How to use the camera to capture the blooming spring?

Shooting flowers is the basic skill of still life photography. It's easy to master. It's not easy for photographers to shoot fresh and refined flowers. It's not only easy to pay attention to equipment selection, but also solid shooting techniques.

First, equipment selection

Regardless of the subject of photography, after determining the theme, the first thing is to select the right equipment. Generally we shoot flowers, we will choose macro lens or telephoto lens. There are two reasons to choose this type of lens. First, this type of lens is easy to create shallow depth of field, and second, because the long-focus lens has a narrow angle of view, you want to remove some Unnecessary scenery is relatively easy. When you go to planting sunflowers, cosmoses, or tulips in an overwhelmingly flowery garden and want to take a sea of ​​flowers, the wide-angle lens will help you bring out the perspective.

If you use a set of heads (such as 18-55mmf/3.5-5.6 and the like), under normal circumstances can also meet your shooting needs, but because the lens aperture is small, and there is no macro function, in the shooting of flowers When it comes to this type of subject matter, it will be a bit difficult. In addition, if the situation allows, with a portable tripod can also help us to shoot steadily to prevent the picture from shaking.

(1) Macro lens

The feature of the macro lens is that it allows your camera (or sensor) to appear at a ratio of 1 to 1 (or even higher) to the actual image of the flower. Compared to a normal lens, it can be photographed with an extremely short focusing distance. More detailed images. However, since the depth of field using the macro lens is extremely shallow, very slight vibrations can make the photo goofy, so try to use a tripod to assist shooting.

(2) Zoom lens for telephoto section

Compared to using a macro lens, the advantage of using a zoom lens is mobility, and we don't need every shot to be super close-ups. We should use different compositions to create different effects.

(3) Large aperture lens

The large aperture lens is also the most commonly used lens for shooting flowers, generally larger than f/2.8 we will be defined as a large aperture, the advantage of using a large aperture lens is to be able to create a shallow depth of field, shallow depth of field can blur the messy background, highlight the subject, focus On beautiful flowers, if the long focal length is matched, such as about 100 to 150mm, the three-dimensionality of the subject will be stronger.

Second, the camera settings

In terms of camera settings, I recommend using the shutter priority mode to maintain a high-speed shutter (such as 1/500s) when using long-focus and macro lenses to ensure that the screen will not flicker due to slow shutter speeds. We should also make good use of the camera's depth of field preview function, because when we focus, the aperture of the lens is fully open, it is difficult for you to determine how much the depth of field is captured. Even a 1cm depth of field affects the feeling of the photo. .

If you are in the shooting stage, you are already planning to handle some contrast and white balance issues later. To make post-processing easier, remember to shoot with RAW files. JPG files will lose a lot of image details if you insist on pressing a JPG. If you are dark, it is easy to have strange colors, and sometimes it will be self-defeating.

Third, the best shooting time

The most important thing in shooting a flower photo is natural light, but shooting flowers should be avoided as much as possible at noon, because shooting at this time will result in a very strong shadow, resulting in a strong contrast for the change of face, and difficult to remedy later. The author suggests that everyone can choose to shoot at the following time:

Cloudy or early morning after rain

Many people are very afraid of taking pictures, but in fact, the cloudy sky is a natural soft cover. Under such circumstances, the light on the surface of the flowers will be more uniform, and the colors produced will be more natural and soft, and the shadows will not be Too strong, so it is a very good shooting conditions, but if it is hazy, the effect is not the same, it is difficult to photograph bright and transparent colors.

Early morning or dusk

In order to avoid the shadow caused by too strong sunlight, these two times are most suitable for shooting flowers. The light is softer. Secondly, this time is also called Magichour. If you use the sky as a background, it will be very beautiful.

Four, shooting techniques

In fact, the most important thing in ecological photography and shooting flowers is the focusing and lighting techniques. Since the depth of field of the lens (telephoto and macro) we use is relatively shallow, it is relatively difficult to put the focus to the ideal position, and the depth of control becomes Quite important.

Another point to note: do not change the composition after the camera focus, because the shallow depth of field, the distance between the camera and the flowers will also make the focus shift, so we suggest that you focus on the first composition, while using a tripod to ensure The camera will not move back and forth.

To achieve the first focusing after composition, there are two key points, first, to avoid the use of the middle point to the focus, first complete the composition before choosing the right focus point to complete the focus; second is the camera after successful focus, according to the actual situation Fine-tuning, such as the deviation of the ideal focus position.

Of course, you can also choose to use manual focusing from the very beginning, use the in-focus view in the camera viewfinder, or use LiveView to zoom in on the image for more precise focusing.

Fifth, use tips

Simple composition

Don't be greedy. You are not recording the scene environment. You don't need to take all the details of the scene and make it as simple as possible. If you grasp the bad picture and always take a messy background, you may need a longer focal length lens.

Learn to filter

Although it is a spring full of vitality, flowers bloom, but not every flower gesture is equally beautiful, take a moment to pick the most beautiful one, and then take the time to carefully shoot, learning to appreciate flowers is also a progress!

Different angles

Don't always pick up the camera and start shooting, learn to find some special perspectives, squat down or close to the flowers, try new perspectives, and do so to avoid stereotyped flowers.