A photo that belongs to you
After countless painstaking planning and breaking off relations with the people who dropped the plane, we finally embarked on the journey. Needless to say, carrying a newly bought camera tripod and a bunch of snacks and dry food, the boat in the middle finally reached the place that had been longed for for a long time. At this time, you will usually see such a scene:
At the most famous attraction, the most classic viewing angle, it is always crowded with excited and noisy tourists, all carrying huge photo bags, holding the most expensive and trendy digital cameras, even those who occasionally forget to bring out the camera, always holding up mobile phones that can take pictures, and the shutter sound rises like fried beans.
Such a scene is always boring, then I will always walk away lonely, hard-won holidays, waste so much time and money, is it for the sake of hard work to come here to see everyone take pictures?
The popularity of digital cameras and camera phones has made people's travel a waste of countless free shutters, which may be a kind of inversion, so that the camera's frame replaces the eyes and mind, taking countless cookie-cutter standard photos of attractions, but forgetting to feel the real beauty.
Seeing a beautiful photograph in a magazine or postcard often fosters our urge and desire to go somewhere, and once we arrive, the process of travel often evolves into the process of finding the angle from which to take the photo.
This is undoubtedly the biggest misunderstanding in the photography of the trip, and the final result is often to take a large number of photos that I am too lazy to look at, no matter which one is not as beautiful as the postcard we first saw.
Because that's an impossible task.
The postcard was probably a local photographer, carrying a medium-sized camera and a heavy tripod every day, waiting here for three months before waiting for that moment of rainbows, how could we afford to spend such time and energy? So how should we press the shutter during a trip?
Since it belongs to your travel, the photo record should not be someone else's scenery, but your private feelings and views, for this reason, your shooting is meaningful.
As for the classic angles, they were inadvertently created by the photographers, and no one stipulated that you had to shoot this way or that way.
It sounds a little difficult, or it can be said that when you try to take a picture of Tiananmen square that has been taken by tens of millions of people, then you should forget the photos you remember, and try to describe Tiananmen from your own viewing angle, so that the film can make your Tiananmen make an impression. Every time I hear someone comment on my photos, I say, "I've seen countless pictures of Tiananmen Square, I didn't expect you to take them like this, it's so fun." Always feel genuinely happy.
Only such a film will make people forget that you are holding an expensive digital SLR, or a cheap small DC, or even a small DC with only 300,000 pixels, back to taking the picture itself.
In 2004, when I first started taking pictures, my first trip to Beijing, I took Xiao dc to the Yuanmingyuan, and in front of the most famous landscape, the weather was very gray and oppressive, not like there was a magnificent sunset or a brilliant sunset, there were already a number of people with tripods, so I kept walking around, trying to avoid them, until I found this small stall selling drinks.
Improving your unique observation skills is a skill that must be developed when you first learn photography, and in general, only the most sharp critics will be critical of photography's technical problems. Relatively technically, regaining the ability to see the world curiously through the lens will allow you to gain a lot of things beyond photography.
In the winter of 2009, Longmen Ancient Town, Zhejiang, the weather was gloomy and dusk. I was attracted to a nostalgic public boiling water room, which is a good place to experience the good times in Gangnam, however, people who take pictures of boiling water rooms and open water can only get a bland documentary photo.
The aunt who was waiting to turn on the water next to me put a pair of open kettles on the bench, and the contrast of colors was very rustic, so I squatted down and waited for ten minutes, watching the people coming and going, until a couple who were holding hands and leaving work walked by and pressed the shutter.
Photography is often a description of the feeling of presence, with the most concise scene and things, expressing the most complex feelings, often requiring strong enough generalization ability, in fact, this is also a kind of self-training that makes people look connotative.
In the winter of 2010, during the Spring Festival, the weather was cold, Xiangfan drove to Zhanjiang on the Pu express green-skinned train, the girl without a seat sat in the dining car, her expression at this moment seemed to be happy and sad, there was a faint sadness, full of the feeling of winter travel.
The location of the shooting is actually the least important thing in photography, the key is what you see.
The tour guide my great aunt came
If you are unlucky and need to travel with a group (of course, if it is public expense, it is very lucky), the fierce-eyed tour guide waving a small flag always drives you wearing a small yellow hat to trot, hurriedly look at your favorite place for a long time, and then drive you to the shopping spot for most of the day. This sadness is indescribable, especially when you are still carrying a heavy lens and a tripod that you have just started with, and you don't even have time to take it out.
At this time, I always try my best to seek a short break, sometimes at the expense of diarrhea, fear of heights, big aunts coming, and so on.
Of course, if you feel that your ability to survive in the wild is not strong enough, then it is also a good choice to use the morning and evening time when your friends have not yet gotten up, or when they are ready to go shopping to take pictures. When it's just after dawn or the sun is about to set, there's always the best light to shoot, and usually there aren't too many tourists at these times.
For those popular attractions, due to commercialization, it often seems to be parked out of touch with reality, and usually after seeing the most famous places that I have to see, I always leave the streets full of tourist souvenirs and tourists to try to see the truth of this place.
Usually, you turn a corner and enter a remote street, a real local will be presented, and I tend to take the ideal photo in these non-scenic spots.
Travel is a practice in which knowing and feeling the lives, joys and beliefs of people in a strange place is always the most enjoyable part of travel. At this time, the shooting, perhaps eloquence is more important than the equipment, a few simple communication, a kind smile and a sincere look, are all channels to open up interaction with the locals.
For tourists to visit, people are always happy to treat each other, usually for you to explain the many interesting aspects of this place, for a traveler who wants to take the most authentic and unique photos, asking the locals for information and surprises is often much more reliable than blindly looking for guides on the Internet.
In the autumn of 2011, Guangzhou Thirteen Lines, a rather noisy wholesale market. I crouched down with my camera and chatted with the resting workers, and their guarded looks immediately relaxed, whatever I wanted to shoot.
In fact, in the shooting of the conversation, the integrity of the mentality is the most important, in addition to holding more cameras in your hand, you and the subject are no different, do not think that you are an artist who has done great creations, and do not have to plead to let the other party take a picture of you.
Everyone chatted happily, just press the shutter casually, no idea, don't shoot, just talk about two sentences. With this mentality, you will find that the other person will be more and more relaxed in your lens.
In this photo, the act of crouching down plays a crucial role in both the composition and the atmosphere of the photo.
In the summer of 2012, on the seashore in Dalian, a famous attraction was crowded, so I went deeper and farther and farther, so I met a group of naked swimming masters.
Naked swimming is a kind of folklore in Bohai Bay, but chatting in a large group of bare-ass uncles is really quite a unique feeling, after some of my flickering, everyone finally agreed to appear naked in front of the camera, of course, I can't put out these photos, otherwise this post will be harmonious.
In addition, I promised them that the location of this photo could not be released, and they did not want to lose the last place in Dalian where they could swim naked at will.
In the summer of 2008, I went to Sha Pao Bay to see the sea, and in the evening, there was a Cantonese opera performance in the countryside of western Guangdong. I plucked up the courage to realize the ambition I had set since I was a child and went into the background. As a result, I had a good chat with them, and I also met two girls from the same country who played Hua Dan.
Many times, taking pictures is the same as confessing, you don't try, the failure rate is 100%, you try, the success rate is 90%.
Stop torturing your audience
Go to a beautiful place, see the shocking scenery, take a lot of photos, there is still a holy baptism in the soul, then your photo is not shown to people, your heart will definitely be lonely. However, showing photos can sometimes be a pleasure for others, and more likely to be a torture.
Usually, you can't be sure which photos you take are better, so you show them all, and after a while, the eyes of the person you forced to look at the photos begin to wander, the spirit begins to drift, and you start to take the opportunity to go to the toilet.
From a psychological point of view, unless you take a nude photo in the style of Guan Xi, most people look at more than ten similar photos, they will lose curiosity and patience, if forced to look at hundreds of photos, it will be a disaster.
In addition, the audience has no obligation to help you distinguish between good and bad photos, and the occasional bad photo will completely destroy their assessment of your photographic ability, which cannot be careless.
Choosing a photo is undoubtedly more difficult than taking a photo, and in the editorial department of a newspaper or magazine, the photo editors responsible for selecting photos are usually paid several times higher than photojournalists, simply because they need more professional visual literacy and a body of knowledge outside of photography.
For myself, no matter how good it is, I also try my best to control the display of a set of photos, taking thousands or even tens of thousands of photos in one place, but generally no more than ten, and at most no more than twenty. The process of selecting photos is a torture, but it is also a shortcut to improve your photographic ability.
Typically, group graph editing has some of the following principles:
1, for the narrative of the group picture, it is best to have a panorama, a medium scene and a close-up, the composition of the moment similar photos try not to choose, if you are not sure which one is better, just close your eyes and choose one. Things that can be illustrated in one photo should never be explained by two. It is best to have a dark line of narrative between the photos that lasts, so as not to disorient the reader.
2. For the group of pictures that focus on visual effects, the color jumps and composition changes between photos are quite important, and at the same time, you also need a unified style of control to let the audience get a complete impression.
3, in the group map, whether the photo is good or not is only a relative concept, a good photo if it can not serve the theme, must be decisively abandoned. An ordinary photo that can serve the theme can also shine.
4, if you really can't choose, put it for three months when you are about to forget, good photos will never go out of date, will only get better and better.
5, a good photo, give people the impression, better than thousands of mediocre.
A group of autumn color photos, I paid special attention to the jump and contrast of color, as well as the switch between close-up and panorama, if it is all a big red and yellow, but it makes the reader lose the feeling of color.
Finally solemnly stated, I am a pure grandfather, and there is no great aunt, but men always have a few days a month that are very unhappy, right?
Kobayashi's new book "I want to take a picture of you"
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