Cultivate the observation ability of photography and discover unusual perspectives
When you and a photography expert shoot in the same scene, using the same or even more high-end professional equipment, but others can always take pictures that are different from yours and capture the wonderful moments you can’t find. If you have such experience, this article may be helpful to you.
It’s better to see different things than to take different pictures. Photographers should have a keen observation. When you practice mature technology, you can see and naturally shoot.
In fact, training the camera eye is to train the ability of observation and find unusual angles of view in ordinary scenes. This article will talk about how to cultivate this ability from five aspects, and finally, take the self proposition training as an example to describe the shooting ideas. Most of the examples in this article are different from the great scenery works of the author in the past. Some of them are small scenes captured in life and never published in social media. I hope they can enlighten you.
Viewing the world from the perspective of photography
The cultivation of observation ability does not necessarily mean going to famous mountains and rivers to take pictures of magnificent and precipitous scenery, paying more attention to the habitual living environment, observing things and scenery from the perspective of photography, we will see the details. When you see a leaf, what can you find besides its shape and color? Does it have interesting textures? What are the characteristics of light and shadow at that time? What color background is it on? Is it a new bud or withered? Can these features be seen at a glance? Gradually, you will find surprises in the scenery that you did not see before.
Photography can train a pair of eyes that are good at discovering beauty, and recover the beauty that has been forgotten. The beauty of life can be seen everywhere. Under the morning light, in the setting sun, in the drizzle, and in the fog, every plant and grass has its beauty and unique charm. Slow down your hurried pace. If you can see the moving moments of these subtle points around you and understand them with your heart, you will be open in mind and enjoy the beauty of life.
Follow your heart
In my works, although some photos really need powerful early and late technology to complete, even a photo involves multiple technologies such as surround exposure, depth of field synthesis, stack, etc., some also need to integrate astrogeographic knowledge with tidal analysis and make a careful plan to seize the very small chance of shooting.
However, some photos are taken according to one’s heart. They are not even taken with a camera, but only captured with a mobile phone. Such a story picture is the most touching. Photography is to convey beautiful feelings with silent pictures.
“the best camera is The one you have with you.”.
“The following photos are all taken by mobile phones. Some moments are fleeting. Whether we can seize the decisive moment depends on our usual accomplishments.”
Heart to Heart
Shot at the annual Bondi Beach Sculpture Festival. A couple looking out at the sea,? Beside them is a heart shaped sculpture, which is very suitable for the situation and perfectly echoes people and objects. I was afraid that they would leave before I could take out my camera and quickly took this romantic and warm picture with my mobile phone.
Return
On the way back to the parking lot after the shooting, travelers in pairs in the twilight took pictures with their mobile phones.
Windows
On the way to dinner in a small town in Iceland, mobile phones take pictures of the windows of residential buildings.
Rider
The two cyclists appear at the tunnel entrance, adding interest to the vanishing point of vision, thus making the picture a story.
The above photos fully show that the equipment is not absolutely important, but the key is to have a pair of eyes to find beauty and the ability to adapt to the scene.
Jump out of comfort zone
When we shoot a certain subject for a period of time, we will form an inertial thinking and skilled shooting method. When we find the foreground, low angle, small aperture, and press the shutter when the best light is available, a very powerful film is born.
At this time, you will feel that your technology is becoming more and more mature, and you can shoot in an orderly manner in any environment. However, many people do not realize that this kind of inertial shooting mode puts themselves into an inherent frame, and they are unwilling to break through, change the inherent shooting thinking, and try new shooting methods.
Believe mostLandscape photographyFans have had such a stage, including myself. When we realize this problem and force ourselves to change and break through, new attempts sometimes lead to shooting failure, but broaden our shooting thinking.
Put down the super wide angle that can bring security and film release security, pick up the medium focus and long focus, and look for new perspectives in a different way of thinking from the past. It is found that nature is not only a medium range perspective in the future, but also a lot of beautiful and delicate things that have not been seen before.
Mid focus lens view of waterfall
Long focus lens shooting seascape
The sea sweeping scenery The waves in the morning light
Find points of interest
The photographic eye is closely related to the photographer’s ability to compose, find and arrange pictures. The most easy mistake for beginners is to take pictures of all the scenes, which leads to disorderly pictures. When replaying photos, I always feel that the beautiful scenery I saw on the scene is far from shocking, which is precisely because too many scenes were included in the shooting. A photo with too much content will make people feel confused. It has everything but seems to express nothing, lacking a clear theme.
So we should not rush to press the shutter when shooting, and first ask ourselves:? What is the subject I want to show when taking this picture?? In this way, when shooting, we will pay attention to removing some unnecessary and disturbing elements to highlight the main body. The choice of subject is very important. It needs to have both shapes and colors. Generally speaking, it should be a beautiful, interesting and attractive scene.
Self proposition training
The innovation of perspective is an important topic of composition. The same scene can be shot from different angles, which can bring different visual feelings. Su Shi’s poem: “Look at the mountain side to form a peak, and the distance is different.”? That is to say, because of different angles, I have enjoyed different beautiful sceneries in the mountains.
It is human nature to subjectively think that the scenery that one does not often have the opportunity to see is beautiful. When northerners arrive in the south of the Yangtze River, they will be fascinated by the misty and rainy poetic atmosphere of the water town; When southerners go to the northern part of the Great Wall and see the vast landscape of desert dust, they will also be inspired with great pride. People living near the water always want to feel the feelings of mountains, while people living in the mountains often look forward to the romance of the sea.
I once published a composition tutorial, in which most of the examples were taken in front of and around Sydney, but one of the messages made me laugh and laugh? “The key is to go to such an unattainable scenic spot.” This is also the most popular message, which shows that his view is also the idea of many people.
People often turn a blind eye to the scenery around them. They always want to go abroad to take pictures in distant places. They use the number of countries they have visited to take pictures as the capital for talking and showing off. The photos they take out are all copies of the same postcard.
Changing your accustomed perspective and trying new positions and angles will enable you to see different worlds and bring you new inspiration and creativity.
To cultivate this ability, the best way is to find a scenic spot that has been “beaten” by everyone in front of your home and practice to see how many different perspectives can be found. As a world-class tourist attraction, Sydney Opera House has seen it for countless times in recent years, which really can’t arouse any desire for shooting. In order to exercise your eyesight and discovery ability, have you ever made a self proposition? “Shooting Sydney Opera House from different angles” requires taking ten photos from different angles and with different ideas. This kind of exercise can effectively stimulate the potential, and improve the observation and creativity.
The conventional stands are not listed, but the following three non conventional stands are used to briefly introduce the shooting ideas during practice.
The above picture is to put aside the conventional idea of shooting big scenes and go to the bottom of the Sydney Opera House to take local shots. However, it is not very brilliant if you only shoot architectural textures and shapes. While thinking about how to compose the picture, an old couple came and left after only staying for a few seconds. I was lucky to catch this moment. The shape, line and people form a point, line and surface composition, which is simple, vivid and interesting.
This photo was taken with a mobile phone. In the sunset, a couple sat on the bench opposite the Sydney Opera House to watch the sunset. With human elements, the photo is no longer a single landscape, but reflects love and warmth, making the picture more vivid.
In order to present the different features and perspectives of the Sydney Opera House, the shooting time was selected in the annual Sydney Lights Festival. If only shooting colorful opera house shapes is no different from the tourists’ perspective, my idea is to use the railings on the shore to form a frame composition to add interest to the picture. The seemingly simple idea is not easy to achieve by pressing the shutter. Photos involve two kinds of synthesis technologies: depth of field synthesis and time period synthesis. The light show starts every night after the blues period, and the sky is no longer blue, so it was decided to shoot the railings and sky in the foreground during the blues period to keep the plane still, and then shoot the opera house after the light show starts. Because the foreground is too close to the lens, it is necessary to focus on different parts and take several photos. The final product is a group of photos that are composed by the depth of field of the same stand and the time period.
