Where are the skills of cultural relics photography?

On the Methods and Skills of Cultural Relics Photography

Author: Niu Aihong

Henan museum librarian, photo studio photographer.

Cultural relics are the remains of material culture and spiritual culture in human history. The information it contains has historical, artistic, scientific and other values, and is an important cultural heritage of the historical development of a country and a nation. In social life, people pay more and more attention to and love it. However, most cultural relics are kept in museums and other institutions. In addition to visiting the ruins, it is also an important way to understand and appreciate cultural relics through pictures. Therefore, cultural relic photography plays a very important role. Cultural relic photography introduces these exquisite treasures to more people in the form of pictures. Its function is to provide historical evidence for the study of cultural relics, and to provide people with images of appreciation and cultural exchange. In today's network age, cultural relics pictures make traditional culture have more audiences in a faster way. Then, mastering the methods and skills of cultural relics photography is an important means to strengthen the artistic value of cultural relics.

Cultural relic photography is different from general news and advertising photography. It reproduces the artistic and scientific value of historical relics through the documentary characteristics of photography, so authenticity is the first element of cultural relics photography. To do a good job in cultural relics photography, photographers are required to have certain qualities, understand history and cultural relics. When shooting a cultural relic, they can understand the historical background of the relic and the characteristics of social and cultural life in its time, so as to have a clear concept. In this way, when shooting, they can be targeted, mobilize the light, angle, lens and other photographic languages to express cultural relics, and make full use of artistic means to shape cultural relics. It also requires real, clear and accurate shooting of cultural relics, and it is strictly forbidden to exaggerate, deform or unnecessarily modify cultural relics through technical means. Cultural relics are priceless treasures left by our ancestors. After years of social changes and wars, relatively few cultural relics have been handed down to this day. And with the passage of time, there will be fewer and fewer cultural relics that can be handed down to the world. Therefore, cultural relics are very precious, and non-renewable is its biggest feature. Once a cultural relic is damaged, it can never be repaired. The primary premise of cultural relics photography is to ensure the safety of cultural relics.

Cultural relics photography requires high equipment, so cameras with specifications of 120 and 4×5 should be selected. The advantage of this camera is that the front and rear frames can independently lift, move left and right and twist. When shooting, the perspective deformation caused by different angles of the lens to the subject can be adjusted, and the smaller aperture can ensure the clear range of cultural relics. 135 camera can take samples of cultural relics.

In cultural relics photography, the use of lenses is varied, and different objects have different requirements. Let's first understand the characteristics of lenses with different focal lengths: lenses can be divided into wide-angle, standard and medium telephoto lenses according to different focal lengths. Wide-angle lens is characterized by short focal length, large field of view and wide shooting range. When the distance cannot be increased in a narrow environment, the wide-angle lens can expand the shooting field of vision and take photos of panoramic or large scenes within a limited distance. The wide-angle lens also has the characteristics of super-scale rendering, which exaggerates the prospect. It is often used when shooting ancient tombs, grottoes and other cultural relics that are greatly restricted by the environment. The focal length of the standard lens is basically equal to the diagonal length of the negative frame. Although there are still differences in the field of view (generally between 45 and 55), most of them are close to the human eye's perspective. Therefore, the perspective relationship of pictures taken with standard lens is more in line with people's visual habits. Because the focal length, field of view, shooting range, depth of field and the image size obtained at the same shooting distance of the standard lens are moderate, this kind of lens is the most widely used. Medium focal length lens belongs to long focal length lens. The focal length of a medium focal length lens is about twice that of a standard lens, and the focal length of a long focal length lens is longer. Its * * * features are: long focal length, small field of view and large imaging on the negative. Therefore, at the same distance, you can take larger images than the standard lens. Because the range of depth of field of medium-long focal length lens is smaller than that of standard lens, it is beneficial to blur the messy background of the subject, and the subject is generally far from the camera, and the deformation is small during perspective, which compresses the space before and after the subject of cultural relics, so it is often used to shoot cultural relics.

Pay attention to the depth of field when shooting. When the camera lens focuses on a scene, the scene can form a clear image on the film plane, and scenes within a certain distance before and after the scene can also form a relatively clear image on the film plane. The vertical and vertical depth of the scene space with clear image is called depth of field. The depth of field can be divided into two parts, the part in front of the focus target is called the foreground depth of field, and the part behind the focus target is called the back depth of field. The sum of the front and back depth of field, that is, the distance from the front boundary of the depth of field of the nearest clear point to the back boundary of the depth of field of the farthest clear point, is called Quan Jingshen. When shooting cultural relics with a large landline, we should focus on the first third of the cultural relics, use the high-power light output of the flash, ensure the clarity of the cultural relics with the smallest aperture, and ensure a sufficient clear range by using the depth of field before and after. After focusing is completed, the depth of field and clear range can be determined by the depth of field prediction button on the camera.

Application of lighting: it is best to use electronic flash for lighting of cultural relics photography. Electronic flash is a cold light source, and long-term illumination will not damage cultural relics. The number of lamps shall be at least four, namely, top lamp, main lamp, auxiliary lamp and background lamp. The output of each lamp should produce a certain light ratio according to the specific cultural relics, which perfectly represents the cultural relics. Shooting cultural relics mainly depends on indoor lighting, and photographers can arrange the projection direction and intensity of light at will according to their own needs. Different directions of light projection have different effects on shaping cultural relics. Generally speaking, the light is smooth without light and shade, which is mostly used for general lighting and auxiliary photosynthesis; Side light is longer than depicting the contrast between light and shade on each side of an object, which can isolate the object from the background and enhance the depth of the picture; Backlight is used to outline the outline of objects, which has a special effect of highlighting the three-dimensional sense; The dome light acts on the top and waist of the vessel with complex shape; The bottom light has the emotional color of rendering the majesty, fierceness and horror of characters and animals. The intensity of light varies according to the needs of different cultural relics, and the primary and secondary light can only be arranged according to the primary and secondary relationship of each part of the object shape. Shadows give the subject a three-dimensional sense and a sense of space. In composition, emphasizing the change of shadow as a special element can make the shadow effect promote the expression of graphic theme to a certain extent. Highlighting shadow elements can skillfully combine different angles, different dimensions and different things of homogeneous projection or heterogeneous projection, giving the picture a new artistic conception.

Background: When shooting cultural relics, use background paper to create a clean atmosphere. The background color should not be too bright. The chaotic colors set off the cultural relics, destroying the outline of the cultural relics, and the large-scale color reflection is easy to make the cultural relics fade. At present, the background paper widely used in the world is medium gray, because gray is a neutral color, which can match cultural relics of any color and is conducive to highlighting cultural relics.

Tripod: The clarity of cultural relics photography is the primary guarantee, so you must use a tripod when shooting, which is beneficial to composition and focusing and avoids the jitter caused by hand-held shooting.

Exposure meter: Most professional cameras commonly used in cultural relics photography do not have built-in metering devices, and need external exposure meters. You should choose an exposure meter with measurable flash and continuous light source.

In addition, a large number of auxiliary tools are also essential in cultural relics photography. Reflective plate, viscose, eliminating reflective spray and so on are all necessary.

Cultural relics are classified by texture, mainly including bronzes, pottery, porcelain, jade, calligraphy and painting. Cultural relics have different textures and shapes, different shooting equipment, different shooting methods and different light. Below, give an example to illustrate.

Jade is an important category of cultural relics. In traditional culture, jade is regarded as an object with five virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith, so it was often used to make exquisite and valuable ritual vessels in ancient times. The jade articles preserved now are famous for their exquisite workmanship, beautiful shape and bright colors. How to express the exquisite and lifelike artistic effect of jade is directly related to the choice of background, the use of lighting and the control of exposure. Jade articles are usually divided into white, blue, green, ink and yellow. When shooting, we should pay attention to the control of the light of the ceiling lamp, try to separate the background from the vessel, increase the three-dimensional sense, show the depth of the space and the surrounding atmosphere, and the light on the back of the vessel outlines the outline of the vessel, showing the crystal clear texture of jade; A main lamp can illuminate from the side of the object to show the subtle intaglio lines and exquisite bas-relief of the object; The third auxiliary lamp can emit faint auxiliary light to the front in the distance to illuminate the whole vessel to show the overall effect of the vessel. When shooting the exposure meter, if you choose the incident exposure meter, the exposure meter should be placed in front of the object, parallel to the object and facing the camera, so that the measured exposure combination will not be affected by the background light. When shooting, it is difficult to place jade articles, such as Yu Pei and Jade Wall, which are thin and transparent and often have hollow patterns. If you lay it flat, it will lack three-dimensional sense. In order to make the cultural relics stand up, try to support them with tiny and solid things behind them, so that there will be no obvious support marks in the photos. For some larger objects, you can prepare a piece of white plasticine and stick it on the back of the cultural relics according to the size of the supporting points to expand the supporting surface.

In the photography of three-dimensional cultural relics such as bronzes and pottery, we should pay attention to their modeling, texture and three-dimensional sense, so as to truly reproduce the image of the original cultural relics. The key to highlight the three-dimensional sense lies in the distribution of light. Proper use of top light can outline the shape of cultural relics, and attention should be paid to the light ratio of main light and auxiliary light, so as not to form a large area of plane light, which is not conducive to the shaping of three-dimensional sense. The shooting angle should find the viewing surface that can best summarize the appearance characteristics of the equipment, and try to show its beautiful shape. There are a large number of utensils with mouths, such as pots, ding, cups, statues, etc. Mouth is an important shape feature of these objects. Choosing the right angle and height when shooting can accurately show the mouth shape. Generally speaking, the angle should be able to see the front and rear edges of the mouth.

The shooting of cultural relics is usually in the center of the picture, but if the object itself is directional, we should consider the layout of the whole picture, such as the shooting of three-color horses, so that the space in front of the horse's head is slightly larger than the space behind it, giving cultural relics a sense of life and room for progress. The change of camera height is also very important when shooting, and different shooting heights have different effects. Flat shot: refers to the camera shooting position is the same as the height of the object being photographed, that is, the camera heads up shooting, which is characterized by difficult deformation and friendly and natural shooting picture. Overhead shooting: it means that the shooting position of the camera is higher than the height of the subject, that is, the camera shoots from top to bottom. Generally speaking, aerial photography is mostly used in large-scale scenes such as ceramic gardens, which can produce a better sense of space and show the whole picture of unearthed cultural relics and some specific details in the courtyard as comprehensively as possible. Upward shooting: It means that the shooting position of the camera is lower than the height of the subject, that is, the camera shoots from bottom to top. Upward shooting is generally used to emphasize and exaggerate the height of the subject, but it will cause the deformation of the subject when shooting, especially when the shooting distance is small. When shooting the pottery building in the building utensils, you can let the camera shoot up slightly below the center line of the pottery building, which can show the height of the pottery building. If it is photographed, it is easy to crush the building.

Jade is an important category of cultural relics. In traditional culture, jade is regarded as an object with five virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith, so it was often used to make exquisite and valuable ritual vessels in ancient times. The jade articles preserved now are famous for their exquisite workmanship, beautiful shape and bright colors. How to express the exquisite and lifelike artistic effect of jade is directly related to the choice of background, the use of lighting and the control of exposure. Jade articles are usually divided into white, blue, green, ink and yellow. When shooting, we should pay attention to the control of the light of the ceiling lamp, try to separate the background from the vessel, increase the three-dimensional sense, show the depth of the space and the surrounding atmosphere, and the light on the back of the vessel outlines the outline of the vessel, showing the crystal clear texture of jade; A main lamp can illuminate from the side of the object to show the subtle intaglio lines and exquisite bas-relief of the object; The third auxiliary lamp can emit faint auxiliary light to the front in the distance to illuminate the whole vessel to show the overall effect of the vessel. When shooting the exposure meter, if you choose the incident exposure meter, the exposure meter should be placed in front of the object, parallel to the object and facing the camera, so that the measured exposure combination will not be affected by the background light. When shooting, it is difficult to place jade articles, such as Yu Pei and Jade Wall, which are thin and transparent and often have hollow patterns. If you lay it flat, it will lack three-dimensional sense. In order to make the cultural relics stand up, try to support them with tiny and solid things behind them, so that there will be no obvious support marks in the photos. For some larger objects, you can prepare a piece of white plasticine and stick it on the back of the cultural relics according to the size of the supporting points to expand the supporting surface.

In the photography of three-dimensional cultural relics such as bronzes and pottery, we should pay attention to their modeling, texture and three-dimensional sense, so as to truly reproduce the image of the original cultural relics. The key to highlight the three-dimensional sense lies in the distribution of light. Proper use of top light can outline the shape of cultural relics, and attention should be paid to the light ratio of main light and auxiliary light, so as not to form a large area of plane light, which is not conducive to the shaping of three-dimensional sense. The shooting angle should find the viewing surface that can best summarize the appearance characteristics of the equipment, and try to show its beautiful shape. There are a large number of utensils with mouths, such as pots, ding, cups, statues, etc. Mouth is an important shape feature of these objects. Choosing the right angle and height when shooting can accurately show the mouth shape. Generally speaking, the angle should be able to see the front and rear edges of the mouth.

The shooting of cultural relics is usually in the center of the picture, but if the object itself is directional, we should consider the layout of the whole picture, such as the shooting of three-color horses, so that the space in front of the horse's head is slightly larger than the space behind it, giving cultural relics a sense of life and room for progress. The change of camera height is also very important when shooting, and different shooting heights have different effects. Flat shot: refers to the camera shooting position is the same as the height of the object being photographed, that is, the camera heads up shooting, which is characterized by difficult deformation and friendly and natural shooting picture. Overhead shooting: it means that the shooting position of the camera is higher than the height of the subject, that is, the camera shoots from top to bottom. Generally speaking, aerial photography is mostly used in large-scale scenes such as ceramic gardens, which can produce a better sense of space and show the whole picture of unearthed cultural relics and some specific details in the courtyard as comprehensively as possible. Upward shooting: It means that the shooting position of the camera is lower than the height of the subject, that is, the camera shoots from bottom to top. Upward shooting is generally used to emphasize and exaggerate the height of the subject, but it will cause the deformation of the subject when shooting, especially when the shooting distance is small. When shooting the pottery building in the building utensils, you can let the camera shoot up slightly below the center line of the pottery building, which can show the height of the pottery building. If it is photographed, it is easy to crush the building.

When shooting the wrong gold, silver and bronze tripod in the Warring States period, we should not only find the angle that best shows the shape characteristics of the tripod, but also show the details such as flow, feet and ears. Therefore, when placing, the cultural relics should be turned over to find a non-overlapping angle, and the height of the camera should be able to display all three feet. In the use of light, in order to strengthen the vivid and gorgeous gold and silver texture, the light output is strengthened on the front of the cultural relics, which echoes the top light and highlights the dignity and nobility of the cultural relics.

When shooting cultural relics, we can sometimes shoot them by unconventional means. For example, this picture of female figurines in the Tang Dynasty highlights the subject through the contrast between reality and reality, with emphasis on the subject in the foreground. By controlling the depth of field, the female figurines behind us become blurred, so that the viewer's line of sight will naturally focus on the subject, and the subject will stand out. In addition, you can also use the contrast between the virtual and the real to express the sense of movement, so that the subject is clear and the environment is empty, or the subject is empty and the environment is clear, which can strongly show the sense of movement of the subject.

Pay attention to perspective when shooting calligraphy and painting, so as to ensure that calligraphy and painting are not deformed. It requires the camera to be completely parallel to the calligraphy and painting, and observe whether the four borders of the calligraphy and painting are deformed from the viewfinder. If it is big or small, the distance between the upper part of the lens and the calligraphy and painting is smaller than that of the lower part, and the left and right deformation is the same. So make sure that the camera lens and calligraphy and painting are horizontal when shooting. The lighting of calligraphy and painting requires a balanced overall light. Generally, a lamp is placed from the left and right sides to illuminate at a 45-degree angle, and the middle part is the intersection of the two lamps. It is necessary to measure the light received by each part of calligraphy and painting with an exposure meter to ensure that the output is consistent before shooting.

Special shooting requirements require special shooting methods. For example, in the process of uncovering and restoring ancient calligraphy and painting, researchers should analyze its age by looking at the paper used in ancient calligraphy and painting and the materials used for mounting at that time, and photographers should find ways to express the texture of paper and satin through special cloth lighting. When shooting a scroll in the Tang Dynasty, the warp and weft veins of the material are represented by the light transmitted from the back.

Cultural relic photography has become a unique category of photography because of its special working nature. Cultural relic photography is an important means of cultural relic knowledge dissemination. To build a harmonious socialist country, we need to respect and tap the essence of historical traditional culture. Cultural relic photography interprets cultural relics in all directions from different angles, which provides strong evidence for learning and inheriting excellent traditional culture. Cultural relics photography is also a work of continuous exploration. Mastering the methods and skills of cultural relics photography will give you a key to continue exploring.