Ultra-detailed introduction to Antarctic photography

Antarctica is a strange place for most people, because the climate here is extremely bad, and it takes a lot of time, energy and money to go to Antarctica. So if you are lucky enough to come to the South Pole, how to take pictures becomes the primary consideration. Let's share with you a detailed tutorial on taking pictures of Antarctica.

The Antarctic continent is the last continent to be discovered on earth, and it is also the only continent without indigenous people and population. It is completely covered by huge glaciers, with an average elevation of 2350 meters.

The Antarctic continent and its surrounding islands constitute Antarctica, covering an area of about 6.5438+0.4 million square kilometers. Generally speaking, "Antarctic" refers to the area south of 60 south latitude stipulated in the Antarctic Treaty, including Antarctica and its surrounding waters, with a total area of about 52 million square kilometers.

Antarctica is the farthest place from us on earth. It has magnificent natural scenery and unique wildlife, and its attraction to photographers is self-evident. With the increase of China tourism company chartered flight, more and more photographers began to include Antarctica in their destinations. So, how do you plan your Antarctic shooting? How to seize this rare opportunity?

First, travel time selection and route selection

Winter and summer in Antarctica are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere. The suitable travel season is from June 165438+ 10 to March of the following year, which can be divided into three distinctive time periods.

(1)11-65438+Mid-February: In the Antarctic spring, you can see bigger icebergs, penguins and other birds start courting; At this time, the weather is fine and the price is relatively cheap, but the places that can be reached are limited because the ice has not completely melted.

(2) 65438+mid-February-mid-February: Antarctic has high summer temperature, long sunshine time, active animals and many places with conditions. The number of tourists is the largest and the price is higher.

(3) From mid-February to mid-March: At the end of Antarctic summer, the temperature gradually drops, and penguin chicks begin to shed their skins for the winter. This is the most active period for whales, and the tourism price is moderate.

At present, the geographical area of conventional travel in Antarctica only accounts for 3% of the total area, mainly concentrated in the vicinity of West Antarctica, and there are two main routes-the Antarctic Peninsula.

Peninsula) and three Antarctic islands.

There are fewer other routes, such as traveling to the South Pole, which needs to be reached by plane, and the cost is several times that of regular travel.

Antarctic Peninsula Tour: A very classic and efficient route, generally starting from ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, or punta arenas, Chile, crossing the Drake Strait and reaching south shetland islands (south)

Shetland islands (a county in the northeast of Scotland, England)

Islands, the location of China Great Wall Research Station) and the Antarctic Peninsula, during which the coast cruised and landed, and then returned through the Drake Strait.

This route can enjoy the representative scenery of the Antarctic, get in close contact with wild animals such as penguins, seals and whales, and save time. The whole journey from home to return usually takes about 15- 17 days, which is very suitable for lovers who are exploring the Antarctic landscape.

Example of Antarctic three-island tour route

Three Islands Tour in Antarctica: Generally starting from ushuaia, South Georgia and Falkland Islands are added to the peninsula tour.

Islands), there are a large number of wild animals such as penguins and seals on these two islands, which can let you enjoy more abundant animals and plants, characteristic scenery and Antarctic exploration relics. The total time consumption generally takes 23-25 days, and the cost is high. Suitable for lovers who have plenty of time and want to shoot more kinds of animals.

Second, the shooting method

During the Antarctic trip, the main life and activities will be carried out on the cruise ship. The open deck of the cruise ship itself is a very good viewing and shooting platform. Here, you can enjoy the view of the bay and icebergs, look at all kinds of animals from a distance, and occasionally ice floes of seals and penguins float across the ship's rail. If you are lucky, you can even see whales wandering on the boat.

Sunset shot on the outer deck of the ninth floor

Cruise ships generally have outer decks with different heights for shooting. For example, our "Midnight Sunshine" has outer decks on the 6th and 9th floors. The higher position has a better view, which can better show the whole scenery, while the lower deck is suitable for shooting wild animals near the water.

In fact, shooting on a cruise ship can be said to be very comfortable and even extravagant for us photographers. We don't need to carry big bags over mountains and sleep in the wind. When the light is good, it only takes two minutes to rush from the room to the deck.

Assault boat cruise

It's close to the South Pole, so you need to cruise and land by assault boat.

Cruise is to take an assault boat to shuttle in the waters near the cruise ship. Generally, you will choose areas with good scenery and many wild animals. The time is 1-2 hours, during which you can shoot on the assault boat, but the space is limited.

Landing, that is, taking an assault boat to set foot on a nearby island or Antarctic continent, you can get close contact with wild animals such as penguins. Explorers need to make a good survey in advance, make a good route plan, hang up the sign of the scope of activities, and the landing process is also carried out under the command of explorers. The time is usually 1-2 hours, and you can shoot with a tripod.

Cruise ships usually provide some extra activities, some of which will cost extra, such as hiking in the snow and kayaking. Among them, photo parade is the most recommended.

Cruise), this is a kayak cruise led by a resident photographer. Because photographers will look for more valuable goals and give suggestions, they are more suitable for photography creation than ordinary cruise ships.

Third, equipment selection

What kind of equipment do you need to bring to make a satisfactory work in Antarctica?

The Antarctic scene is vast, and the opportunity to use telephoto lens is far more than wide angle. Most wild animals such as penguins, seals, whales and albatrosses appear in the distance. At this time, the focal length of 70mm-200mm is a bit too much. It is recommended to carry a telephoto zoom lens with a 400mm telephoto lens, such as EF.

100-400mmf/4.5-5.6LISII

USM is the most common shot on cruise ships. One of our colleagues, a dedicated photographer, even brought a 600mm telephoto lens, which he always carried with him in his lens bag. He even connected a double lens to shoot whales in the distance with a focal length of 1200 mm.

In addition to shooting on the deck, the pace of cruise and landing shooting is relatively fast, especially when the assault boat bumps in the waves, shooting opportunities may appear at any time, and it is difficult to change the lens, so the lens with large zoom ratio is very suitable for cruise and landing shooting, such as 28mm-300.

Millimeter or similar focal length.

If you want wide focal length coverage and high quality requirements, you can prepare two fuselage, hanging wide-angle and telephoto lenses respectively. This time I brought EOS5DMark.

IV, used to take care of 4K videos and photos, can give full play to the advantages of high pixels. The two lenses usually matched are EF 1 1-24mmf/4L.

USM and 100-400mm lenses, and 20mm and 50mm large aperture fixed focus lenses are prepared for shooting people and starry sky.

Because it is often necessary to capture shots in motion and bumps, the focusing ability of cameras and lenses is particularly important, which can help you better track the target and capture wonderful moments. Similarly, the anti-shake function is also very valuable. Wild animals are important shooting content in Antarctica, and their appearance and movements are unpredictable to some extent, which also requires the equipment to have better focusing ability and high-speed continuous shooting ability. The performance of Canon 5D4 is fully in line with expectations.

High-speed continuous shooting is good for capturing movements.

To sum up, if photography is the purpose, it is recommended to carry at least one main body and one spare body, as well as a lens combination that emphasizes telephoto, and a stable tripod is needed. At the same time, you should carry as many memory cards as possible, as well as laptops and mobile hard disks for backup. Many scenes may be encountered only once in a lifetime. Don't be stingy with the shutter at this time. Compared with the travel itself, the price of storage is quite cheap. I took thousands of photos during the two-hour photo tour. During my stay in Antarctica, the daily shooting data was about 150-200G, half video and half image.

Pay attention to protective equipment during the trip. Antarctica is clean and has little dust, but the seawater has a high degree of corrosion to photographic equipment. If the equipment is splashed by seawater, it should be cleaned in time.

Fourth, shooting suggestions

Because it is often necessary to take snapshots in motion and bumps, the target being photographed is also in motion. At this time, in order to ensure the clarity of the image, high-speed shutter is the first thing to ensure.

When using a telephoto lens, the shutter speed should be at least1/500-11000 seconds, so as to ensure the clarity and freeze the action instantly.

It is suggested to use shutter priority mode and set the sensitivity to automatic, or raise the lower limit of automatic sensitivity in aperture priority mode (I set it to ISO

400), the contrast of Antarctic landscape is generally small. Although improving sensitivity has an impact on tolerance and noise, it is still worthwhile compared with obtaining a clear image.

The camera should also be set in the mode of high-speed continuous shooting and the fastest focus adjustment.

The sunny rate in Antarctica is very low, and it is common to have cloudy days in a row. Prepare to shoot in cloudy days, and the sun may appear at any time. When you encounter wonderful light, you must seize the opportunity to shoot more.

Search more, observe more and shoot more: Antarctic scenes are very rich, which tests everyone's observation ability. There is no need to converge with everyone. Pay attention to the opposite direction. In the distance of sight, there may be unexpected gains, and every image from different angles may be unique.

Use contrast to express scale: Antarctica is vast, which makes people lose their sense of scale. At this time, putting some familiar objects in the picture, such as people and ships, will highlight the sense of scale.

In addition, be sure to ensure that the equipment is in the shooting state at any time, including battery, memory card, focus setting, etc. Wonderful pictures may appear at any time. Once a whale suddenly appeared beside the boat, and my memory card was just full, so I had to delete it while shooting, which was embarrassing.

Five, to ensure the safety of photos

Routine backup and maintenance every day: During my stay in Antarctica, I made a rule for myself to make sure to back up the data taken that day from the memory card to the mobile hard disk every day, even if I was seasick. In addition, I have prepared two mobile hard disks for double backup, and they are stored in different luggage on the return flight to ensure data security to the maximum extent.

This is not alarmist. Investing in data backup can avoid "a short trip will leave a permanent regret". Many people suffered data loss during this trip. Some people damaged or lost their memory cards on the boat. A group member even lost his camera just after getting off the plane in China, and the memory card full of all the pictures of the trip disappeared with the camera, which may be a greater loss than money.

"If the South Pole is music, it must be Mozart; It's art, it must be Michelangelo;

It is literature. It must be Shakespeare.

Moreover, there must be something greater than these. "I hope that photographers and friends can set foot on the South Pole and express these greatest beings with their own lenses.