1. Outdoor photography skills for children on sunny days
Sunny days are good days for outdoor photography. Sufficient light and a happy mood are important guarantees for taking good photos. one. 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. Too strong 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 the light on sunny days is relatively sufficient, the requirements for equipment are not very strict. However, reflectors are often used when taking 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, it is necessary to use a reflector 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. Tips for outdoor children’s photography on cloudy days
As for what type of light should be used when shooting portraits outdoors, many people often choose bright sunlight shining directly from behind. Front light that shines directly on 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.
3. Rainy scene shooting skills for outdoor children’s photography
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 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’ve ever learned photography techniques about lightning, or heard experienced photographers tell you the secret to photographing lightning: “f/8, and just stay there and wait.” This is indeed true. A very useful way to photograph lightning, but f/8 is correct, but staying there is not a good suggestion. Be careful and you will be the next one to visit! 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 range 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 rolling 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. Outdoor children’s photography night scene shooting skills
Night scene portrait shooting is a more difficult one, because it needs to take into account the normal exposure of the foreground and background, and how to Let the impact of the foreground figure stand out clearly. 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.