[China Photography News] Take a good animal around you

Pet portrait photos that can be taken with mobile phones

● Wu Jianye

On social platforms, they are not only recorded in each happy moment, but also the emotional connection between pets and owners. Each photo is a memory. You don't need to pick up the camera, you can take a portrait photo with your mobile phone.

Use Apple's mobile phone portrait mode. Photo by Wu Jianye

The portrait mode of Apple mobile phones can simulate the depth of field effects and take photos with clear main body and blurred background. First open the "Camera" APP and slide to the left to enter the portrait mode. Then you can follow the prompt on the screen.

When the portrait mode is ready, the name of the light effect (such as the photography room light) will become yellow, and press the shutter. When the distance is too close, too far, or the environment is too dark, the screen will be prompted.

There are some similarities with shooting pets and portraits. Eyes, expressions, postures, movements, and even temperament are the focus of shooting. The difference is that pets cannot understand the photographer's shooting intentions, and it is difficult to put action as required, let alone actively. Therefore, there must be patience for the exciting moment, and at the same time, you need to be lucky.

Whether it is a character or animal, the color of the inner world can be displayed through the eyes. As long as you capture the wonderful eyes of "Wang Xingren" and "Meow Star", you can achieve a pleasing pet photo, so that viewers can read the story of pets through their eyes.

The same pet is domineering, dumbfounded, pure, positive, portrait mode will blur back, the entire picture is basically filled by pet's head, and the body and background will only account for a small proportion. expression.

Small actions such as yawning, licking your claws, and licking your nose can fully show the different personality of pets. To capture their instant charm, we need to understand their frequent actions in order to predict, induce and wait for the most colorful moments. It can be paired with props, clothing or accessories, and it is easier to achieve the effect of expression.

What needs to be kept in mind is that all pets, no matter how docile and lovely look, don't take it lightly. Safety is always the top priority when shooting. If you are unfamiliar pets, keep a proper distance to avoid being attacked.

When shooting pets, most people are used to shooting from a normal perspective. After all, this is the perspective of our world, and it is also the most comfortable shooting height. However, photos taken from this perspective are often relatively bland. You may wish to try to shoot from the perspective of pets, reduce your body to the height close to them, or you can lying on the floor. Get different effects.

If you want to have love, take them as a real protagonist. Only in this way can they show the cutest side in front of us, and we have the opportunity to take more pictures that are usually invisible.

"Stage Light" light effect can simulate the black background.

Watching fish shooting focuses on reflective problems

● Chen Yuru

Many families have raised ornamental fish. These bright, lively and cute fish add a lot of fun to life. If we take it as a pleasing picture, it is also a very interesting thing as a wallpaper of a computer or mobile phone.

The ornamental fish I took was raised in the pool, so I chose to take a downfall, use the black pool as the background, shoot with a macro lens, and use the adjustment distance to shoot different scenes of different scenes. If it is raised in the glass fish tank, it is even more ideal. You can choose a flat -shooting position, try to make the lens close to the glass, shoot the fish in the backlight, and add the bubble embellishment, the picture will be very beautiful. Of course, some mobile phones have a waterproof function, which can directly reach into the water to shoot, and the angle is more free.

Dance Chen Yuru Photo

Because the fish is constantly swimming, I choose the artificial intelligence servo autofocus mode and shoot with a high -speed continuous shooting. When shooting, the shutter speed is maintained for more than 1/160 seconds. In order to ensure that the subject is clear, I chose F8 and used the flash to shoot.

When shooting, you must first pay attention to avoid the reflection of the water. You can obtain the ideal picture by changing the shooting angle. You can also use window screens and soft light paper to make the light softer. Or install polarizer in front of the camera, this method has the best effect of suppressing reflective. The second is to pay attention to the cleaning of the shooting environment. It mainly refers to the cleaning of impurities dirt in the water and the clean and translucent surface of the glass surface to ensure the cleaning of the shot.

Photo by Chen Yuru

In the later period, the light and shadow and shadow of the picture are initially adjusted in ACR, and then the curve tool can be used to further darker the background to obtain a clean black background. For impurities in the water, you can apply it with a brush tool in PS. Finally, you can make a second composition on the screen.

The cat at home is different from the cat on the street

● Ren Xingli

There are not a few photographers who like to shoot cats, and I am also one of them. The cats and people raised at home are relatively easy to shoot. The cats on the street are highly vigilant, and they are not easy to shoot, leaving them a safe distance. Take a cat at home, take a bath for the cat, and prepare the cat's snacks and teasing cat sticks that the cat likes to eat. In addition, find a wear -resistant clothes for yourself, ready to fight with the cat.

A wide-angle lens with a large aperture is essential, 28mm or 35mm F1.4, or 24-70mm F2.8. I prefer to use a large aperture fixed focus lens. In the case of conditions permit, a large aperture mid-length lens must be prepared, which can be 70-200mm F2.8 or 100-400mm F4-5.6. In addition to the above two conventional lenses, there are also special effects lenses to choose from: fish eye lens, exaggerated deformation is its good play; standard lens, 50mm large aperture lens is a good shot for cats to take portraits, provided that it is close to it close to it , Sin down, shoot from the perspective of cats; macro lenss are suitable for clearing the cat's local.

Because indoor light is usually weak, the setting of aperture, speed, and sensitivity is easy to be limited. When it is necessary to reduce the speed of the shutter, a stable tripod will make the photo be calm and calm. However, the tripod movement is not flexible and limited the capture, so the single tripod has become a choice of folding.

Usually, aperture priority can be used, but the shutter speed should be paid attention to. Due to the human light source, it is best to manually calibrate the white balance to reduce color. Cats outdoors are set to automatic white balance. The focus is the cat's eyes. If it is close to the side, the focus can be focused on the cat's eyes near the lens. To shoot the cats in the fast walk, choosing the continuous focus mode of the camera can reduce the occurrence of dislocation.

Cat King Ren Xingli Photo

The camera is set properly, the preparation is completed, and then the shooting is. Lie on the ground with a cat's perspective of the cat, the camera and the cat at the same level. If you are in the indoor photographer cat, try to choose a bright environment, but avoid strong light to the cat's eyes. Because in a bright environment, the cat's pupils will become thinner into a narrow vertical line, and in a darker environment, it will open into a round shape, and the round pupils will look cute.

If the cats outside the outdoor, try not to go smoothly when the light ratio is large, and choose the side light, side backlight and backlight that can highlight the level.

It is interesting to shoot small animals. Whether it is a cat or a street cat, as long as we have patient observation, we will find something. Especially for minor kittens, lively and active is their nature. Between them or between people, they often happen between them and the environment.

The cat's bright and lovely big eyes, its pink and moist nose, the fleshy cat's claws, etc. These parts can be entered into the mirror, suitable for shooting close -up key performance. Like other photography themes, taking cats also need to pay attention for a long time. As long as we are diligent in observation and good at summary, we will gain something.

Ren Xingli, a cat hiding behind the window

Creative shooting chipmount adorable photos

● Zhang Dejun

Shipshe is a member of the squirrel family. In the woods in the forest or the woods of the park, we can often see them. Most of the chipmiper movements during the day, the morning and dusk are the most active. They often run on the ground and downwood, good at climbing trees, and agile in action. The wild chipmiper in the wild is very vigilant, and it is difficult for people to approach. Relatively speaking, the chipmiper in the park is easier to shoot.

In order to be able to shoot semi -chipmiped at close range, I have long followed and observed a often appearing chipmiper to understand its living habits, activities and routes and caves. After mastering the laws of life and the activity route, you can put melon seeds, peanuts, dried fruits, etc. where they often come out.

Use food to guide the chipmus to shoot at the specified location.

Try to choose foods with simple and clean backgrounds, so as not to take pictures with cluttered backgrounds and not prominent subjects. You can appropriately increase the frequency of food delivery, and the amount of launch is more.

Due to the uninterrupted food, the chipmiper gradually relaxed to me, and the courage gradually became bigger, and sometimes I went to my hands to eat food, which made the shooting very smooth.

After establishing a relationship of mutual trust, some photography props can be placed at the position of food frequently, and an interesting scene can be designed to shoot. For example, putting some foods on the trail props or nearby, it will eat or carry food according to the route I designed, so that I have more opportunities to take some scarbon -stunned photos.

Because the shooting distance is relatively close, there are not so many restrictions in the use of the lens. The two lenses of 24-70mm and 70-200mm are enough. In order to capture every wonderful picture, it is best to choose a high -speed continuous shooting in the shooting mode, so that after the shooting, you can choose the wonderful photos carefully. For some photos that are not satisfactory to the screen layout, it can be processed through appropriate tailoring and processing, and a few more wonderful sherle chipmihood photos can be released.

Through the selection of light and background, obtain a clean picture

The trick of pet photography is patience

● Zhang Jianfang

Pets have more reactions to different environments than people's imagination. When shooting, the photographer must have a heart that loves life, capture the characteristics that can express their personality in play, and capture their cute side. It is best to understand the behavior of pets and try to shoot from the perspective of pets, which can improve the success rate of shooting.

Pets can often "enter the drama" when they are free and at ease, especially some small pets are very sensitive, and they are highly vigilant about strange people or the environment. This requires the photographer to spend some time to understand its habits before shooting, to find out its preferences, and make it feel relaxed, so that you can take interesting photos. It is a way to use pets to attract its attention and guide it to play at the specified place. In addition to the snacks and toys that pets love to eat, any props that can make it "anthropomorphic" are also a good choice. Simply put, it is to pile people what people use on them, such as letting it wear glasses, handsome and cute. Photographers can also try to make some sounds to win the pet's attention to capture its "decisive moment".

Every angle of pets will have different aesthetics, and different angles will also give people different feelings. For example, looking up at 45 degrees will give people a proud feeling; staring at his eyes with low head, it will show its strong curiosity. The same pet is domineering and "dull". When shooting, you can try different angles to find the perspective that can best express pet personality. When shooting indoor, use various existing lighting fixtures or natural light outside the window.

When shooting outdoors, you can choose to have a stronger color at this time in the sunny morning and sunset. When there is a pet face in the picture, the focus can be focused on the eyes to make its eyes clear and bright.

At this time, you can also use Big Light to express pets. You can find some obvious scenes with light and dark, place pets in a relatively bright place, metering in the pet to make it exposed normally. The dark part is black due to insufficient exposure, so as to obtain a clean black background and highlight The subject, create a unique atmosphere. You can also use a large aperture background to present the feeling of "big blockbuster".

To show the beauty of dynamic dynamics such as pet running, jumping, and playing, you can choose the shutter priority mode, continuous servo autofocus, and use high -speed continuous shooting functions to solidify the wonderful moments. If you want to highlight the "big head" effect, you can consider using ultra -wide -angle lens or fish -eyed lens.

In order to make the animals in the photo look clean, the exposure compensation can be increased during shooting, so that the photo is slightly exposed, so that the picture looks brighter. It should be noted that excessive exposure should be appropriate, and you should not blindly pursue the bright effect, so as to lose too many details.

Be careful to take a pet, and the eye disease is fast

● Chen Haiyan

It is not easy to take pictures of pets, because most pets love to move and not be completely controlled, so it often causes problems such as blurring of the picture or not in place. Therefore, it is necessary to understand and master certain skills and methods.

Use natural light as much as possible to shoot pets. The flash not only easily causes red eyes, but also scares them. Therefore, it is best to choose a bright natural environment or indoor shooting with windows. Generally speaking, Shunguang shooting pet hair is more luster; the backlight shooting pets show a relatively obvious outline under light. Indoor shooting often encounters insufficient light, resulting in no enough shutter speed. In this case, in addition to using auxiliary light sources, it can also increase the sensitivity appropriately.

To capture the playful expression of pets, you need to observe and wait patiently. Observation time has been observed for a long time, and you can predict what they will do next. If you just run around with a camera, you may only do nothing. The interesting movements or expressions of pets are fleeting, so prepare the camera at all times. For example, when the animals are turning their heads to the camera, it is the best time to press the shutter.

Take a slightly high angle to increase the sense of substitution.

If the pet's eyes do not appear in the picture, the expression of the picture will be worse, because the eyes have a very straightforward effect in the picture. Through the changes in the eyes, you can show the state of the pet, naughty or lazy, can make people clear at a glance. Therefore, we must focus on the pet's eyes.

The simple and clean background can make the pet more prominent, so that the viewer can master the attitude and expression of the pet at a glance. If the shooting environment is more messy, you can use the telephoto lens to cooperate with a large aperture to make the pet more prominent. In addition, pay attention to the color matching of the photo so that pets and backgrounds can be separated more obviously.

Because most pets are relatively short, the photos taken are often visual effects from top to bottom. Try squatting down, parallel to pets, or even shooting from bottom to top, this angle will make their expressions more vivid.

Make good use of the later tools to make photos more creative

● Zhang Xuankuan

There are often squirrel activities on the balcony at home. I try to be friends with them and often give them some dried fruits. Slowly, these squirrels come almost every day. At first I just took some portrait photos for them. Later, I decided to use anthropomorphic techniques to try to set up some small props, director a scene scene, let the squirrel enter the role, and then quickly grasp the wonderful moment.

If you want to shoot animals, you must first understand their living habits. This is very important. It can help us predict the next step of animals to get better shooting opportunities. You can start from two aspects to capture the moment they live in their lives. One is to capture their living habits, such as running, playing, and prey. In order to better highlight animals, you should choose a blurred background and use larger aperture between F2-F5.6 and a faster shutter speed. According to experience, the shutter speed is generally not less than 1/60 seconds of animals with a small amount of movement. For animals in the event, use more than 1/250 seconds or higher shutter speed according to the situation. Like the shooting characters, the focus point should be on the eyes when shooting animals, a pair of clear eyes, which can make the picture more vivid and expressive.

Shooting wild animals, even if they are not afraid of people, they cannot be too close. They will be afraid in the face of the camera. If you want to capture the natural state of animals at the time of no one, you can fix the camera on a tripod, use telephoto lenses, and remotely shoot through mobile phones. Or use the telephoto lens to capture directly, it is a good choice.

If you want to get an interesting photo, sometimes you need to use PS for stitching, superimposed treatment, and increase the dramatic conflict. Use the concept of PS to shoot. I joked that it was shot into a lens. The specific shooting method was to be fixed in the shooting position, the screen composition was the same, and the light effect was consistent, but the position of the subject was different.

For example, when I saw a squirrel standing on the slate, I quickly put the tripod, fixed the camera, and grabbed this action with a telephoto lens, and the squirrel escaped quickly. Then I put another camera on the slate, the lens aimed at the direction where the pine just stood, and pressed the shutter again. Because the shooting position, composition, and light of these two pictures are completely the same, they will align the layer in PS, and then apply it with masses and brushes to get a creative photo "Selfie".

Selfie Zhang Yekuan Photo

Article published in "China Photography" · 2022 · 66th · 7 Edition

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