Most people are used to applying various filters when taking pictures, resulting in most photos being the same, and many mobile phone photographers have their own unique styles in terms of viewing angle and color mixing.
So how do we also give our own photos our own personal touch?
Today, let's walk into the image story of the barren Beishan!
A series of photos he took have a strong personal style. No matter in the circle of friends, Weibo or other media platforms, friends who are familiar with him can guess at a glance that this is a barren photo of Beishan.
ONE.
ˉThe formation of photographic style
Everyone of us likes to take pictures of the sea, but it is also the sea. In his photos, there is no beating of waves, nor is there a beautiful scenery of water and sky. More of them are fishermen stepping on the soft beach, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.
This is a unique landscape by the sea, and the author who recorded these photos is our hero today-Beishan Huangtou
Beishan Huangtu, whose real name is Chen Yong, is a power transmission worker. This job is not directly related to the art of photography. The reason why he likes to take pictures is purely because of his hobby, and forms his personal photography style. Everyone has his growth genes
Chen Yong planted the seeds of "playing photography" when he was very young.
At that time, he was a student. After seeing a camera at home, out of the curiosity of children, he would take pictures with the camera everywhere in his spare time. Over time, recording life fragments became his hobby.
For Chen Yong,Whether it's the local customs of a certain place or what you see at a certain moment, it's a rare moment, and capturing that moment with the lens is the preservation of eternal memory.
Keep track of what you see and hear at any time. This is Chen Yong's description of himself.
Hainan, a place surrounded by the sea, will not lack the sound of waves hitting the beach. Therefore, Chen Yong, who was seconded to work in Hainan, began to record the nearest sea to himself, more specifically, to record the different states of people with different identities at the seaside.
Many tourists go to the seaside to take pictures of beautiful scenery or beautiful girls, while Chen Yong's lens is more aimed at local fishermen who rest at sunrise and sunset, as well as tourists coming and going on the beach.
This beach in front of us brings joy to tourists, so they are always taking pictures of waves, beaches, sunrises, sunsets...
For fishermen who have lived here for generations, this beach is "unremarkable".
Chen Yong, who has worked in the local area for two years, is just in the middle of the two. He will record his present life from a familiar and unfamiliar perspective.
Capturing people's living conditions has gradually become Chen Yong's personal photography style.
Two.
ˉHow to shoot living conditions?
Looking through Chen Yong's works, it is not difficult to find that his photos have two outstanding features. One is that the elements of seascape account for a small proportion, and the other is that the expressions of characters are weakened by black and white tones.
Because of this characteristic, friends who are familiar with Chen Yong can always infer at a glance that "this was taken by Chen Yong".
Chen Yong has his own understanding of this treatment.
Many of Chen Yong's photos will be recorded in the way of "ant perspective". The purpose of this is not only to bring visual strangeness to the viewer, but also to better weaken the elements of "seascape" by low-angle shooting. When people enter the camera, they can become the real protagonists in the photo.
Recording the current state allows the viewer to focus more on the posture of the character, is the original intention of Chen Yong to shoot this series of works.
So how do you tell from the photos that this is a tourist and that is a fisherman?
Chen Yong said, in fact, our subjects, whether they are people or landscapes, have their own unique photographic symbols. Photographers should know how to enlarge the photographic symbols you find.
For example, shooting fishermen, hats on fishermen's heads, and fishing nets on the ground are all symbols of fishermen's status.
For example, in such a photo, there is no element of "sea" in the photo, but with the fishing net as one of the photographic symbols of this photo, the viewer can guess that the hand on the left is a fisherman, and the hand on the right is a tourist looking into the distance.
Most of the sea under Chen Yong's lens is black and white. In this regard, Chen Yong said, the view of the sea is just like a hundred readers have a hundred Hamlets, and everyone has different views.
And he believes:The sea should have a bit of mystery!
The expression of black and white can make the atmosphere of the whole picture stronger, and it can also better convey what you want to express.
What Chen Yong wants to express is to make every viewer who has seen his photos pay more attention to a certain living state in the pictures, such as fishing, games, sports and so on.
Their body language is enough to explain a lot of things, so through the treatment of black and white tones, the expression of characters can be weakened and the artistic conception of the photo can be highlighted.
In my opinion, compared with other friends who like mobile phone photography, Chen Yong knows exactly what his works want to express, and he has been subtracting his photos.
For example, black and white tones are used to simplify colors and weaken characters' expressions, low-angle composition is used to weaken landscapes, and backlight silhouette shooting is also used.These ways can better highlight body language and express the current state of life.
Chen Yong said that the elements of photos should not be too many and too complicated. For example, if the expressions of characters are revealed, viewers will pay more attention to the shape of the whole picture.
He wants his photos to reflect a certain artistic conception.
The reason why he wants to weaken the form and highlight the artistic conception is closely related to his personal experience and hobbies.
It is particularly interesting to interpret the photographer's work from this perspective.
For example, Anlee, who we shared last week, is a post-90 s garden designer, so we can see that his works are relatively neat and concise. Besides photography, Chen Yong's other hobby is listening to elegant and ethereal music, such as the music of music groups such as Jishen and Mystery Garden.
Most of the characteristics of these musics are pure and ethereal, full of human love and reverence for nature. These musics seem to call people in the hustle and bustle of the city to find the soul closest to nature.
These music make Chen Yong yearn for nature, and also bring him a lot of creative inspiration, all of which are reflected in his artistic works.
The pursuit of artistic conception of photos has a lot to do with everyone's hobbies, and it will exert a subtle influence on our perspective of observing life.
Chen Yong said that he usually doesn't like to figure out something carefully or observe the details. He prefers to experience the atmosphere from the overall environment, so that the things in front of him can keep a unique artistic conception, and there is also a mysterious sense of "can be seen from a distance but can't be played with".
Three.
ˉPhotography needs to be gradual
Keeping the mysterious color of the picture is Chen Yong's pursuit when shooting, and this has become his unique shooting style. Of course, the formation of shooting style is inseparable from his years of exploration in the field of photography.
As a recorder who has been in contact with photography for more than 20 years, Chen Yong, like many photography enthusiasts, likes to record with him and take his camera out to shoot. This is undoubtedly a ritual for everyone who loves photography, and it is no exception in Chen Yong's view.
However, at the end of 2019, based on the need for portable records, Chen Yong gradually felt the convenience of mobile phone photography, so in the following days, he began to choose to take his mobile phone to shoot.
There is a saying in the photography circle: "The device with the highest attendance rate is your best device." For Chen Yong, the quality of pictures captured by mobile phones is indeed hard to match that of cameras, but its lightweight features allow him to record anytime and anywhere.
In Chen Yong's view, compared with recording the scenery in the plan with a higher-quality camera, the experience of accidentally bumping into and immediately capturing that moment will be more nostalgic. The convenience of mobile phone photography undoubtedly plays an important role in it.
Chen Yong, who started to contact photography as a student, has been on the road of photography for more than 20 years. He also has some feelings of his own about how to take pictures.
He said that the first thing in shooting is to consciously cultivate one's own aesthetics, which stems from the usual shooting practice and the accumulation of viewing and thinking about works other than photography.
From the perspective of photography practice, it is necessary to go out and take more shots. When you see a scene, you should imagine in your mind what the light effect is, what the composition of the picture is, and which part of the picture is the best to aim the viewfinder frame at.
Chen Yong said that these imaginations in his mind should be based on a lot of practice, which is a process of learning and exercise, and it will encourage him to have the strength to quickly capture rare beautiful scenery in the future.
To watch and think about works other than photography is to have the determination to "read widely". Whether it's film and television works or books, it will be of great help to improve aesthetics.
Many students will think that "black and white is advanced". Regarding whether the picture needs to be adjusted to black and white, Chen Yong said that black and white photos have certain requirements for the picture itself.
First, you need to look at the light contrast of the entire picture, black and white tones need to be blessed with light and dark contrast;
Second, evaluate whether the background color is too cluttered, the simpler the color of the picture, the better;
The third is to observe whether the lines of the picture are obvious, black and white tones can make the original lines more prominent.
Chen Yong added that these, like cultivating aesthetics, need to conceive the shooting effect of the whole picture in your mind, which is a long-term exercise process, and it is through constant exploration and cultivation that you can ensure that you can capture the picture you want.
When seeing a certain scene, you can more accurately grasp whether it should be expressed in more realistic colors or presented in black and white tones with a stronger sense of atmosphere.
For future planning, Chen Yong has not set a goal. He thinks that photography is a subtle process, and it is not practical to set a specific goal for himself. What he needs to do now is to accumulate slowly on the existing basis, and finding a breakthrough is a matter of course.
Perhaps, as Chen Yong said, shooting is always different from benevolent, different from wise, and changes are always minimal. However, behind the accumulation of a large number of shooting practices, everyone who loves photography will eventually go out of his own path. Looking back on the past, you will find that a small step once taken is a leap when accumulated.
