Many people say: painting is the art of addition, photography is the art of subtraction.
Because the process of painting is a continuous creation of superimposed pigments, photography is a process of making trade-offs between existing scenes. This is the simplest understanding of the "principle of addition and subtraction".
Whether you're taking pictures with your phone or with your camera. As long as you pick up the frame, you have to face the problem of "trade-offs" of the picture. The grasp of "trade-offs" is also one of the key points of the film.
Next, I'll talk to you about the "law of addition and subtraction" of mobile photography!
1/.
The law of subtraction
There is an old saying in the Chinese Tao Te Ching: Less is gained, and more is confused! This means that when a person has too many choices, he will not know how to choose, and without too many choices, he will have a greater sense of gain.
Therefore, if there are too many elements in your photo, too much content presented to others, and no element is willing to give up, the viewer will not understand what intention you specifically want to express.
Therefore, try to make your picture look neat and clean, not only to make the picture more beautiful, but also to make the theme of your work more clear. Learning the principle of "subtraction" is the first step.
(1) Leave blank
Blank, this word actually comes from Chinese chinese painting and landscape painting. At that time, painting paid attention to the artistic conception of the picture, which was also the so-called "freehand".
In just a few strokes, you can outline things like mountains, water, boats, and birds. And the use of a lot of "blank space" in the picture can look very intentional and very imposing.
These two photos are examples of large-scale blank spaces. The first photo is taken of a corner of the ancient temple, which is a part of the building, the picture uses the upper and lower structures, the top is real, the bottom is virtual, the photo gives people a very ethereal feeling, the artistic conception is far-reaching
The second photo is of a boat in the middle of the river. Such a "large scene and small subject" framing method makes the picture produce a very large blank space, and the minimalist composition gives people a sense of dreaminess of the boat swimming in the air.
© Agaxian
(2) High and low profile
The tone of a photo is generally divided into three types: high-key, mid-key, and low-key
High-key is often the highlight part, the mid-key is often the medium gray part, and the low key is the dark light and shadow part of the picture.
When we shoot portraits of people, especially women, with high-profile photos, we will give people a clean, elegant and fresh visual sense.
When passing the elevator of a supermarket, I found that the oval ceiling above the elevator was very beautiful, so I found a good angle and waited for a character to enter the camera. After taking the photo, I don't want the signs and clutter of lights in the mall to affect others to view the photo, I need the viewer to focus on the lines of the ceiling and the characters in the elevator, so the high-profile processing, the photo looks more concise.
One style that is the opposite of a high-profile style is a low profile (dark tone).
This style can generally be used when shooting men and curves, which can well reflect the three-dimensional sense and texture.
These two photos were product pictures I took with my phone, there was no additional lighting at the time, just using the natural light from the window, and then shooting with the exposure down, this dark style can make people feel the texture of the metal.
(3) Silhouette
The third secret weapon of mobile photography subtraction, and a trick that many people will use: silhouettes. Abandoning the details and only looking at the outline will give people a lot of associative space, and the picture is beautiful.
This photo is a moment when a person who picks a flat shoulder returns home in the evening, the position of the character is just right, and the proportions of the picture are also arranged well, giving people a feeling of returning with a full load.
© Chen Junming
This silhouette photo, framed at a low angle, captures a tiny praying mantis with the feeling of a "great general". Although you can't see the details of the mantis, you can feel the momentum of the mantis commanding the three armies. That's the charm of silhouettes.
© Jiang Xiaomei
(4) Local color
This feature is something that a lot of people will use. However, this generally cannot be used indiscriminately. When the colors in your photo are too messy and affect the expression of the subject, this method can save the fate of a photo.
The photo on the left uses a ping-pong table and a racket, two colors, the picture is very minimalist, and the contrast between red and blue colors is strong.
The photo on the right is of a garden after a rain. The leaves of the trees, meadows and flowers in the distance are very messy, but the water droplets on the flowers are very rare, originally a waste piece, but after the treatment of "local color", there is suddenly a new life.
Left: © Wang Yuexiang Right: © Xu Tianbo
(5) Frame view
Framed composition allows people's eyes to focus on the inside of the frame scene, so that they are not disturbed by other unrelated elements. This is also a common method used in the law of subtraction. The role of the frame scene is generally two: one is to focus on the line of sight, and the other is to increase the layering of the near, medium and far views of the picture.
This photograph makes full use of the city walls as the foreground of the picture. The light on the wall is used to form a contrast between the cold and warm colors of the blue tone of the sky, which makes the picture have an impact. Most importantly, the semicircle of the city wall makes the picture more focused and the picture more layered.
© Yang Bin
This photo uses a very extreme symmetrical composition, the central tower as the main body of the picture, the appropriate color processing, so that the historical vicissitudes of the photo, ready to come out.
© Liu Qiang
(6) Focus-chasing photography
In the night scene, only the main body of the car is clear, and the rest of the background is all presented in the effect of "dragging shadow", which is "focus-chasing photography".
This creative process is actually a kind of "subtraction law" application, which weakens all the messy light and color through blurring and dragging, which can not only better highlight the main body, but also make the colorful night color more gorgeous.
© Warren
2/.
The law of addition
Having said the law of "subtraction", let's talk about the opposite law: the law of addition. The law of addition is more difficult to implement than the law of subtraction. Because it's easy to lose something in a photo, but add something, add something? How to add? This is something that many people do not grasp well.
To do the addition of photos, keep in mind the following methods:
(1) Add the main body
When photographing landscapes and buildings, if the photos do not have visual interest points, the photos will be more prosaic, but if you add a very clear subject, or a person, the photo will come alive.
In these two photos, although the color on the left is very layered, there is a lack of an interesting point in the picture. If you wait for the characters to appear, you will suddenly have a sense of story in the picture.
© Liu Xingtong
(2) Add characters
Buildings are lifeless, and when photographing these still lifes, properly add people, and the photos will look a lot better.
In these two photos, if there is no character on the left, the picture will be flat, while if there is a character on the right, there will suddenly be a sense of loneliness
© Peng Bo
(3) Add emotions
The mood of the photo refers to the mood and sorrow that your photo can bring to people. A work with emotions is far more touching than a photo with bland emotions.
In this photo, the funny expression and demeanor of the old man make us fully feel the image of an interesting elderly person, which is different from the ordinary way of recording the elderly.
© Cai Zugui
This work is very simple to shoot, but you can see different emotions in the eyes of the two children, the children in the front are calm and curious, and the children in the back have timid expressions.
© Wu Chenhui
(4) Add color
Adding color to a photo can not only increase the mood of the photo, but also increase the sense of layering of the picture. However, our "coloring" here is not to color the photo by post-production, but rather: you have to choose the time of shooting. Let's take a picture as an example.
Same architecture, same scene. The photo on the left was taken at night and on the right at noon. In comparison, the photo on the left is richer and more attractive than the color on the right
© Chen Sihong
(5) Add agility
We are taking some macro photos, and adding some water droplets or small insects will make the photos look vivid and spiritual.
(6) Add a sense of perspective
The photo is flat, if you can compose the picture through the changing perspective, using lines, surfaces and other elements to re-compose the picture, the photo will look like a sense of depth, a sense of perspective.
These two photos, one is the use of architectural lines, one is a sharp reflection of the plane to enhance the sense of perspective, is the feeling of perspective on the photo is not obvious?
Due to the limited space, the addition and subtraction of mobile phone photography that we focus on today will first talk about here, I hope that everyone can use it freely and shoot more blockbusters. If you have any questions that you don't understand, please leave a message in the comment area.
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