Matters needing attention in shooting rain scenes

Taking pictures in rainy days is easy to get elegant and hazy effect, because the rain reflects light, the distant scenery is bright and the image is hazy, and the scenery in the picture is strong in color and has a unique flavor.

Exposure in rainy days

The light changes in rainy days are very complicated. Sometimes, like cloudy days, the brightness is very low, the sense of direction of light is not clear, and sometimes the scene in rainy days is very bright. The exposure between the two can be different by many times. Therefore, when shooting, it is best to use an exposure meter to measure light.

When shooting in rainy days, the method of reducing exposure is generally adopted, that is, reducing the normal exposure by one file to one and a half files, which is helpful to improve the contrast of the picture. Because water droplets, water droplets and water traces are almost transparent, overexposure in a dark environment can easily lose the texture of "water". Overexposure often occurs when shooting in rainy days. The contrast of rainy scenery is small, and overexposure will make the contrast smaller, so the photos taken are gray.

Shutter speed when shooting rain scene

When shooting a rain scene, the shutter speed should not be too high, because high speed will freeze the rain and form small spots, so there is no feeling of rain. If the shutter speed is too slow, the rain will stretch into long strips, and the effect is not good. Generally speaking, the speed from 1/30 seconds to 1/60 seconds is better. At this time, the shutter speed is not high, which can emphasize the movement when it rains. You can try to shoot with reference to the law that the rain is slow and the rain is fast and high.

The distance between the lens and the raindrops when shooting.

When shooting a rain scene, pay attention to the distance between the lens and the raindrops. When the raindrop is too close to the camera, a small raindrop will also cover the distant scenery. Of course, sometimes this special effect is needed intentionally. Be careful that the camera can't get wet in the rain, and don't splash the rain on the lens. Generally, you can cover the camera with an umbrella or put the camera in a plastic bag to expose the lens and viewfinder.

Attention should be paid to shooting rain scenes:

1. When shooting a rain scene, bright rain can stand out on a dark background. Don't use the sky or light-colored scenery as the background.

2. The layers of ripples splashed by raindrops will be a good shooting point in the rain scene.

3. indoors, if you want to show the outdoor rain scene through the window, you can coat a thin layer of oil on the outdoor glass window, so that water droplets can easily hang on the glass and render the rainy atmosphere.

4. When shooting a rainy night scene, the picture will be very realistic due to the reflection of light and ground water. Especially when shooting with color film, the color effect of rainy night scene is more abundant than that of ordinary night scene.

Wet beauty! Shooting skills of summer rain scene

Photographs taken on rainy days have bright distant scenery and hazy images due to the reflection of rain, and the scenery in the picture has strong colors and unique flavor.

In fact, when shooting rain scenes, we should pay attention to the following aspects:

1. Because the light changes greatly in rainy days, sometimes the brightness of rainy days is very high, and the brightness of cloudy days is very low. The exposure of the two can be different by many times, so it is best to use an exposure meter to measure light when shooting.

2. When shooting in rainy days, there is often too much exposure, which is extremely unfavorable to the performance of rainy scenes. Because the contrast of rainy scenery is small, overexposure will make the contrast smaller, and the photo looks gray. Therefore, the methods of reducing exposure and prolonging development are generally adopted to improve contrast. Normal exposure can be reduced by one step to one and a half steps, and the development time can be increased by 20% ~ 30% for each step reduction, which is helpful to improve the picture contrast.

When shooting a rain scene, don't take the sky as the background, but choose a darker background, so as to set off the bright rain. If there is water in the picture, whether it is the water surface of rivers and lakes or the accumulated water in the street, the layers of ripples splashed by raindrops on the water surface will also contribute to the performance of the rain scene.

4. Rainwater will not fall to the ground vertically, and it is generally appropriate to choose rainwater with an angle of 45 degrees. The shutter speed used should not be too high, because high speed will freeze the rain and form small spots, so there is no feeling of rain. If the shutter speed is too slow, the rain will stretch into long strips, and the effect is not good. Generally speaking, the speed of1/30s ~1/60s is better. At this time, the shutter speed is not high, which can emphasize the movement when it rains.

5. When shooting a rain scene, pay attention to the distance between the lens and the raindrops. When the raindrop is too close to the camera, a small raindrop will also cover the distant scenery. Of course, sometimes this special effect is needed intentionally. Be careful that the camera can't get wet in the rain, and don't splash the rain on the lens. Generally, you can cover the camera with an umbrella or put the camera in a plastic bag to expose the lens and viewfinder.

6. indoors, if you want to show the outdoor rain scene through the window, you can coat a thin layer of oil on the outdoor glass window. In this way, water droplets can easily hang on the glass, rendering the atmosphere of rainy days.

7. When shooting a rainy scene with color film, due to the high color temperature of rainy light, when using daylight film, the photo will have obvious blue tone. This color cast does not need to be corrected, because the blue tone can render the feeling of cold in rainy days.

8. When shooting a rainy night scene, the picture will be very realistic due to the reflection of light and ground water. Especially when shooting with color film, the color effect of rainy night scene is more abundant than that of ordinary night scene.

Discussion on the importance of polarizer and matters needing attention in use

Polarizer is the most important filter in landscape photography.

Many photographers know how to use polarizers to make the blue sky bluer and eliminate the reflection of glass, water and metal, but in fact polarizers can do more. Even on cloudy days, polarizers have obvious effects. Although it can't turn the gray sky into blue, it can make the color stronger by removing the reflection from the surface. For example, on a cloudy day, every leaf, every piece of glass and every slippery stone will reflect some light from the gray sky. These reflections obviously lighten the color. Put a polarizer in front of the camera, turn it and you will find that the color becomes stronger. Try shooting the same scene with or without a polarizer, and you will find amazing differences in the final photo. Use it on the left, and don't use a polarizer on the right.

On cloudy days, the effect of saturated color of polarizer is as obvious as eliminating reflection. It's easy to use a polarizer, just screw it on your lens, look through your viewfinder and rotate it at the same time until you get a satisfactory result. Sometimes you can't see any change by rotating the polarizer, because the polarizer only works when the direction of light is at 90 degrees with the axis of the polarizer. If the light comes directly from behind you or you are shooting the light source directly (sunset), the polarizer will have no effect. But if the light comes from your left or right, or directly from your head (noon sunshine, cloudy weather), the filter will magically remove the reflection, darken the blue sky, eliminate the shadow and saturate the color. This is the filter you must have. Look at the effect below, obviously, there is a photo of the mirror on the right, and the scenery in the distance is much clearer. Compare the effects of using and not using polarizer in sidelight environment ―― Note that polarizer will not reduce brightness and saturate color.

Which one do you choose? There are two kinds of polarizers, linear and circular. Can meet the basic requirements, but the use principle is different. Old-fashioned manual cameras can use linear polarizers (cheap). Autofocus and digital cameras need circular polarizers, because linear polarizers will affect metering and autofocus. However, it can work well on any camera with circular offset (CPL). Most polarizers are a little blue. Therefore, although all colors can penetrate, they often leave a perceptible blue mark on photos (especially on slides, the printing effect is better).

In order to avoid "blue", some manufacturers produce "warm color" polarizers. This combination filter is excellent. My favorite and the one I use most is Singer-Ray's "A 13 Warm Polarizer". Other manufacturers such as Heliopan, Tiffen and hoya are also producing warm-tone polarizers. It is recommended to buy high-quality polarizers. Cheap goods are worse than nothing. Insist on buying famous brands (Singh-ray, Tiffany, Hoya, Heliopan, and B+W) to make sure there is nothing wrong.

Love it or hate it ―― Blue-yellow polarizer

This is a special filter that people love and hate. This filter was first developed by Cokin and is a combination of polarizers, which can enhance the metallic blue and yellow/gold in the scene and make the whole picture warm. Here, when I turn the filter, the color of the road and sky changes from metallic blue to gold. Finally, I chose the blue version. Notice how the filter adds warm tones to the non-reflective parts of the scene.

Gradient lens-a bit complicated.

In my opinion, the variable density neutral filter (grey mirror) revolutionized landscape photography (now computers and digital cameras are arranged to play this role). This filter consists of translucent glass (or optical plastics) and semi-neutral glass (such as gray) with gradient density. The principle behind this filter is that the sky is usually much brighter than the land, and film or digital cameras usually cannot record both details at the same time. In the absence of a gradient lens, the result is usually that the sky is washed white; With the filter, the sky is restored to the appropriate details.

Yes, because film or digital cameras can't record such a wide brightness range without filters, the fiery sunset in my eyes turned into a washed white sky. Through a gradual gradient lens, the scenery miraculously restored the truth in the eyes. Using these filters is tricky. First of all, you need a high strength (Cokin) bracket to put the gradient lenses in the right position. Now through your viewfinder, pull the gradient lens up and down in the bracket at the same time, and you will know that the smooth transition between colorless glass and gray glass coincides with the boundary between heaven and earth. You want to transition on the horizon (it's easier on the grassland than in the mountains).

If you want to see the accurate effect of the gradient, you need your camera to have a depth of field prediction button. Make sure your camera is set at the aperture position you choose (a small aperture will make the edge of the gradient area clear). Press the depth of field prediction button, swing the filter in the high-intensity bracket until you see the dividing line, and then accurately place the dividing line at the required position (for example, on the horizon or at the junction of light and shadow). How to decide which gradient lens to choose (see below) and which density is definitely worth practicing.

For professionals, Singh-Ray has produced a large number of gradient mirrors with different types of gradient areas (hard edge, soft edge, inverted edge, strip, etc.). ) to cope with the impassable scenery. When the horizon is clear, I choose the hard-edge gradient gradient mirror, otherwise, I choose the soft-edge gradient gradient mirror. A perfect place to use the soft-edged gradient mirror is the lake with reflection. Cover the dark part above the sky, and cover the light transition part above the reflection. This method makes the reflection of the shallow transition part slightly darker, and at the same time makes the dark part cover the brighter sky, so that the water surface in the foreground has enough details.

Gradient mirror has a density change of one to five levels, from completely transparent to the deepest density. Having a group of six gradient lenses can meet 90% of the demand. Among them, Singer-Ray's Galen Lowell neutral density gradient mirror has 1, 2 and 3 hard edges and 1, 2 and 3 soft edges. Two (such as a level 2 and a level 3) are often used in combination to weaken the contrast between sunrise and sunset. This combination gives me a gorgeous sky like a flame and a prospect with rich details and correct exposure. Without the filter, the foreground will be black and the sky will be white. In order to decide which intensity filter to use, the foreground and sky are measured separately, and the number of stages (for example, 3 stages) required to adapt to the illumination ratio of the two regions is calculated. No matter what the light ratio is, choose a filter one level less than the actual one, otherwise the sky will be too dark and look fake. Whether it sounds like advanced mathematics or not, yes! Another method is to take a photo with all densities, and then go home and choose a photo with correct exposure or browse the effect in advance with the LCD screen of a digital camera. It won't be long before you can intuitively know which filter is the most suitable. For beginners, I recommend Gaojian series of gray gradient mirrors. There is one or two "intermediate edges" (P 12 1 and P 122 respectively), and a general standard filter is provided to help you decide whether the gradient mirror is suitable for you.

If you shoot many scenes of sunrise and sunset, or like to shoot scenery with bright light and shadow, or like to have a large sky in the picture, then the gradient mirror will make your photos better. On the contrary, if you are a photographer with sunny sky and white clouds, a polarizer is a better investment.

Warm filter (warm filter)

Whether you shoot shadows, at dusk or in cloudy weather, the film will record a slight blue tone. Digital cameras counteract this blue tone by automatically adjusting the white balance. Film camera doesn't have this function, so when I shoot film, if it is cloudy or in the shadow, I insist on using a warm mirror to make the color closer to neutral color. My two favorite warm mirrors are Singh-Ray's A 13 warm mirror and TIFFEN's S 8 12 filter (the latter is more useful when it is very necessary to correct the blue color).

Combination filter multiple filters I often use several filters at the same time as needed to meet my own requirements. For example, gradient lenses and polarizers are often used in combination, or gradient lenses and warm mirrors are often used to obtain images that are impossible to obtain without filters. Here, I use a warm mirror to eliminate the blue color in the shadow, and use a hard-edged gradient lens to reduce the brightness of the sky and peaks.

Other filters

I am used to putting all kinds of filters in my camera bag, such as gradient lens, soft lens, cold lens, color enhancement lens and color correction lens. I found that many of them are artificial and actually useless. These effects can be easily obtained by software. The filter described in the last article is the landscape filter I must have. The effect of blue-yellow polarizer and color polarizer can't be copied by software, and even the effect of gradient lens is much better than that of computer processing. It's hard to imagine how I would take pictures without a filter in my camera bag.

Methods and skills of shooting rain scenes with landscape paintings in the rain

Photos taken on rainy days, because of the reflection of rain, the distant scenery is bright and the image is hazy, and the scenery in the picture is strong in color and has a unique flavor.

When shooting rain scenes, we should pay attention to the following points:

1. The light changes greatly in rainy days. Sometimes the brightness of rainy scenes is very high, and the brightness of rainy days is very low. The exposure between them can be different by many times. Therefore, when shooting, it is best to use an exposure meter to measure light.

2. When shooting in rainy days, overexposure often occurs, which is extremely unfavorable to the performance of rainy scenes. Because the contrast is small in rainy days, overexposure will make the contrast smaller and the photos will look gray. Therefore, the methods of reducing exposure and prolonging development are generally adopted to improve contrast. The normal exposure can be reduced by 1 block to 1 block and a half, and each reduction of 1 block can be increased by 20%-30%.

3. When shooting a rain scene, don't take the sky as the background, but choose a darker background, so as to set off bright raindrops. If there is water in the picture, whether it is the water on the surface of rivers and lakes or the accumulated water on the street, the ripples caused by raindrops on the water surface will also contribute to the performance of the rain scene.

4. Rainwater will not fall to the ground vertically, so 45? The direction is right. The shutter speed used should not be too high, because high speed will freeze the rain and form small spots, so there is no feeling of rain. If the shutter speed is too slow, the rain will be pulled into long strips, which is not effective. Generally, the speed of 1/30 seconds to 1/60 seconds is better, and the movement of rain can be emphasized when the shutter speed is not high.

5. When shooting a rain scene, pay attention to the distance between the lens and the raindrops. When the raindrop is too close to the camera, a small raindrop will also cover the distant scenery. Of course, sometimes this special effect is intentionally needed. Be careful that the camera can't get wet and don't splash raindrops on the lens. Generally, you can cover it with an umbrella, or put the camera in a plastic bag to expose the lens and the location of the view.

6. indoors, if you want to show the outdoor rain scene through the window, you can coat a thin layer of oil on the outdoor glass window. In this way, water droplets can easily hang on the glass, rendering a rainy atmosphere.

7. When shooting a rainy scene with color film, due to the high color temperature of rainy light, when using daylight film, the photo will appear obvious blue tone. This color cast does not need to be corrected, because the blue tone can render the feeling of cold in rainy days.

8. When shooting a rainy night scene, the picture will be very realistic due to the reflection of light and ground water. Especially when shooting with color film, the color effect of rainy night scene is more abundant than that of ordinary night scene.

See the sun, for all his glory, sunset shooting skills and precautions.

"Looking at the sun, everything is glorious", in photography, the light at dusk has the most abundant and diverse changes, and it is one of the most ideal scenery photography materials. But the gorgeous scenery is fleeting, and shooting the sunset and sunset clouds often requires high technology. In this article, we will focus on the light and time in the sunset to understand how to shoot a good sunset.

Shooting preparation

Because the actual distance of the sun is far away, even if a 200mm lens is used, only a fingernail-sized image can be left in the picture. I suggest you use DC with telephoto lens. When the sun goes down, the brightness of the light will drop obviously. A tripod is essential for slow shutter and telephoto shooting. At dusk, there will be a sunset glow on the ground to cover the light scattered by the sun, showing a sun without light scattering. This is the time to shoot the sunset. When the sun begins to weaken and the surrounding sky or clouds begin to appear red or yellow sunset, the change of sunrise or sunset is impermanent and rapid, so it is best to make a picture in your mind in advance before the actual shooting to avoid confusion.

Exposure; expose

It is difficult to grasp the exposure when shooting the sunset, because the light changes too fast, and it can generally be exposed according to the brightness of the center of the picture. The main object of photometry is the sky. Once overexposed, the atmosphere at sunset is difficult to reflect. Photographers can control the exposure to the first gear less than half gear. Because the brightness of the sun is always much higher than the brightness of the sky, if the exposure of the sky is too sufficient, the sun will definitely be overexposed, so it is necessary to measure the exposure of the sky when shooting. Directly facing the sun, the exposure reading is always inaccurate. This will result in only the sun in the photo, while the rest is underexposed.

Many times, underexposure is better than overexposure. Exposure measurement with background can make the subject seriously underexposed and form a strong silhouette. You can choose the camera's metering mode as "spot metering" and then meter the sky. If your camera has an exposure lock AE lock, press the AE lock button to lock the exposure value (some DC press the shutter button to lock it). Then readjust the composition and shoot with the exposure just now, so that you can shoot a perfect silhouette effect. If the photometry is not in the sky when shooting the sunset, other objects in the photo will appear more obvious, resulting in the sun not protruding enough. If you aim the photometry at the sky, you can set off the main body of the sun.

Select white balance

Digital camera has rich white balance effect, which can replace simple color filter. Generally speaking, the white balance of DC includes: sunshine, cloudy days, lamps and incandescent lamps. When daylight white balance is selected, the picture is yellowest, and when incandescent white balance is selected, the picture is bluest. When shooting a sunset, it is recommended to choose automatic white balance or daylight white balance, and the yellow tone can better express the atmosphere of sunset.

Cloud factor

Cloud is a natural reflective object in shooting, which can spread the rays of the sun, thus constantly changing the shooting effect. Clouds can also be the subject of shooting. However, it should be noted that when the clouds cover the sunset, there will be light from the back edge of the clouds, adding a very beautiful and moving effect to the photos. Light will emerge from the back edge of the cloud. At sunset, the sun looks big and round. If there are red clouds around, the scenery is quite charming. In order to expose correctly, several exposure schemes should be designed to combine shooting. If you want to use the foreground to represent the sunset scenery in the sky, the foreground is often regarded as a silhouette effect, and the acquisition of the silhouette effect photo makes full use of the light difference between the subject and the background. Generally speaking, the backlight at sunset is easy to show the effect of silhouette, because the light is the softest at this time, so choose the position and angle in advance. When the sun sets on the horizon and turns from red to orange, or from orange to red, it doesn't look dazzling, which is the best time to shoot. Sometimes the sun hides behind the clouds, and there will be a bright edge around the clouds, which is also very suitable for shooting. However, due to the impermanence of clouds, photographers are required to pay attention to observation and seize the opportunity to press the shutter. When shooting with clouds as the main body, generally speaking, we should aim the metering point at the clouds to measure the light, but at the same time, we should be careful not to expose ourselves to the sun. Cloud is a natural reflective object in shooting, which can reflect or refract sunlight, thus constantly changing the moving image. Cloud is an essential factor in many excellent sunset works, so cloud can also be used as the main theme of shooting.

Water factor

Shooting the reflection of the water surface will add a lot of color to the sunset photos, and a calm sea surface or lake can reflect the scenery in the sky. It presents a mirror-like image, which is always disturbed by the breeze blowing over the water. Leave more dazzling light on the water, and draw a light path from the horizon to the foreground of the picture. When the sun goes down, this light path will extend to your eyes. The first thing to pay attention to when shooting at the water's edge is the composition factor. Many excellent sunset photographs are done by the water's edge, because at sunset, the sparkling water reflects the beautiful rosy clouds, and the sails of the ships on the water add a little vividness to the picture. Shooting the reflection of the water surface will add a lot of color to the sunset photos, and a calm sea surface or lake can reflect the scenery in the sky. When metering, the average metering mode is generally selected, so that the light distribution of the whole picture can be uniform without overexposure or underexposure.

stunt

The use of aperture at sunset is very noteworthy. Shooting with a small aperture can make the sun shine like a star. The smaller the aperture, the more obvious this effect is.

Summary: Photography is actually playing with light. If the scene of shooting the sunset is properly grasped, the light and shadow can be vividly portrayed. The light is dim at dusk, so the exposure must be sufficient. Theory returns to theory, and the best way to improve the level of photography is to pick up the camera and take some pictures on the spot.

Shooting skills and precautions of snow scene in ice and snow

It is better to shoot the snow scene on a sunny day after the snow, and it would be better if we could catch up with the morning light. In the sun, the use of side light and side backlight can best show the bright and dark level of snow scene and the transparent texture of snow particles, and the color tone is also rich in changes, even if it is a distant view, it can also produce a far-reaching atmosphere.

If you shoot people in the snow, you'd better add auxiliary light to your face and put a hood on the camera lens. If black-and-white film is used to shoot snow scenes, dark yellow, orange yellow or yellow-green filters should be added to lower the sky tone, reduce the brightness of snow and make the scene tone soft. If you take a snow scene with a color film, it is best to use a polarizer to absorb the polarized light reflected by the snow, reduce the brightness, adjust the color tone, make the blue sky and white clouds stand out and improve the color saturation.

Correct metering and exposure are the key to success in taking snow photos. In a large area of snow scene, it is generally underexposed to shoot the snow scene with the camera internal photometer, because the camera internal photometer measures light through a certain program, and the displayed data is the average illumination value of highlights, midtones and shadows in the comprehensive scene. This is feasible in most cases, but in the snow scene, the strong reflected light often makes the photometric results differ by 1-2 exposure. In this case, exposure compensation can be used to increase the exposure of 1-2 level as appropriate, or the camera can be aimed at the halftone object for local proximity measurement, and the camera can be adjusted to the "manual" position to take pictures according to the data measured at this time. It will be accurate for photographers who use the incident light exposure meter to measure the light according to the light beam on the object shining on the snow and take photos according to the exposure data obtained.

On snowy days, to take pictures of snowflakes flying, you should choose a dark background as a foil; The shutter speed should not be too high, generally 1 15 to 160 seconds is appropriate, so that the flying snowflakes form lines and feel like snowflakes falling. When shooting people in heavy snow, be careful not to let snowflakes get too close to the camera, so as not to let snowflakes block people's faces because of perspective.

Shooting snow scenes should also make full use of branches, hedges and buildings covered with snow or ice to improve the expressive force of snow scenes, increase the spatial depth of pictures and enhance people's feelings about snow and ice.