Photographer's eyes

Seven years ago, my father gave me a Sony H55 digital camera. This is a card camera with simple manual function and the first camera in my life. From then on, I began to like taking pictures.

Now, after working, I have become what others call a "photographer". Seeing that 20 17 is coming to an end, I suddenly want to sum up my understanding of taking pictures over the years and share it with you.

Almost everyone will take pictures, but only some people will say that they are taking pictures. Among them, only a small part is actually taking pictures.

Photography is the act of transforming a changing real scene into a still plane image through photographic equipment. Photography is an artistic creation that expresses one's understanding of real scenes by taking photos.

Taking pictures is a daily activity, and photography belongs to the art category. Photography is a part of life, which originates from life and is higher than life.

Photography produces photos and photography produces works.

My conclusion here may be different. In my opinion, many "good works" may just be a "good photo".

Good photos: accurate exposure, clear focus, reasonable composition and aesthetic feeling.

Good works: express an attitude, convey an emotion, or tell a story and get recognition.

A landscape photo, with mountains and water, without overexposure or underexposure, with good composition and good appearance. This is a good photo. However, it only objectively recorded the immediate scene, not including the author's attitude, and there was no emotional infection and storyline after reading it, so it was not a good work.

For example, the following one:

This is a landscape photograph, not a photographic work.

And a photo, which may not be accurately exposed (some parts are too bright or too dark), or the composition seems unreasonable, but it expresses the photographer's unique observation angle, or causes the viewer to sing, or arouses people's imagination and produces a story, then this is a good work.

For example, the following one:

This photo is not "accurate" because there are the most underexposed places. But the silhouette effect caused by underexposure is what I want to express, so its exposure is "correct". A photo can convey an emotion and is full of stories. This is a photographic work.

In fact, there is no clear boundary between good photos and good works, and the standards of different people can vary greatly. So many times, people are measured by a simple standard: be modest, you take pictures; Come on, you're making a work.

In my understanding, the road of photography, if it goes on, has roughly three stages.

1. record

At first, the purpose of taking pictures was to record your life. Record yourself, record the people around you, and record the places you have been. At this stage, you want to take more "good photos" and record every moment in your life that you don't want to forget.

At this stage, you take more photos.

2. The way to see the world

With the continuous enrichment of life experience, you begin to have a unique perspective on the world. At this time, you want to express your understanding of things around you through photos. So you put your attitude, feelings and thoughts into a photo. You can capture the moving moment, and you can express the world in your eyes in your works.

At this stage, you are taking pictures. Most photographers belong to this stage.

3. Make the world different

Great photographers can infect others with their works. Photographers at this stage not only have superb shooting skills, but also have great feelings and thoughts. Their works can convey a kind of energy, which is often full of humanistic care. The purpose of their photography is to make the world a better place.

At this stage, your photography works are like Lu Xun's articles and Lennon's songs. You are a great photographer.

There has always been a saying in the photography circle: what kind of camera and lens should I buy? Buy the most expensive one you can afford. Is photographic equipment really that important?

My conclusion is the following title.

It is not the head in front of the camera that makes a good work, but the head behind the camera.

Equipment sometimes does limit your thinking, such as night shooting, depth of field control and so on. But none of this will affect the birth of an excellent work. Some people drive tens of thousands of cameras to the most beautiful places, but they can only take ordinary photos; Some people can touch many people with their mobile phones.

Daido Moriyama, a famous Japanese street photographer, loves not tens of thousands of SLR or medium format cameras, but thousands of Ricoh GRs. Because this camera is easy to carry, it is easy to shoot at any time in the street. So, just choose the equipment that suits you. You should pursue the improvement of knowledge and creativity rather than equipment.

1. Business requirements

Some commercial shooting, there will be clear requirements for pixels, size, etc. , you have to use supporting equipment. Some tall exhibitions require shooting in Quan Huafu; Some magazine covers require medium format shooting, and so on. So if you want to engage in commercial photography, you must have good equipment.

2. Specific subjects

For example, if you especially like shooting the starry sky or the Milky Way, ordinary cameras can't satisfy you.

Send your sister.

Of course, this proposition does not belong to photography, er ... but it really needs good equipment. Send a princess-style selfie artifact, a literary one to Fuji, and a goddess to Leica.

Therefore, the quality of equipment is not necessarily related to the quality of works. What really matters is a pair of photographer's eyes.

A photographer's eyes are like a pianist's hand and a singer's throat. On the road of photography, the eyes are the most in need of training.

Photography has only two raw materials: time and light and shadow. The photographer's eyes are responsible for matching, combining and processing these two raw materials, and finally producing a photographic work.

Therefore, a photographer must have a pair of distinctive eyes. What's the difference between these eyes?

1. See what others can't.

These eyes have unique insight and can observe daily life from an invisible angle. It can notice the new flowers appearing in the cracks in the stones under its feet, and it can also notice the new bird's nest on the overhead telephone pole. It can see innocent stories from children's play and vicissitudes from the old man's face.

2. Catch what others can't catch

These eyes have extraordinary catching power. They can predict the appearance of a perfect moment. Through these eyes, the photographer can capture a "decisive moment" with the shutter. It can capture the moment when the plane crosses the sky at the most beautiful angle, and it can also capture the moment when couples just hold hands.

In the chaotic and complicated world, the photographer's eyes always have their own viewfinder. He saw a lot of things, but he knew what he wanted to show most. He had finished the composition with his eyes before using the camera to compose the composition. Remove irrelevant things from the picture, and the rest can just convey their creative intention.

Photographers have crazy enthusiasm and curiosity about exploring the world in their eyes. These eyes love everything around them and never stop exploring the unknown and known world. Crazy love for life and the world is the most primitive driving force of photography.

For photographers, one thing is very dangerous, and that is blind praise. What a photographer wants most is the affirmation of his work by others. When you shoot something, you will inevitably receive a lot of compliments from people around you, and many of them are blind, to some extent just to please you. And many people will be blinded by praise, immersed in self-identity, and can't see what needs to be improved in their own creation. Sometimes, you may win some photography awards, and at this time, many people will forget the original purpose of photography.

As a photographer, shouldn't you forget yourself and integrate into the world as an observer?

Finally, send some more photos.

PS。 Thank you, dear, for seeing the ending. Having said so much, it only represents some personal views. Everyone has a different understanding of taking pictures or photography. Welcome to leave a message and exchange information: -P

My other articles:

Tibet, walking in the clouds.

Red Project | Red is everywhere.