How can a novice photographer accurately grasp the exposure of photography and improve the basic skills of photography?

For a novice photographer, it is difficult to accurately grasp the exposure of photography. He is like a friend who is not good at math. He gets dizzy when he sees numbers. So how can a novice photographer accurately grasp the exposure of photography and improve the basic skills of photography?

Photography is diverse, there is no right or wrong, and everyone has different purposes and different ways of practicing.

A small town under the night

Start by sticking to the M file.

Sunset photography

The reason why I advocate learning to use M-files in photography is not that M-files are superior to A-files. A file can really capture pictures more conveniently in the case of low contrast light. And M-file can make people understand the relationship between the change of light and the change of camera parameters in various environments more accurately when learning photography. For example, if you take a photo in a file, you can set the aperture, so how many shutters are left is almost entirely up to the camera to decide for you. However, due to different cameras, the photometric accuracy of each camera is also different. The problem comes out. Different cameras use the same parameters and shoot the same object with one file. Even if the metering points are the same, the exposure of the shot is almost the same. The greater the camera difference, the greater the exposure difference. I used three digital computers, Nikon D700, Nikon D800 and Nikon D4, to do an experiment. When the light is small, the exposure difference is relatively small, and when the contrast light is large, the exposure difference increases. That is to say, it is not bad to learn photography with A file, but it is not conducive to the accumulation of exposure experience under various lights. Without accumulation, it is impossible to cultivate feelings, which is not a good thing for long-term photography experience improvement.

Also, when using a file, the photographer will only pay attention to the aperture. For example, when shooting scenery, the aperture will be turned down, but when shooting portraits, more people will instinctively turn up the aperture. Few people will pay attention to the shutter that the camera automatically feeds back when using files. Many friends can recall that when you use a file to see a better scene or capture a landscape, most people can only remember how many apertures were used at that time. Because the aperture is set by yourself, I am impressed, and the shutter is automatic, so I won't remember it most of the time. But when you insist on using M file, both will be more impressive. At this time, every time you take a photo with inaccurate exposure, you will have an impression of how to set the parameters until you manually set an accurate exposure parameter. At this time, you will be more impressed by the aperture and shutter parameters of this photo. This accumulation of continuous shooting and setting forms the exposure experience of light. For a long time, most people can estimate the aperture and shutter needed to shoot a scene basically without camera metering after setting the shutter and aperture manually for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of times. At this time, the metering of the camera itself is only a reference, which can be easily increased or decreased manually according to your own needs to meet your own shooting habits and styles. In other words, it is up to the photographer to decide whether to take high-profile photos or low-profile photos, rather than relying on the camera itself.

Lotus pond moonlight

The most important thing to cultivate accurate exposure is to cultivate one's own feelings, that is, sensitivity to various ambient light. There are actually two kinds of feelings cultivated here. One is familiarity with the camera. If you use the camera for a long time, you will be familiar with the camera's feedback and sensitivity to all kinds of light. There is also my own subjective consciousness, how to take my favorite photos of exposure value in all kinds of light. We all say that photography is the art of practice, so the accumulation of practice is experience.

Accurately finding the metering point is also the basis of accurate exposure.

The premise of accurate exposure is to find an accurate photometric point, and we all know the most basic principle. The camera metering point is based on 18% gray scale. When the gray scale exceeds 18%, the camera will think it is overexposed, so it is necessary to keep a low profile, and lower the aperture or shutter. On the other hand, it is underexposed and needs to increase the aperture or shutter. So what exactly is 18% ash? This kind of problem that many beginners often can't catch. It is also a dedication for a friend to take a 18% gray card for photometry, but in more cases, the blue sky, the surface of leaves, the asphalt pavement and the back of people's hands are actually about 18% objects, which can be used as a reference for photometry. Of course, there are many more. This is really inconclusive. It is the result of our accumulated experience.

The calm before the storm.

If you are aiming at a white object, or a flower close to white or pink, then the camera thinks it is more than 18% gray, and the exposure value fed back to you may be inaccurate. This is the principle of "white plus black minus". When the photometry exceeds 18%, it is necessary to manually increase the exposure. On the contrary, it needs to be reduced. This specific mastery requires everyone to practice hard and accumulate experience. There are still many experiences to be explored and accumulated in life, not just the flowers I listed here. Only by deeply understanding this principle can we accumulate experience through constant attempts.

As for how to practice photometry, it is everywhere in daily life. After sitting in the office, you can practice taking pictures of cups, tables, and the contrast scenery between windows and rooms. It is not necessary to travel to practice photography. What I usually practice is. If you really travel, you can ensure that you can make a satisfactory and special film.

Get rid of the shackles of parameters and practice and accumulate in a down-to-earth manner.

I get questions about shooting something or how to set parameters for a scene almost every day. I have talked about my views last time. The essence of pursuing parameters is not knowing exposure. For example, today, a friend asked me how to set the parameters for shooting night scenes. This question is too broad. Where is the night scene? With or without lights, city or mountain? What was the light like then? Are there stars or the moon? Cloudy or sunny, summer or winter? If these factors change slightly, the parameters will be very different, so there is really no answer to this question. Personally, I think this friend should learn the precautions of shooting at night, such as tripod shooting will be more stable, small aperture shooting will shoot the light of stars, open the basic theory such as ISO when necessary, and then practice hard to accumulate your feelings.

In today's Weibo, all kinds of photography skills are spread wildly on WeChat every day, mostly to teach people how to shoot scenes in a specific environment. I'm not saying it's not good here, I just want to express my opinion. These tips can make it easy for you to take satisfactory photos under certain circumstances. But the moon is full of wind, rain and sunshine. What about the changed scene and light? Most people still can't shoot. What can't be circumvented is the basic skills of learning how to accurately expose in various ambient light.

As for how to expose it, the predecessors of hummingbirds have written a lot of this tutorial. You search, how to shoot the water, how to use the slow door, how to shoot the starry sky, and how to shoot the sunrise and sunset under different light. You have thoroughly studied all these tutorials, and if you practice hard, you will always get something. I am here to talk more about how to practice experience than to teach specific techniques.

Chinese ceramic art

Calm down and get rid of the mentality of crashing.

Most of us know a truth, that is, learning calligraphy, painting, or playing the piano and so on. Most of them need to learn from childhood, and it takes several years or even more than ten years to succeed. This is a common phenomenon in life, because we have heard and heard of this phenomenon around us, so we take it for granted and don't feel incomprehensible.

As far as photography is concerned, many friends think that pressing the shutter once is as simple as "clicking", so naturally it should be simple, and it should be quick and easy to use. So some friends think this is the easiest art for them to get started, and it is also something that amateurs can make some achievements. A western philosopher once said, "What we are most familiar with is often what we know least." Do we really know photography that well? How much do you really know about his past life and even all the functions of the camera in your hand?

Everyone agrees that photography and art are understandable at some levels, and the training process is similar. Then let's see how to practice. I have been practicing sketching, geometric drawing and color matching since I was a child. These basic skills have been practiced for many years. From a few years old, then in their teens, they are admitted to art universities and continue their internships. Then in their twenties, most people can start painting what can be called works. At this time, only a few people can learn.

So how can photography, which is similar to the process of art practice, be said to be quick to get started? Of course, most of us just play photography as a hobby, and there is no need to face it with a serious attitude. Many people just want to shoot their own satisfactory films during their travels, or just stop using the SLR as a card machine. But what you can't get around is the basic skills of exposure and composition, not attitude. If you want to write a word well, you must have a solid basic skill. Unless you just pat it for the record, then you don't have to worry about it.