Outdoor shooting for children’s photography

Among all photography works, taking location photos is undoubtedly a huge challenge for photographers. From scene selection, light, to photo angle, they all require careful planning. And children’s outdoor photos are something every children photographer often encounters. How to take better outdoor photos of children? 1.1. Outdoor portrait photography on a sunny day:

A sunny day is a good day for outdoor photography. Sufficient light and a pleasant mood are one of the important guarantees for taking good photos. However, it is not always possible to take good portrait photography on a sunny day. There are still many things that need to be paid attention to. Since the May Day holiday is in the middle of summer, the direct sunlight is relatively strong on a sunny day, and it is more difficult to take portrait photos under strong sunlight, so the time is generally chosen from 9 to 11 a.m. on a sunny day. , or 3 pm to 5 pm on a sunny day are good, because during these two periods the sun is relatively low and the light is not very strong. The sun is moderately bright when it is slanting, unlike the scorching sun at noon that easily produces ugly shadows.

In addition, the performance of people under soft sunlight is relatively better, the eyes are not easily affected by strong light, and the photos taken appear more natural. The choice of location is also very particular. Generally, under the shade of trees or in a shady place, it is more suitable for portrait photography with soft light. When exposed to the sun, the light is stronger and the main light is more obvious, making it easier to use the sun. Create a more special image.

Since children love to be active, shooting in broad shadows is always a good choice.

Excessive sunlight can easily cause the subject to be exposed to too much light and become overexposed, resulting in the loss of detail and three-dimensionality.

In terms of equipment, since there is plenty of light on sunny days, the requirements for equipment are not very strict. However, reflectors are often used when shooting portraits outdoors. Reflectors are a commonly used light auxiliary tool. They can be used to fill in light, eliminate shadows, highlight eyes, etc. With it, the effect of the photos taken can be improved. Big difference.

When shooting portraits outdoors on a sunny day when the main light is relatively obvious, the outline of the character is prone to shadows due to the strong light. In this case, a reflector must be used to reflect the light or absorb the light to eliminate the shadow. In addition, some reflectors also function as diffusers. When the diffusers are used, they can diffuse the strong light, making the light projected onto the characters softer. 2.1. Outdoor portrait photography on a cloudy day:

As for what type of light should be used when shooting portraits outdoors, many people often choose bright sunlight that shines directly from behind and direct light from the front of the subject. . But many times this kind of direct light will cause the subject to squint. If the sun is low, the light on a squinting face is flat. If the sun is high, dark shadows will appear under the eyes and nose. No matter which angle, it is not satisfactory.

At this time, do not let the subject be in direct sunlight, that is, place the subject in mild diffused light. This trouble is easier to solve on cloudy days. As we all know, when shooting outdoor portraits, many experts would rather choose cloudy days than sunny days. Therefore, compared to sunny days in summer when the sun is strong, cloudy days may be more suitable for shooting portraits. But there are many issues worth noting when shooting portraits on a cloudy day.

As mentioned above, cloudy days can achieve softer light reflection and allow the subject to receive more ideal light, but sometimes the lack of light on cloudy days can also be a headache. At this time, the requirements for the camera are relatively high. First of all, your camera needs to use a higher sensitivity to obtain a more stable shutter speed when the light is insufficient. However, high sensitivity will have a greater impact on the image quality, especially on consumer-grade digital cameras. , then you should use a digital SLR camera. After all, high sensitivity has a much better impact on image quality on a digital SLR camera than on a consumer-grade digital camera.

Another issue is the configuration of the lens. On cloudy days, there is often insufficient light. When the light is insufficient, in addition to using high sensitivity to obtain a more stable shutter speed, using a large aperture lens is also a way to obtain a faster shutter speed. Speed ??method, but for digital SLRs, large aperture lenses are generally more expensive. On cloudy days when there is insufficient light, a tripod is also a commonly used tool. When the light is slightly darker and the shutter speed is slower, the success rate of shooting with a tripod is much higher than without a tripod.

2.2. Outdoor landscape photography on cloudy days:

The light on a cloudy day appears softer and does not have as strong direct light as on a sunny day, so it is more suitable for expressing some peaceful and tranquil landscape themes. Some scenes showing smoke from mountain villages and rural fields were actually taken on a cloudy day, and are very atmospheric and sentimental. It is also easy to encounter insufficient light when shooting landscapes on cloudy days, and the use of a tripod becomes more important at this time. 3.1. Photography of outdoor rain scenes:

What can we take pictures on rainy days? The romantic slanting wind and drizzle, the wet scene on the street, and the exciting lightning.

The characteristic of rainy days is that the water produces reflection, and the scenery in the rain is highly reflective. When it rains, due to the diffusion of light, everything seems to take on a different color than usual. This kind of light diffusion magically blends and dilutes the colors that often appear too bright in full sunlight. Especially when taking color photos, the umbrellas in people's hands often make the rainy scenery colorful because of their different colors. If you can use it wisely, Reflections in the water add interest.

If you want to take a picture of falling raindrops, you must choose a dark background, and it is more suitable to use side backlighting or backlighting. On rainy days, the light is darker and the exposure time is often longer. The most distinctive scene on a rainy day should be lightning. Lightning is a very common natural phenomenon, and shooting this kind of image is not too difficult like shooting other natural landscapes. If you have ever learned about lightning photography techniques, or heard experienced photographers tell you the secret to photographing lightning: "f/8, and just stay there and wait." This is indeed a very useful tool for photographing lightning. Method, but f/8 is right, but staying there is not a good suggestion. Be careful that you will be the next one to be visited by lightning! Therefore, safety issues are still very important when photographing lightning.

The best place to take photos of lightning on rainy days is the window of a high-rise building. In this way, in addition to getting a good view, you can also protect your beloved photography equipment.

Photography of lightning requires luck, that is to say, the word "wait" requires the photographer to have full patience to wait. Lightning can happen anywhere at any time and very quickly. No matter how fast you react, by the time you see the lightning and press the shutter, the lightning will have disappeared before the aperture opens. Therefore, some experienced photographers use small apertures to obtain longer exposure times under the same exposure conditions, hoping that lightning will be within the scope of your lens during this exposure time.

When shooting, set the camera on a tripod, choose a foreground with a large open sky, if using a sensitivity of ISO100, set the aperture to 5.6, and turn the exposure speed selection dial to "B " or "T" position, release the shutter. If lightning always flashes outside the viewfinder, overexposure will generally not occur. You can keep the shutter open and continue to expose until lightning appears in the viewfinder. Close the shutter only after including the space.

If you feel that the location of the lightning flash is not ideal, the same film can be repeatedly exposed 2 to 4 times according to the brightness of the lightning. As long as the lightning does not appear in the same area of ??the picture, of course there will be no exposure. Too troubled. Therefore, the length of exposure does not entirely depend on the size of the aperture. The most important thing is to see whether lightning has been photographed.

In addition to photographing lightning, there are many things worth photographing on rainy days. For example, in the reflection in the rain, all the scenery changes from one part to two, and the scenery and shadow blend together. If it is night, the lights and shadows are blurred, which is worth taking a picture; look up at the splashing raindrops under the eaves, and use your camera to see the raindrops on the eaves. It is quite a challenge to freeze the splashing water or the movement of water droplets beating against the branches and leaves. It will test your skills in mastering the shutter speed. In addition, before the heavy rain, the majestic scenery of "the storm is about to come and the wind is filling the building" , the scenery under the heavy pressure of thick clouds before the heavy rain makes you experience the heavy depression, and the wind and flying clouds make you feel that time flies by. Why not pick up the camera and record it? 4.1. Night Scene Portrait Photography

Night scene portrait photography is a relatively difficult one, because you need to consider the normal exposure of the foreground and background, and also consider how to make the impact of the foreground people clearly visible in the photo. Indeed, this is one of the problems that most tourists encounter when visiting night scenes. Especially when using the camera's automatic mode to shoot, the flash is turned on during shooting, so that the people who are closer to the camera are correctly exposed. However, due to the limited flash range of the camera and the short exposure time, the original scene looks extremely gorgeous to the naked eye. The night scene looks dark in the camera.

This is because distant night scenes require a long exposure time to leave a normal exposure effect on the photo, while nearby people only need a short exposure time due to the flash. That's it. Therefore, when shooting, it is best to use the manual mode of the camera, slow down the shutter, and force the flash to open at the same time. After the flash flashes, it is recommended that the person maintain the original posture until the exposure is over, so that you can take photos with normal exposure of the person and the background night scene. However, night scene portrait shooting is not exclusive to manual cameras. Some advanced automatic point-and-shoot digital cameras have a night scene portrait shooting mode, which is also set up using the principles of slow shutter and forced flash.

You need to use a tripod to fix the camera when shooting, because you need to keep the camera still when taking long exposures to the background. At this time, a tripod becomes a necessity.

Before shooting, you must explain clearly to the subject that once the flash lights up, it does not mean that the shooting is completed. You must maintain the original posture and position until you are told that you can change or leave. The flash flashes. For the curtain shutter, it is a sign that the front curtain has reached one end of the film window and is powered on, but the rear curtain has not reached the film window at this time (use synchronized shutter time).

The exposure ends only when the rear curtain passes through the film window and reaches the closed position.

Regarding the shutter in the lens, the flash flashes at the same time when the shutter is fully opened, but the shutter has not yet closed after the flash. Since the exposure time required for night scene portraits is often about 1 second, or even longer, after the flash fires, the shutter is still open for a long time to feel the light of the night scene. If the subject moves, it will be blocked by people. The background part will face the lens and continue to be exposed to light. In this way, the portrait part of the photo taken will be transparent or translucent. Therefore, the subject should remain in its original position before the shutter is closed.

4.2. Night landscape photography

Night landscape photography is also night scene photography. The saying that the night becomes more beautiful is really appropriate for the city at night. The sleepless city has rich colors and bright lights, so the shooting of night scenes has become a subject of photography. Although it is difficult to shoot night scenes with a camera, we can rely on the LCD screen to check the exposure in real time and obtain more satisfactory colors by adjusting the color temperature. This provides great convenience for digital cameras to shoot night scenes. Many mid-to-high-end digital cameras provide P (auto), A (aperture priority), S (shutter priority), and M (manual) exposure shooting modes. In addition, most digital cameras provide scene shooting modes. The most common mode There are two types: night scene mode and macro mode. Some digital cameras provide more detailed and rich scene modes, and you can even get functions such as evening and late night shooting modes.

Satisfactory results can generally be achieved through this type of night scene mode. For most novice digital cameras, this method of night scene shooting is the simplest, feasible and guaranteed method. When shooting night scenes, a tripod is not optional. When the camera is mounted on a tripod, you can use a slower speed to capture the light lines drawn by car lights or the flow of crowds.

Of course, in order to achieve the best artistic effect, the afterglow when the lights first turn on after dusk can effectively separate the outline of the building and show a better sense of hierarchy. Photographers who pursue artistic effects will use the technique of double exposure at the same location, that is, one exposure at dusk, and another exposure after dark after various lighting and decorative lights are turned on. It should be noted that this technique uses double exposure during the double exposure process. The camera cannot be moved, and each exposure is half of the exposure.

For example, if the first exposure is measured at a certain aperture value and it takes 1/60 second, then the shooting time is 1/30 second and the second exposure is measured and it takes 1/4 second. , only takes 1/8 second when shooting scenery. In addition, the use of white balance is also very important. Choosing different white balance will directly affect the tone of the photo and the artistic conception expressed. Generally speaking, do not choose automatic white balance, as this will affect the inherent color of the light and cause it to lose its unique color temperature feeling. If we are shooting city night scenes, generally speaking, we will use Tungsten (tungsten lamp) white balance, because this white balance is closer to the effect of light. Of course, this is not absolute and depends on the environment.

Of course, there are unforeseen circumstances. Since we want to have fun taking photos on May Day, we must be prepared to deal with all kinds of weather. Otherwise, all kinds of strange weather will suddenly attack us and disrupt our photography plans and waste our great holiday time. It would be so sad. . So make some preparations before May Day. No matter what kind of weather, sunny or stormy, it can’t stop us from pressing the shutter with our index finger.