How to capture the walking scenery

Lead: When taking photos of a city or a trip, you need to look for wonderful moments. My good friend Dave called it. Precious moment? . You know, when you turned the corner, a fascinating and magical thing happened. You happened to pick up the camera and record it. My experience happened in Barcelona, when I was walking in a small aisle and saw a man sitting in the middle at the end of the aisle, reading a book against the wall of the aisle. This is a very attractive photo (so many people ask me if this is a designed photo).

First, how to prepare for shooting

So, how do you prepare to take a snapshot at the scene (or while driving)? You need to shoot in a certain mode, which allows you to focus on one thing? Take a wonderful moment. By the way, walking on the streets of the city, you should use the program automatic mode to shoot. I know, I know, it violates all the rules of professional photography, except that capturing wonderful sequences is more important than shooting mode. So, switch the digital camera mode dial to the program automatic mode (it sets the aperture and shutter speed, but unlike the automatic mode, the annoying flash on the camera will pop up every two seconds), and then shoot.

If the scene you encounter hasn't changed for a few minutes, you can switch back to aperture priority mode (or manual mode) at any time to control the photo shooting more flexibly, but in order to take photos as soon as possible when walking in the city, there is no mode more practical than program automatic mode.

Note: The program automatic mode of Nikon camera provides a function called flexible program automatic mode. You can change the shutter speed or aperture setting, and the camera will automatically change the setting to keep the exposure consistent. If the dial is not moved, it can be set automatically. Great!

Second, don't miss filming old people and children.

Next time you see a travel magazine, pay attention to the contents of the photos in the magazine. I can tell you the answer. Travel photos have two themes: old people and children. I'm talking about an old man in his fifties, an old woman who is really old, wrinkled and full of vicissitudes, and her skin is like leather shoes, an old man who is stumbling and opinionated, wearing a hat that seems to have never been washed. For children, the smaller the better (except babies).

As long as they are shot in a simple background, children will add unexpected effects to city and travel photos (which is why magazines like them). If you ask the elderly or children to pose and shoot, you must spend some time talking with them before shooting, which will make them more relaxed and put on a more natural posture and expression (after establishing friendly relations with them, it will help to extend the shooting time).

Third, hire a model (cheaper than expected)

How do professional photographers shoot those amazing portraits abroad? One of the techniques is to hire local models (especially when photos are to be sold to photo agents). If you think it is too expensive to hire a model, before turning the page, you should know that it is usually cheaper than you think (unless you think it is really cheap).

Some new models will work for free to get photos to enrich their portfolios (the trade term is TFP[Time For Prints], which means exchanging photos with time, that is, exchanging their time for photos taken), so you can ask interested models if they are willing to adopt TFP mode.

Fourth, the shooting time

Many professional photographers choose to shoot cities and travel at dawn for many reasons.

1. Perfect light

Correct, the golden magic light suitable for taking scenery photos is also suitable for taking pictures of cities.

2. The shooting time is correct

Streets are usually empty, shooting buildings, churches or charming small streets, with few scattered themes. The shooting time is limited before the sun becomes too bright (the sun is dazzling) and the streets are crowded, so if you want to get up before sunrise, of course, you should use a tripod to shoot.

Another good time to shoot is dusk. At this time, the light turned golden again, but the defect was that the streets were no longer empty. There are still some good opportunities to take pictures of cities and portraits during the day, because cities usually have a lot of shadows (caused by tall buildings in the city).

So unlike landscape photographers, you can shoot all day, especially in cloudy or cloudy weather (remember, if the sky is gray, try to avoid shooting too much sky). Afternoon is the best time to shoot charming children playing on porches (shadows), windows and parks? You can shoot almost anything in the open shadow. Once again: the best shooting time may be in the morning, followed by dusk, but it can also be shot in the open shadow during the day. There are usually a lot of scenes to shoot, so just shoot them.

5. Look for bold and bright colors

When shooting the city and tourist scenery, we must pay attention to the strong and vivid colors of the city. We often encounter walls and doors with excellent colors (photos of strong walls with strong color doors), shops, signboards, cars and bicycles. One of my favorite city photos is a bright red Vaspa one-legged pulley parked behind a bright yellow Lotus sports car. It looks like it was designed for me. I took a lot of photos, because the colors were so bright, it was a perfect match. Pay more attention to drawing beautiful walls (especially when someone is working in front of the wall, or someone is waiting patiently for the bus, with a colored wall in the background, or a bright yellow car parked in front of the bright blue wall).

Shooting outside, when you look for these colorful scenery, you will be surprised to find that they often appear. By the way, I know I have repeatedly said that these colors are (guess what? ) It will appear richer and deeper in high-quality light, which usually appears at dawn and dusk (as you know). Remember, except dawn and dusk, it's all in the empty shadow.

Six, don't try to shoot all, try to grasp the details.

I have heard many photographers complain about the effect of their city scenery photos, but most of the time it is because they try to shoot too much content. They want to photograph the whole magnificent building or solemn church, but it is difficult to do so even with a super wide-angle lens. Because of this, many professional photographers capture details. For example, when you shoot Notre Dame de Paris, you don't shoot the whole church, but the details you can see from a small place, such as doors, windows, church spires, monster droppers, pigeons on the stairs or other interesting scenery in the church, instead of shooting the whole building. Let the photos reflect the height of the building or the fine craftsmanship, full of imagination.

By shooting the details, you can make the photos more convincing and story-telling. Usually small things are more convincing than the whole. After all, if you want a panoramic picture of the church, you can buy it in a gift shop a few steps away. All you have to do is let the photos show your impression and perspective, your Paris monastery. Try this method the next time you go out to take a picture of the city, and see if you will be more satisfied with the effect of the picture.

Seven, the best picture may be one meter away.

My good friend Bill Ford said it well: The biggest obstacle for photographers to take good photos is that they don't move. The best photos, the best scenery and the best angle are sometimes 1 m away from their position, but they don't move. When they got there, they set up a tripod and started shooting. ? Indeed, this is why I mentioned the phenomenon of stillness in the chapter of landscape photography.

Once you find some exquisite details, colorful walls and unique scenery, please walk around. Observe the target scene, find other more interesting perspectives and shoot them. In addition to moving left and right, you can also show new scenery by changing the shooting height, such as standing in a chair, squatting down, lying on the ground, climbing stairs and so on.

Remember, the best photo of the whole journey may be one meter on the left (or one meter above). Note: The photo above is proof of this concept. This photo was taken in Morocco. In fact, this is the Disney version of Morocco (Disney Epcot Center Theme Park in Florida). If you walk one meter to the left (this is the first photo I saw), you will see an outdoor courtyard full of park tourists who are eating. But if you walk one meter to the right, the food basket and Coca-Cola cup are blocked, and the scenery you see is more real. By the way, the orange light through the open window comes from the Disney gift shop. You can see some Mickey Mouse toys about 1 m on the right.

Eight, show the city dynamics.

If you want to show that the city is busy, noisy and nervous, there is a simple way: slow down the shutter speed and let people and cars show a dynamic trajectory in the picture.

The method is simple (as long as there is a tripod, it is necessary to create a dynamic effect)? Adjust the camera mode to the shutter priority mode, and set the shutter speed to116 seconds, 1/8 seconds or 1/4 seconds (if the light is weak enough, the highlight of the photo will not be overexposed, and the shutter speed can be adjusted slowly). Then press the shutter and step back. In less than a second, the dynamics of the city will be revealed. Buildings, statues, lights and signs will remain still, and other scenery will be surrounded by light rails.

If you shoot at night, you can take very dynamic photos. Find a commanding height with excellent viewing angle (such as a window or bridge in a hotel room), then put the camera on a tripod (which is necessary to shoot this effect), enter the shutter priority mode, set the exposure value for 30 seconds, and then take pictures. After 30 seconds, you will see long red lines (taillights and brake lights) and long white lines (headlights) like lasers, and you will get a stunning photo that ordinary people can't take.