Complete works of still life photography skills

1, light and texture

? Expression of texture

The expression of texture is the main aspect of still life photography. In order to show it, except for some props, the key is to use up. For wood and stone with rough surface, the light angle should be low when shooting, and side backlight should be used more; Porcelain should be dominated by positive light, soft light and refracted light should be applied at the same time, the corners of the bottle mouth should be kept high, and the reflection should be minimized where there are patterns; For leather products, backlight and soft light are usually used to reflect the texture through the reflection of leather itself.

? subdued light

Soft light is suitable for expressing vague and gentle feelings.

? direct light

Direct light is suitable for expressing some hard objects and has a clear and powerful taste.

? Side lamp

The front light is generally used as auxiliary light, because it is not conducive to the three-dimensional sense of the object, while the side light has a better three-dimensional sense and is most suitable for expressing the texture of the object. Therefore, side light is often used in still life photography.

? Backlighting

Backlight can highlight the outline of the object, which is suitable for shooting objects that need to highlight the outline and emphasize the sense of transparency. However, due to the small illumination area and strong contrast, backlight is rarely used as the main light in still life photography.

? top light

The direction of the top light and sunlight is the most similar, and there is an almost natural feeling. Many works use this light as the main light.

2, still life photography composition

? golden section

In painting and photography, the top, bottom, left and right of the picture are divided into three equal parts, and their four dividing lines intersect into four points, which is the best position to arrange the interesting center of the work.

? Diagonal composition

Diagonal composition is the most powerful and dynamic. If you choose it properly, the effect is very good.

? Triangular composition

Triangular composition is a general zigzag composition with strong cohesion, which is most suitable for a steady and solemn theme.

? Dispersed component

Scatter composition fills the whole picture with objects, without deliberately highlighting an object. It is a completely free and loose composition structure. But he organized the picture by density or hue, so that the chaotic picture was put in order.

? Contrast composition

Contrast is a form of composition, and its polarization is widely used. Color contrast, texture contrast, size contrast and dark contrast abound, and most of the works that can successfully use comparative composition are extraordinary.

? Curve composition

It is rare in still life photography, but it is expressive, beautiful and full of charm, often reflected by lines.

3. Still life photography practice

? Hardware appliance

For metal works with strong reflectivity, obvious surface shape and large contrast between light and dark, soft light and refracted light should be preferred to improve the contrast.

? artware

Pay attention to its three-dimensional sense when shooting. Generally, we use sidelight. It is best to distinguish the different brightness of the top, side and front, and also to express the spatial depth of the object from the different shades of light and shade and background. The time proportion of photometry should not be too large, and the tone of the general background should be harmonious with the subject. You can also use sharp contrast, it is best to use a bigger camera and a bigger negative. This enlarged handicraft has better texture, detail level and shadow tone.

? Glassware

Glassware is special, with smooth surface and easy reflection. When shooting, the light can shine on the reflective surface, and when reflected on the glassware, the reflected light with soft background can also be used as the only light source. Express the outline lines and transparent texture of glassware. In order to prevent the shadow of the camera from reflecting on the glassware, you can put a 50 cm square black cloth in front of the camera and make a hole in the middle. When shooting the glassware in the kitchen window, we should shoot it from indoor to outdoor, and use the outdoor backlight to show the transparent texture of the glassware.

? machine

In order to make the mechanical performance clear, it is best to use a larger depth of field, a lens with a medium focal length and a smaller aperture. In indoor mechanical shooting, the light distribution should be uniform, the main light can be used for the front, and the amplitude light can be arranged horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Outdoor mechanical photography can use different illumination for the color of visual machinery, with side light as light color and plane light as dark color.

? building

Generally, it is advisable to shoot with the front side light in the morning or at night, which can increase the three-dimensional sense of the building. The front light and backlight are generally not used. Generally, the camera is aimed at the most important and representative part of the building at an oblique angle, and the side part is included appropriately to show the depth and three-dimensional sense of the building. When shooting a building, the vertical line of the building should be parallel to the edge of the photo. The camera must be upright when shooting. If the building is very high, you can move the camera a little farther and raise the shooting angle appropriately, but you should not shoot too far.

? Flowers and plants

When shooting, close-up accessories are often used in front of the camera to get a bigger image. In order to make the flowers stand out, you can blur the background with a large aperture or use a simple background. When shooting a color film, you can use a polarizer to reduce the polarization tone, with the blue sky as the background; When shooting black and white movies, the blue sky is often taken as the background. If you need a gray tone, you can add a yellow filter. If you need a dark gray background, you can add an orange or red filter. In order to express the texture and petal level of flowers, natural light or light can be used to create side light, side reflection and backlight effects, and auxiliary light or reflector should be used to assist the brightness in the dark to reduce the contrast of light ratio.

4. Tone and mood

Tone is the protagonist of expressing emotions. Still life photography often creates different colors to express different emotions from the choice of props and colors, the layout of lighting and the choice of background. Sometimes a tone has a little contrast, just like inserting a pleasant high note into soft music, which is particularly refreshing. This technique is often used to express the theme in still life photography.

5. Expression of ideas

? Direct narrative expression

It is a common method to directly represent the object by selecting props, utensils, background and light directly related to the subject.

? Vague expression

Often used in modern photography. Express your thoughts indirectly and reflect them in the expected way. Let the audience enrich the original content according to their own experience. At this time, the choice of object shape and props is very important. You can use dim soft light to control the contrast within a certain range and create a theme atmosphere in the picture. Abstract expression

Abstract performance is a performance without theme, which pursues the physical performance, light and shadow performance and texture contrast of objects. In the use of light, we should pay special attention to the use of shadow shape and consider it as a composition factor. Through a deeper understanding of the external and internal relations of objects, the author expresses his thoughts with image thinking and highlights the author's personal characteristics and thoughts and feelings.