preface
I had an article a long time ago, and one of the ideas was that mobile phone shooting was already better than most cameras, and the result was a lot of criticism from many people.
But almost no one who sprays me really understands what I mean: the camera is a tool with a lower limit and a high upper limit, while the mobile phone is a tool with a lower limit that is not low and the upper limit is not high. These two devices can only play the lowest role in most people's hands, and naturally the mobile phone looks better than the camera.
Although the level of intelligence of the camera is getting higher and higher, but compared with the mobile phone shooting is still far away, in order to play the camera to a better level than the mobile phone, there is only one way:
Learn photography
(Dead End)
You have to admit the premise that photography is an art.
In the past, universities awarded bachelor of arts to art students, which shows the relationship between literature and art. When many famous artists were alive, their works were uneventful in the market, resulting in a lifetime of poverty, but once the painter died, some people immediately enshrined his paintings as classics and manipulated them, and the messy-looking painters were also described as a genre (obviously imitating Monet).
The view I have always pursued is that Wen Wu is the first, all works of art have their own special audience, even if it is rotten, just like Bi Zhifei's "Dream Building Showbiz", which was criticized by netizens at that time. After eating many melons in the entertainment industry, re-examining this film also has some taste of magic realism.
Photography, like other literature, must be an art of language: as long as it can justify itself, as long as it is convincing and obedient, it is a good work.
For other people's doubts, it can be refuted with only one sentence:
"Your aesthetic is not enough to understand."
The matter is whisked away, and the merit and name are hidden deeply.
So you want me to teach you photography, that's the realm of art, I really don't. But I can teach you how to take pictures, how to use the camera, I am still quite good at this.
1. Know the camera
1.1 DSLR camera
SLR is the abbreviation of single lens reflex camera, single is a single lens, reverse is the meaning of reflection, this structure has been from the film era, because it has no parallax, in the late stage of film basically became the most advanced photography system.
Since there are single-lens SLRs, of course, there are also double-lens double-lenses, such as this one of seagulls:
It's just that this structure has great limitations, and it is slowly eliminated in the end.
1.2 Digital mirrorless camera
Due to the continuous breakthrough and innovation of technology, we found that without the reflective structure, we can also take photos without difference by relying on the electronic viewfinder and LCD screen framing, so our micro-order appeared. Micro single is a registered trademark of Sony, strictly speaking, Sony's milkshakes are called, but people shout and extend it, and all the small mirrorless cameras are called micro singles.
Sony A7R4 is a micro single, Nikon Z6 is a micro single I can understand, tube Fuji GFX100S called micro single I do not understand, it is not a micro ah.
So when the EOSR was released, we gave it a very appropriate name, called Judan. Canon's later R5 and R6 were not small at all, and also belonged to the giant single family.
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Later, Yongnuo came out with a YN450, with an Android M43 format mirrorless camera, which we affectionately called "flat single".
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But they all have a common name called no reflection, that is, no reflector camera, strictly speaking, called a single-lens five-reflector camera, but at present, in addition to the mobile phone is still engaged in three-shot four-camera bath master, professional cameras are single-lens, so there is no need to mention it specifically, it has evolved into the current mirrorless camera.
Since there is no reflector structure, there is no need to put the mirrorless viewfinder at the same level as the lens, so the shape of the camera began to become more, including the main retro side axis shape of the camera, the most famous is the Leica M and Fujifilm XPRO series, and Sony's A6K series.
Although their viewfinders are all on the side, they are fundamentally different.
Leica M is a pure side axis, the advantage is direct observation, no delay and smearing, more power saving, and the price is that the parallax is relatively large, especially when changing the lens with a slightly longer focal length.
Sony 6K series is a side axis model, in fact, there is no optical viewfinder, but an electronic viewfinder, the advantage is no parallax, the disadvantage is electricity.
Fujifilm XPro series is different, the use of photoelectric hybrid viewfinder, can be pure optics or electronics, can be switched at any time, to meet different conditions of shooting.
1.3 Other cameras
Interchangeable lens camera I am used to call it a camera, and non-replaceable lens camera I like to be a big low card machine, like Ricoh GR, Sony black card, Fujifilm X100, Canon G series, Panasonic LX series, they also have a strong control, the picture quality is not bad, the function is also very powerful, or it has its own audience.
1.4 Camera selection
Many people have a question when buying a camera, how to choose DSLR and non-reaction? And more people think that the camera is supposed to be a SLR. Although I know what he means, I still want to take a look:
"Don't buy a SLR, buy no reaction."
The advantage of the SLR is that the viewfinder OVF of the optical structure is very power-saving and has a long standby time, while the structure of the reflector causes the fuselage to be large enough, which in turn leads to the lack of pursuit of lightweight in the use of materials, but the pursuit of intensity. SLR is more reliable in harsh and extreme environments than mirrorless cameras. The disadvantage is that the current technology of SLR structure has been exhausted, you can buy a near-perfect DSLR camera, but what about later? No more.
9 years ago when I bought a SLR, when the mirrorless camera was just emerging, in my opinion, the bigger problem of the mirrorless camera is the picture delay and the instability brought by the full electronic, after several generations of product development, now these two problems have been basically solved, and the advantages brought by electronics are not available to the SLR camera, and the mirrorless camera is getting better and better in the future. At this node, in addition to standby endurance and reliability in extreme environments, the performance indicators of no reflection almost comprehensively exceed DSLRs, including cost performance.
At present, the SLR only has the advantage of durability, but if it is not to control the cost, the volume and weight of the SLR can be made without reflection, and the non-reflective can make the bayonet larger, and the flange distance is smaller, bringing infinite possibilities to the future.
So I know what you're asking:
"Don't ask, just ask."
I have written many articles about camera purchases, which can be found on my personal homepage, but I will not expand on them if they are not the focus of this article.
2. How to shoot with the camera
2.1 Posture of using the camera
The most basic holding method is to hold the right grip of the camera with the right hand, the left hand to support the lens below, for the zoom head can be twisted during the shooting process, the focus head can only use the lifting action. Place your right index finger on the shutter for shooting.
Many people will use the following way, which is not wrong, but it is generally used under support conditions. If there is no support, it is generally the first type.
If you think of holding a camera as a gun, it's easy to understand.
Sometimes the left hand has other work, there is no way to use, can only rely on one hand to shoot, at this time you need a wristband as a supplement.
Use one eye to observe the viewfinder, this eye can be the left eye or the right eye, but the right eye is generally recommended, because the left eye will cause your face to stick to the right face on the hand, and your nose will also be attached to the LCD screen, it just so happens that you are still a touch screen, it is very troublesome, although there is also a situation with the right eye.
There is a plug-in magnifying eye mask on Taobao that is said to be very easy to use, one is to enlarge, the other is to prevent the nose from rubbing the screen, but I later changed it without reflection, and almost rarely used the eyepiece to frame.
In the SLR eyepiece because it is a physical reflective system, it is very unfriendly to people with myopia, so later people invented a diopter adjustment, so that people with slight myopia can also see clearly, and later this technology was also retained to the era of no reflection.
LCD screen framing does not need to consider the problem of diopter, for my myopic eyes are very friendly, but when encountering outdoor strong light, it is still easy to see clearly, at present, the best screen on the camera is Fujifilm XA7 on this piece, big and bright, but in the strong light there is still a situation of unclear view, and brighter means more electricity-
There is also a point that I experience more obviously, that is, there is a difference in the use of LCD framing, not because of the problem of camera structure, but because the scene you see and the height of the camera when you press the shutter are different.
As for the action essentials when shooting, the simplest is two words: clamping.
Clamped, it will not shake, really heavy can not hold it to find something to lean on, and then do not help on the tripod.
As a digression, most novices will be enthusiastic within half a year after buying back the camera, so the weight is not particularly concerned, and even in order to be able to pick up the camera and run to the gym. But at most, it is half a year, the enthusiasm retreats to rationality, and the camera with large weight will begin to become disgusted, and even give up photography.
Do what you can, this sentence is easier said than done
Learned here, now take out the camera outside, no matter how you shoot, the effect of scaring people is basically achieved.
2.2 Introduction to camera functions
If you want to learn photography systematically, you must understand the working principle of the camera and the basic theory of imaging, the first of which is to understand the three elements of exposure.
I have written an article about the three elements of exposure before, please understand these before reading further.
This is like the multiplication trick, if you don't understand this, you may not understand why 6 *7 equals 42, do not understand why 7 * 8 equals 56, and it is meaningless to talk about it later.
The advantage of the digital age is that you can constantly try and make mistakes, and the threshold for using the camera is very low. The film era is just the opposite, want to get more practical experience is stacked with real money and silver, no point of economic strength really can not play.
Those who say that film is cheap, just see the surface, go to Taobao to see the price of ISO400 rolls, look at the price of the processing to know that film costs more money. If you really want to play, why not buy a Polaroid?
Photography this thing in the past has also been regarded as a relatively advanced technology, just like the unique secret book in the martial arts, only the people of this sect can pass it on by word of mouth, and the camera manufacturers will intentionally or unintentionally make the camera operation logic very obscure (it may also be insufficient technology), ordinary people want to learn themselves, taking a thousand and eight hundred photos is just getting started, and this is also what ordinary people can't afford.
Nowadays, the network is developed, the communication medium of knowledge is diverse, many technologies have long been unveiled the veil of mystery, becoming more accessible to the public, the technical gap in shooting can be made up by camera functions, and the boundary between amateur and professional is becoming more and more blurred. Photography is increasingly developing towards a universal skill, just like driving a car.
If you can take hundreds of thousands of photos, you will definitely pick out a few that are comparable to Bresson.
"Without him, only the hands are familiar."
2.2.1 Camera
Shooting mode
In order to make people quickly start, the general camera has a built-in automatic shooting mode, if you do not want to learn and have no interest, then use AUTO, make sure you can shoot clearly.
A, S, P is nothing more than an automatic transmission that can manually control a certain parameter, and is not necessarily much more advanced than AUTO. And the point is, how does the machine know how many shutters to use, how many apertures to use? This involves a concept called metering.
The camera senses the intensity of the light outside through a sensor, substitutes the parameters in the machine, calculates the parameters that need it to control automatically, and then shoots with this value. The metering modes of the general camera are center metering, local metering, spot metering and evaluation metering. When I use A SLR, I usually use spot and evaluative metering, and I hardly use metering mode after using no reflection.
This has to mention the advanced nature of the non-reflective, the current sale of the non-reflective have a simulated exposure mode, that is, what you see is what you get, there is a histogram in the screen parameters, as well as an exposure table, you can understand these basically the metering mode in the machine has become a chicken rib, at present, many cameras have changed the original metering mode shortcut key to other functions, so it can be seen that this problem is not a problem now.
2.2.2 Histogram of the camera
From the above figure, you can see the meaning of the histogram, the left side represents the dark pixel, the right side represents the bright, in the middle is the neutral area, and the longitudinal coordinate represents the number of pixels of this brightness.
We know that our camera pixels are fixed, so no matter how the exposure changes, the area of the white part in this histogram is a certain amount.
A good photo must have a dark part, a bright part, and a midtone, generally the middle tone is mostly, and the two sides are reduced in turn, but they are not on the side.
Let's take this photo as an example
Although there are light and dark overall, the highlights and shadows do not overflow, and the brightness of the main model's face and skin parts is guaranteed to be in the center right. As shown in the following figure
The benefit is that no matter whether you adjust the exposure to light or dark overall, the subject will not lose detail.
The following is a negative textbook, which I took in 2013, when I was still excessively pursuing the brightness of the skin color, resulting in overall overexposure, and a closer look at the skin color did not have an essential change because of the brightness increase, but the details of the clothes and hair were gone.
Someone will talk to me about tolerance, and this photo was taken with the D600, and in 2013, the tolerance of the D600 was the top 5 existence on the DXO.
No matter how good the tolerance is, it can't bear to shoot blindly, and learning to use a histogram is the right way.
Why should we recommend that you buy a mirrorless camera, because the SLR does not have the function of real-time histogram, only the non-reflective LCD framing has a real-time histogram display, some people say that the SLR can also use the LCD real-time framing.
What is the difference between a SLR camera without an optical viewfinder and a mirrorless camera?
How to control exposure using the histogram, it is simpler that you see if there is no overflow on both sides of the histogram of the photo, and if the highlight overflows, then adjust in the direction of reducing exposure: reduce THE ISO, reduce the aperture, increase the shutter speed, and vice versa.
This test is your understanding of the three elements of exposure and your ability to grasp the style of the picture.
If you want to take a large blurred sugar water film, then the aperture must not move at this time, but your ISO has been the lowest, and the shutter top is still overexposed to 1/4000, what to do? You can change a camera with a mechanical shutter of 1/8000 or an electronic shutter of 1/32000, or buy an ND8 filter.
If you are shooting activities, it happens to be indoors, your ISO top reaches 12800, the aperture opens to the maximum, the shutter opens to 1/100 and can no longer be low, and then the lower person is empty. At this time, either you change to a camera that can turn on to 51200 or even higher, or bring a light.
Although changing cameras can solve quite a few problems, not all problems must be solved with equipment changes.
As long as the thinking does not slip downhill, there are always more ways than difficulties.
2.3 Camera control
2.3.1 How to quickly adjust camera parameters.
SLR camera inheritance is the film machine, the sensitivity of the film machine depends on the film, can not be changed before the roll can not be changed, so the SLR camera in the ISO adjustment generally does not set a fast wave wheel. In daily life, even if it is a full manual, under certain shooting conditions, it is definitely the majority of fixed aperture shooting, which is what we call aperture priority. So in general, in the three elements, according to the adjustment frequency, the shutter >> aperture > ISO.
Regardless of the camera, if there is only one wave wheel, then the default function of this wave wheel must be to adjust the shutter, if there is a second one, that is, to set the aperture. At this point the best energy and Nikon's operating logic is reversed, the front wheel canon on the handle is to set the shutter, and the Nikon sets the aperture. Later, Nikon generally uses the upper wave wheel to control it fast, and Canon uses a large disc to control the aperture.
Canon 5D4 rear disc
Nikon D850 rear wave wheel
I have to say that Sony has made an old good man at this point, setting up three dials on the new machine, which can customize the function, so whether it is a good thing or a good job, it is not difficult to operate.
The Sony A7R3 has a wave wheel and a dial
2.3.2 What is the feel of camera control
Referring to the gamepad of the game console, when we play the red and white machine, the left and right thumbs control up and down the left and right, and the thumb controls ab, but when the game of the hot blood series needs to be pressed with AB, it is necessary for us to have the fingers of the right hand to press, which is very inconvenient, so some handles have a C key, that is, AB with the press.
Later, when playing games such as PS and XBOX, due to the more complicated operation, the original thumb can only press a button at a time must not be able to fully meet the game operation, so there is L1L2 and R1R2, with the index finger and middle finger of the left and right hands also participate in the operation.
For the camera, in theory, good control must be multi-finger coordination, and the function responsible for must be able to cover daily shooting, and it is best to press it without changing the shape of the hand.
Specifically, since the most important operation of the camera is done with the thumb and index finger of the right hand, the distance of the control button must be within the normal range that the thumb can reach. The index finger is mainly responsible for pressing the shutter, designing several shortcut keys near the shutter, and can also assist in quick setting without changing the shape of the hand. Although the right middle finger is responsible for grasping the camera, but also has the ability to control the buttons, in the vicinity of the finger holding to arrange a custom shortcut key can also be, the ring finger and the little finger of the average person's exercise is not enough, basically can not complete the action independently, so it is only responsible for grasping.
In addition to controlling zoom and focus on the lens, and playing a role in lifting stability, the thumb can still be flexibly moved between shooting, so the general model with the flash in the camera, there are many flash switches that are opened where the thumb of the left hand can go. If conditions permit, you can also set an additional custom shortcut nearby.
Nikon D780 side buttons
Like this, a camera uses four fingers to operate when shooting, even if each finger controls a shortcut key, that is, 4 shortcut points plus three wave wheels, you can control seven parameters at the same time, if you count the left and right hand key combinations, you can control more.
However, subject to the body volume and the positioning of the machine itself, non-flagship models are more or less castrated in the number of shortcut keys, but will always be in other forms to make up for it, such as touch screens.
There is a misunderstanding in the middle, some people always say that the SLR is well controlled, but I looked at the entry-level SLR is only a single wave wheel, and the shortcut keys are also pitiful, how to control a good say? Later, I thought about it carefully, probably because the SLR has fewer controllable parameters.
2.3.3 Parameters suitable for placing on shortcut keys
Exposure simulation/white balance simulation
This function is easy to use, but it should also be divided into two to look at, if you take a daylight film, turn on this function, simulate exposure what you see is very good, if you shoot night scenes, with flash, then you may be in the screen pitch black, can not focus.
Face recognition / human eye recognition / dog face recognition
This is more important, when taking portraits, especially Sony, which uses autofocus as the main selling point, if your left hand is not free (what is the left hand doing?). In other words, using face recognition can solve the focus problem of your portrait. But if you encounter a situation with many people, it is possible to identify the person you want to shoot, or simply you do not want to shoot people, then you turn off this function, on the Sony maze menu, put the general novice to find a long time, put in the shortcut key is still very practical.
White balance mode/color temperature
At present, the color temperature that we can contact is red, orange, yellow, white, and blue, from low to high, that is, the lower the color temperature, the warmer the color, the higher the color temperature, the colder the color. Generally, the camera will have several common modes, according to the weather at the time and the situation of the light source to adjust. Most of the time it is automatic, if the light source is stable, it is recommended to adjust to a fixed value so that the color is consistent in the future.
Focus area
This is the function that I often have to adjust, when shooting close-up close-ups, in order to ensure that the focus is clear, the focus frame is adjusted to a small size. When shooting a panorama, a small focus frame may cause defocus, so the focus area will be enlarged. In daily shooting, it needs to be changed frequently, so the general camera has special shortcut keys to control. (SLR is another implementation pattern)
Picture style/film simulation
Some photographers will directly use the method of in-machine adjustment to do some filters, convenient for the right subject matter to use quickly, and camera manufacturers will generally have landscapes, portraits, bright and other self-made styles for users to choose, the best of which is Fuji, sometimes when there is no idea, switch the picture style, may suddenly have inspiration.
2.4 Camera focus
In a photo, the clear subject is the bottom line, and the following part talks about the focus of the camera.
2.4.1 Focus mode
At present, the focus mode of the new camera generally has three kinds, namely manual M, single automatic AF-S, and continuous automatic AF-C, from the focus area there are single point area and global three (individual machines are 4).
One of the more difficult to understand is a single automatic AFS and continuous automatic AFC, generally shooting a fixed object, the focus does not change after using AFS single focus, if the target has been moving, then select AFC mode. In the past, cameras did not react quickly in terms of continuous focus, so continuous focus was not particularly accurate, and there was a delay, generally using AFS mode. The SLR cameras that can use AFC mode and are easy to use are also flagship models that focus on sports.
Flagship machines are generally a big update every four years, and they are launched the year before the Olympic Games, for reasons that are self-evident.
The focus area is easier to understand, generally for the most advanced place in the area, suitable for photos without foreground occlusion, and the size of the area is related to the size of the subject you shoot. If there is foreground occlusion, you need to narrow the focus area to let the foreground pass, or simply focus manually.
For portrait shooting, an important indicator to evaluate whether the photo is out of focus is to look at the face, if the bust or close-up, look at the eyes, as to whether it is the left eye or the right eye to see the composition of the photo to decide.
Now camera manufacturers generally have facial recognition and eye recognition functions, shooting a single portrait is recommended to turn on.
2.4.2 Alternative focus methods
A big problem faced by all the pat party, the child is running around, what to do if the focus is not on it?
In the mirrorless era, Sony's new machine focus is very powerful, which can solve this problem to some extent. I also said that not all problems have to be solved by changing machines.
For disordered motion, you can reduce the aperture to get a large depth of field to cope with the false focus caused by the forward and backward movement. For cases where the trajectory of action can be prejudged, the "trap focus" method can also be used, focusing in advance on the travel route and waiting until the object reaches the "trap position" before shooting. 、
In the year when the SLR only single-point focus can be used, but also derived other methods, such as you want to put the subject on the side of the photo, but it just so happens that there is no focus point in this position, you can first use the center focus, focus after focusing, put the subject to the edge and then shoot, which is called focus translation, although the accuracy may be worse, but as long as the aperture is not particularly large, there is no problem. The function of focus locking Some machines come with itself, and more machines can use AFS mode to press the shutter halfway without letting go.
With the development of mirrorless cameras and the advancement of focus technology, almost all cameras can now cover the full screen, and this technology has almost disappeared.
2.4.3 Manual focus
The reason why the manual focus is taken out alone is because the current domestic manual lens specifications are high, the price is cheap, and it has become the first choice of many shy friends, and I have always felt that all the people who recommend manual lenses to novices are hooligans. But later, there were also some optimizations for the manual lens, and the manual lens manufacturer also optimized the hand feel of the focus, so in some focal sections, such as macro and ultra-wide angle ends, the manual lens did not have much impact on the shooting efficiency. At present, there are several methods of manual focus
Focus directly
Old-fashioned DSLRs all use the direct focus method, and the focus prompt is the focus of the selected focus point.
You see if this position becomes round, it is this point of focus, so you have to pay attention to the composition and pay attention to the focus prompt below when shooting, it is very troublesome to use two things, so I almost do not use OVF autofocus on digital SLR
Split-screen focus
This is the focus method of the film machine, but there are also a few manual masters who have converted the viewfinder of the digital SLR into a split-image screen.
The advantage is that compared with the previous direct focus, the accuracy and efficiency can be higher, and the disadvantage is that it can only focus at the center point. However, digital mirrorless cameras also have this way, generally have a magnification function, so it is better to use than digital SLR. The mirrorless camera is the focus area throughout the screen, there is no case where only the center can focus, and it is more friendly to use
No reflection non-focus state
No reverse focus
Macular focus
I hardly used macular focus, but I was lucky enough to see it once when I was playing at my friend's house, and the experience was not very good, tired eyes.
Peak focus
Peak focus is a feature unique to mirrorless cameras, which is marked with a highlighted color at the edge of focus, and it is clear which focus is at a glance, which is also the best manual focus method at present.
I recently experienced the cracked screen of the film machine to shoot the baby, deeply felt the malice of the world, if you do not want to beg for food, do not use manual focus to shoot people.
Well, the above is the first part of my series of articles "Self-taught Photography Black Book", after learning this part, if you can take bright and clear photos, then congratulations, you are getting started, but photography is not just the end of the camera, if you want to learn photography you need to continue to practice.
Next ArticleI think I want to talk about the knowledge of light color and composition, so stay tuned.