Use multiple exposures to shoot different lotus flowers
Since I haven’t studied photography, my eyes have been full of various works with lotus as the theme. From the beginning to the end of the numbness, to be honest, there are not many lotus films that can brighten my eyes. However, there is only one season of lotus. When it comes to the lotus season, no photographer can resist taking pictures of lotus. Since owning the 5D3, I have been preparing to shoot a group of multi-exposure lotus flowers, so I took a 500-focus turn-back lens, and then I had the burning of lotus this season.
1、 Equipment preparation
SLR camera with multiple exposure function, fold-back lens, stable tripod, shutter line.
2、 Timing
In the morning or evening, when the sun just rises or is about to set, a lotus pond with lotus flowers is enough. There must be light, which needs the reflection reflected by the sun on the water surface. At this time, the light has directionality and ideal color temperature, which is suitable for shooting.
3、 Shooting techniques
（1） About shots
The turn-back lens is usually a manual lens, and the telephoto focusing at the 500 end is particularly accurate. It is recommended to use the real-time screen of the camera for manual focusing.
（2） About multiple exposures of cameras
Take the Canon 5D3 I use as an example. First, turn on the multiple exposure function of the camera. In the multiple exposure control options, there are four options: addition, average, bright and dark. “Addition” is simply to overlap multiple images. Because there is no exposure control, the photos after synthesis are brighter than the photos before synthesis. “Average” is to control the brightness of the photo during the synthesis, automatically compensate for the negative exposure of the number of multiple exposure shots, and adjust the synthesized photo to the appropriate exposure. “Bright” is to synthesize only bright pixels after comparing the image as the base with the image synthesized on it. “Dark” is the opposite of “bright”. Only darker pixels are synthesized after comparing the image as the base with the image synthesized on it.
In this group, I use the “average” control option, and then use manual negative compensation to strengthen the brightness. As for addition, bright and dark modes, you can try more according to your needs.
（3） Specific shooting
The 500mm return lens is 6.3 constant aperture, ok! For direct AV files, let’s leave the parameters to the camera. Let’s just focus on framing and composition. This group of lotus is shot by the method of secondary exposure. Before shooting, first select the subject of the two shots, namely the lotus and the unique small circle outside the focus of the return lens.
Make a composition in your mind first, mainly to determine the position and space of the lotus and the small circle outside the focus. The main body of the lotus should be clear and free from too much occlusion, and it should be completed using the real-time shooting function of the camera; Turn back to the small circle outside the focus to find the refraction of sunlight on the water surface. You can see the adjustment state of the focus directly on the real-time screen. There is no need to focus, because the small circle will become very small and dazzling after focusing. The size of the small circle is determined according to your preferences. Then manual negative compensation is used to make the small circle picture as the background slightly darker than the main picture of the lotus, so as to better reflect the main picture of the lotus.
Although the “average” mode camera will automatically perform negative compensation, I found that the brightness of the background is basically not much different from the brightness of the lotus body in my attempt, so I still used appropriate manual negative compensation for the background. As for the lotus and small circle, it is OK to shoot first, but the time interval between the two shots should not be too long. If the time is too long, it will fail.
4、 About Later
5D3 has its own multiple exposure function, and the film can be in RAW format, which provides more room for adjustment in the later stage. The original film has a strong sense of light and shadow layers and rich colors because of the choice of shooting in the morning and evening with good light. My group of films have only made some basic adjustments in LR.
In order to create a quiet atmosphere, the color temperature is appropriately reduced to make the picture slightly bluish; Lower the highlight so that the golden circles outside the focus do not appear dazzling; Then it is to reduce the saturation, reduce the overall saturation, and then fine-tune the specific color on each piece to adjust to the feeling you want; Finally, sharpen, reduce noise, and output.
The shooting method described in this tutorial is to take advantage of the multiple exposure function in the camera, directly imaging at one time, not post-computer synthesis. The operation process is also very simple, and you can master it completely after one or two attempts. Of course, this is only a technique, and thinking and creativity are the most important when shooting.
