally speaking, the artistic expression of portrait photography works is not only related to photographic equipment and skills, but also related to the shooting location, atmosphere and color application. It is more important to shoot the emotional expression of models and photographers and the harmony and trust between the two sides. In other words, it is necessary to effectively integrate and apply the above factors, especially the exertion of emotions, so that portrait works can well express simple emotions and deeper emotional demands, convey the connotation of the theme, and improve the artistic expression of works.