Hello everyone, I am a Buddhist veteran driver.
Many people who play photography will encounter this problem: What exactly is photography. The discussion (dispute) of this question has never stopped since the birth of the first camera, and I am afraid there will be no standard answer.
I also have my own answer to this question.
"Take a photo" means "writing a diary", after all, it is for yourself to see.
"Photography" means "engaging in creation", and in the final analysis, it is for others to see.
When you disclose your photos, you have an "audience". You have to consider how to meet the needs and aesthetics of the audience, or a higher level: you have to consider what ideas or emotions to convey to influence or even change the audience. At this time, the simple "photographing" behavior has elevated to complex "photographing" creation; from "writing a diary" to "engaging in creation".
Let’s talk about my experience of growing from a photography novices to a photography novices.
Note: All pictures without the source are original by me, and other pictures are deleted if they are infringed. My level is limited, please correct me if there are any errors.
Photography stage
"Photography" is a basic need of modern people, part of photography, and the primary stage of photography. The most important thing in this stage is not to change the channel and better photography equipment, but to "change the perspective" .
1. Change the perspective
By changing the shooting perspective, even things that are used to, will give people different feelings and will be given new meaning.
Many people only observe the world passively from the perspective of their habits. They have never activated the ability to actively observe and think (opportunities). They always complain that their equipment (conditions) are not as good as others, which makes it difficult to make progress.
There are several simple methods to "change the perspective" and need to be deliberately practiced:
. Zoom in the perspective
Zoom in the perspective, which means adding elements in the picture, ignoring details, and having a big picture perspective, which tests the ability to extract, classify and prioritize complex information.
After taking a few steps or using an ultra-wide-angle lens, you can enlarge the viewing angle, resulting in an increase in messy information. At this time, it is very difficult to avoid interference and ensure the main body is prominent. Many people often say that "can't control ultra-wide-angle lenses" is the reason. But if you retreat because of difficulties and give up trying, you will probably spend your life like this.
△Others take pictures under the tree, you can take a few steps back and take a picture of "others are taking pictures". At this time, there is a story - this tree is an internet celebrity tree in Ningbo Academician Center, with dense and stretched branches and leaves and rounded outlines. Opposite is the " Xiao Putuo " of Dongqian Lake . A bench is the finishing touch, and many elements attract many people to come and take photos.
Zoom in the viewing angle is not limited to shrinking the focal length or retreating. The fundamental purpose is to "add elements".
△ This was taken by me using telephoto lens . I originally wanted to take a picture of that cherry tree (so boring). Generally, I had to wait for tourists to pass before taking pictures, but I still pressed the shutter when the four of them lined up by. Compared to a single tree, this photo has some popularity and interest, with a stronger atmosphere of spring and richer information.
△The one on the left is shot in a 50mm focal length. Each key element is incomplete, but each element retains its main characteristics. This is also a kind of "magnifying perspective" - Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji statue, Fengqiao , and Tielingguan. These three key elements correspond exactly to the song " Fengqiao Night Mooring ". The picture on the right is a conventional "magnified perspective" - the subject is as complete as possible in the element, but it is obviously not as large as the image on the left, and there is no artistic conception on the image on the left.
. Reduce the perspective
Reduce the perspective angular means reducing the elements in the picture, highlighting details, and being very purposeful. It tests the ability to filter complex information and quickly decide.
Observe the tiny things around you closely, and you will find many details (opportunities) that you have never seen or been ignored. This can be easily achieved through a macro lens (many mobile phones have this function) or close-up shooting, or cropping to enlarge details.
△If I hadn’t told you, you might not have guessed that this was a pillar I casually photographed with my mobile phone in the temple during the Spring Festival. The combination of red, mottled, and peeling elements coincides with the psychology of adults during the Spring Festival (the years are ruthless), and the pillars are not important.
△ By showing the rough texture of door knocker , you can imagine that this is an old and well-preserved old house.
. Reverse the perspective.
reverses the perspective, which means opposition, negative or onlooker. It is more suitable to highlight emotions. It tests the understanding and insight into the two sides of things.
△Others are taking pictures of the front of the sculpture, but you can go around and take pictures of the back.
The front of the statue looks like the picture below. You can compare and feel the difference between the two:
Picture source: Ctrip review
△ This is definitely not a staged shot. The position of the passerby, the color of the clothes, the posture of the back, the intention of the movement and the redwoods match very well, and I captured it in time. After reversing the perspective, do you also feel like a bystander? Did he feel what he felt when he was photographing the redwoods? If the other person is looking directly at the camera, the feeling of being a bystander will be weakened, and it will become a "conversation" with you.
The following picture uses the same method (I am really not a stalker!):
△A very trendy handsome guy happened to be in front of me. I was waiting for him to take the unusual path, and after a few seconds, he was captured by me! His fashion fits perfectly with the titanium alloy material of Donglai Pavilion in Linping, Hangzhou, and the photos have a soul because of him.
In addition to forward and reverse inversion, it can also be reversed up and down. For example, the picture below:
△ Generally, we take pictures of flower stamens from top to bottom. You can put your phone into the flowers and take pictures from bottom to top to get an "insect perspective".
The above may seem simple, but in fact it requires repeated and deliberate practice. For example: facing a subject, take a few more photos from various angles, or stay for a while longer. Only in this way can we have the "awareness" to "jump out" and observe things at any time in actual combat. Otherwise, you will be habitually immersed in your own world at that time and place, and will not be able to objectively face your own or other people's moods and situations.
2. Laying the foundation
Some people do not know the relationship between aperture, shutter, and ISO, but they can take photos that are recognized as good. The reason is that the automation of shooting equipment is getting higher and higher, coupled with the unique life circumstances, or the rare content captured, it will naturally become more attractive. Of course, artistic talent or innate keen observation skills cannot be ignored.
But if you don’t have these innate conditions, then if you lay a solid foundation in photography, you can at least move faster and more steadily than most people.
The reason why I ranked "laying the foundation" after "changing perspective" is because "changing perspective" can often achieve immediate results and increase our self-confidence. Only when you have confidence can you understand the relatively boring principles.
Reading more photography books, reading more excellent works, and practicing repeatedly are the fastest ways to lay the foundation. The basics of photography are not complicated, and you can be self-taught, but it is easy to fall into misunderstandings, and you should not rush for success - it is impossible to "become a master in 30 days". Most people will not become famous in 30 years (including me). Just treat photography as a hobby that cultivates sentiments and tempers the mind.
During the photography stage,
only changes the perspective, which is not enough to be called a "photographic work", because it may only bring a fleeting sense of freshness to the audience (such as ordinary landscape photos or sugar water photos and the photos I took above), leaving no impression, let alone affecting others.
So how to achieve the transformation from "taking photos" to "photo creation" as soon as possible?
1. Telling stories
Humans like stories, and photos can also tell stories, and the story itself is greater than the clarity, composition, light and dark elements of the photo. That is, if you think of a good story that can be implemented (content theme or idea), then you have been more than half of it. Common ways to tell stories are as follows:
, photo comparison: records the changes at different times and at the same place.
Photographer (Hayahisa Tomiyasu) spent 7 years taking multiple photos from the same location. Netizens left a message: No one is playing table tennis
△"TTP" is a series of photos taken by the photographer from the window of an eighth-floor student apartment in Leipzig, Germany in 2011. The windows face southwards a park with a table tennis table, and visitors to the table tennis table are changing every day, season, and year. Due to different people, we found that the function of this table tennis table has also changed differently - from sunbeds to laundry tables, to children's climbing racks, fitness venues and shelters away from busy streets, etc. Out of curiosity, Hayahisa Tomiyasu continues to observe some habits, humor and qualities about human behavior around this humble table. His photography book was recently awarded the First Book Award from MACK Publishing House in the UK and published. The copy of this paragraph is from Zhihu : https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/37547732, the photographer's personal website and more displays: http://www.tomiyasuhayahisa.com/ttp/
In comparison, the set of "Southern Alleys" I filmed is much inferior, but it also awakens the childhood memories of many southern friends, and some of the scenes have now become construction sites.
"Southern Alley"
If you really can't dig out the story, you can also provide the audience with a scene so that they can freely use their imagination. For example, the following set of photos:
△I took these desolate scenes by the uninhabited river (there is no name on the map), and many people were moved. Although I don’t know which nerve they touched, at least I showed the characteristics of the scene.
. Narrative pose: has meaningful pose. Photos like
generally need to be explained with text background in order to fully understand the mystery.
Japanese movie "Asada Family! 》Screenshot
△The family photos with stories are curious at first glance. When I was a kid, I also had the experience of falling off the stairs, so I was very interested in this photo, but my wife didn't think so.
Photo background: Dad fell on his feet while cooking, the younger son fell down when he went to call his mother, and then the older son fell down from the stairs. The three of them came to the hospital to find his mother, but were scolded by the mother who was a doctor. Many years later, the family took this photo with a very story-oriented "Asada Family" - the Japanese movie "Asada Family! 》, highly recommend this film related to photography.
. Forced association: imposes the same attributes of two different things together to form new things.
The following picture I named "Family Meeting", which imposes human experience on animals, so the story immediately becomes.
△Did you think of the scene when you made a mistake when you were a child and were scolded by your parents? Or what happened when I taught myself a lesson? In fact, this picture was just a flash of freeze. The little swans were not so honest. I waited for a long time and took N pictures to get this picture.
There are many funny and interesting pictures on the Internet that follow this routine, for example:
pictures are from the Internet, please delete if infringement.
The following picture is a winning photo of me. "A lonely fish" forms a forced relationship with "A lonely person", which resonates with the audience - especially those with certain life experience.After seeing it, a friend said to me: This fish is me! In one sentence, the secret of photography is revealed - to let the audience see themselves.
"Traveling Alone"
2. Group topic selection
When telling stories, early preparation is very important. If you don't have time to prepare, you can also pick and classify the photos you took before, and maybe you will find interesting topics.
The following is a classification of some of my more interesting photos in recent years:
"Boat Under the Bridge"
"Old Artist"
"Little Adult"
The above photos were taken when I traveled to different cities in recent years. There was no theme planned at the time. I usually take photos of interesting things when I see them, and develop a good habit of accumulating materials.
Also, never let photos "die" on the hard drive. Photos are like "ingredients". Different combinations of the same ingredients will have different flavors.
Summary
What the audience really cares about is themselves. If a work does not allow the audience to see their own shadow, it will not resonate. Without resonance, it is a failed work. Sometimes in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to break the rules and be unconventional. So you don’t have to strictly follow the methods taught by others to take photos. The most important thing is to have your own ideas and practice them.
It is a very long but fun process from shooting "what I like" to shooting "what everyone likes". From the pursuit of "good-looking" to the pursuit of "meaningful", it is not only a process of improving the level of photography, but also a process of the photographer's mental growth.
Easier to know than to do, so let me encourage you.
I am a "Buddhist veteran" who consumes rationally and returns to life. I pay attention to whatever happens, and give thanks and likes.
