Many photos taken by novice photographers on rainy days often suffer from problems such as dark light and mixed elements. However, experienced photographers can always take clean and concise blockbusters with outstanding themes on rainy days. Could it be that someone else has some special magic?
Obviously not. To take high-end photos of rainy days, we must first understand the light and environmental characteristics of rainy days, so that we can be more targeted when looking for subjects.
Photo by liessie
One .
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Boldly leave white space
Rainy days, snowy days, and haze days are more common in winter. The biggest difference between them and sunny days is that the sky is white, which is especially suitable for taking black and white minimalist photos.
The core point of taking black and white minimalist photos is to use a large area of white space. For example, if you look for a dead branch that is most common in autumn and winter, leaving a large area of white space can bring out the depression of autumn and winter.
Photo by rashid_bin
It is not difficult to find dead branches, but if you want to take good pictures, you need to remember the following points:
1. What we want when taking pictures of dead branches is the shape, not the details, so try to look for slender branches. branches;
2. Using diagonal composition can increase the sense of extension of dead branches and avoid dull photos;
3. If you feel that the picture is too flat, you can create some dynamic elements, such as waiting for a bird to appear.
Photo by rashid_bin
Leave it blank, you can take photos of slender dead branches or flying birds. Compared with dead branches, the difficulty of photographing birds is that there are many uncertainties.
Generally, I do not recommend that you use a telephoto lens with a smaller angle of view to capture photos. Instead, you should use a wide-angle end to capture photos. The wide-angle end will increase your capture success rate and provide greater space for cropping in post-production. Of course, no matter which lens you use, you must first understand the difference between continuous shooting and snapshots!
How to start continuous shooting: iPhone hold down the shutter button and slide to the left, Xiaomi phone hold down the shutter button and slide to the right, other models basically press and hold the shutter. The advantage of continuous shooting is that it can continuously capture consecutive moments of a certain moment, and is generally used in well-lit environments.
Photo by rashid_bin
The disadvantage of continuous shooting is that it is limited by the influence of light. In poor light conditions, the shutter speed is slow and it is impossible to freeze moving subjects.
At this time, we need to switch to "Professional Mode", set the ISO around 100-300, and then adjust the shutter parameters according to the speed of the subject. For example, when shooting birds, the shutter speed (S) is set between 1/800-1/1000 seconds. The advantage of the professional mode is that it has a high success rate in single capture, but the disadvantage is that it cannot take continuous shots.
Photo by Amon NIL
Two .
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Looking for contrast
On cloudy and rainy days, the light is dark, which is not suitable for shooting objects with a prominent three-dimensional effect, such as buildings. In this case, we should focus on looking around to see if there are any objects that have a clear contrast with the sky.
, for example, uses an ultra-wide angle to shoot trees and buildings from a low angle. The perspective effect of the ultra-wide angle allows the trees and straight buildings to form a morphological echo. At the same time, the dark-black trees will appear more three-dimensional on cloudy days.
Photo by Li Xianmin
Or just take the tree trunk under the office building as the subject, shoot from a low angle, emphasizing the morphological conflict between the subject and the background.
I would like to remind you that you should try to shoot in the morning or noon when the light is slightly brighter. At this time, the light in the sky is slightly brighter and the levels of the foreground and background will be more distinct.
Photo by denis.olivier.photography
In addition, night is also a good time to shoot high contrast. For example, when photographing water droplets on a rainy night, it is easiest to photograph glass with neon light effects in the background, such as shopping mall windows and bus windows.
first uses locking focus on the water droplets. Appropriately reducing the exposure compensation can improve the contrast of the water droplets, so that the water droplets captured will have a more three-dimensional effect. If your phone cannot focus on the water droplets, please turn on the professional mode, click "MF" and manually slide the focus ruler to shoot.
In addition, the colors in the rainy night will also form a relatively sharp contrast.
At the entrance of the shopping mall, we can observe whether anyone is passing by with a brighter umbrella, such as red or orange, and take pictures when the person holding the umbrella passes by the window. However, the effect of capturing photos at night may not be very good, so we can also turn on the professional mode and set the shutter time to more than 1/25 seconds to shoot an abstract smear effect.
Photo by black.nouvelevague
Three .
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Air composition method
The visibility is not particularly good on cloudy and rainy days. In this case, it can help us simplify the composition and enhance the atmosphere. For example, when photographing green plants in a park, the fog in the distance weakens the background, giving the ordinary green plants a sense of mystery.
Photo by rashid_bin
Or go to the overpass and use height to shoot the curve of the road. The curve will bring a sense of depth to the picture, and the fog at the far end can just add some mysterious atmosphere to the picture.
Photo by Yishanjin
Four .
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How to make the sky white
On rainy days, sometimes you will see some traces of dark clouds, and the sky will not look pure enough. How to make the sky whiter?
Method 1: Increase exposure compensation
In the early stage of shooting, we can actively increase the exposure compensation, that is, lift the "little sun" next to the focus frame. At this time, the picture will be brighter, and the sky as a highlight will lose details, which also serves the purpose of "removing dark clouds".
Photo by Amon NIL
Method 2: Increase the white color level
Increasing the white color level will make the overall sky whiter, and the photo definition will be better, which is more suitable for use in black and white silhouette themes.
However, it should be noted that the more white levels, the better. We must always pay attention to the overall tone relationship of the photo. We need to use highlights and shadows in order to achieve the effect of looking real.
Photo by ren.pauline
Okay, the above are some ideas for taking simple photos on rainy days. You can practice according to the methods introduced in the article first. If you encounter something you don’t understand during the practice, you can return to the bottom of this article and leave a message.
I hope this article can really help everyone take more advanced and beautiful photos on rainy days. If you think today’s content is helpful to you, please share it and like it!
