Photography should be good at discovering the beauty in ordinary things. Although all kinds of composition techniques have been learned, many people always can't find the feeling in actual shooting and don't know where to start.
But don't worry, online celebrity photography blogger Pierre T. Lambert shared his experience of shooting blockbusters with a mobile phone on cloudy days. Today, we will follow him to learn to explore the beauty of daily streets and see how to use a mobile phone to shoot ordinary scenes with new ideas.
1/.
Use the lines
Lines are everywhere. The key lies in whether you have a pair of eyes that are good at discovering, can find out the lines in your life and press your shutter. We can observe the lines of buildings on the street like Lambert. For example, there are often roads with a strong sense of depth under bridges.
Raise the mobile phone high to shoot, so that the lens of the mobile phone is closer to the straight lines at the bottom of the bridge, which helps to show the height of the building and the depth of the road, forming a strong perspective effect.
In addition to looking up and observing tall buildings, you should also squat down properly to explore the lines on the ground.
Lambert uses the steps on the roadside ground as an extended foreground to lead the audience's attention to the depths of the picture and enhance the sense of depth of the picture.
2/.
Looking for contrast
The combination of movement and static will make the picture interesting, story-telling and dynamic. For example, when there is a train shuttling through the city, the dynamics of the vehicle and the surrounding static buildings are common dynamic and static comparison scenes.
When photographing distant buildings on the bridge, maybe the calm water ahead will seem a little empty. We can wait for a ship to slowly pass by like Lambert. At this time, the advancing ship and the water lines left by it can enrich the picture to a great extent.
3/.
Hidden frame
Frame composition is a composition technique that uses scenery to build a frame to block part of the picture and lead the audience's attention to the subject. There are also many hidden frames in the streets of everyday life that can add to our photos.
Like this column in the street, we can use the gap in the column as a frame foreground.
When passers-by pass by, take a photo. The frame can not only block the excess sundries on the street, but also make use of people's instinct to observe the things in the frame and lead their eyes to the main body of the characters.
4/.
Specular reflection
After the rain, we can see that there is still residual rain on the railing, and the water surface will bring a specular reflection effect, reflecting the distant buildings.
Lambert turns the phone upside down, so that the lens can be close to the water surface, and you can shoot beautiful virtual and real symmetrical blockbusters without any effort.
However, it should be noted that there should not be too many sundries in the puddle, so as not to affect the purity of the picture. Only by keeping the water surface flat can the reflection of the scene be clear.
Puddles suitable for shooting reflections can be found not only on the roadside, but sometimes good scenes can be found in small streets, alleys and even underground passages, because these venues are relatively sheltered from the wind, and it is easier to have smooth and flat water surfaces for shooting. Excavate in the parking lot, and you may have an unexpected gain.
Squat down, hold your phone camera close to the ground, and shoot from an ultra-low angle. Use your creativity and imagination and try shooting from as many different visual angles as you can.
After squatting down, we can see that the wet ground in front of us has a little reflective effect. By selecting the surrounding buildings as the main body, it is easier to take a composition picture that is symmetrical to the real scene and the reflection.
At the same time, Lambert also found that there are thin lines on the railing next to him. Close shooting can form a picture with strong contrast and visual impact by using the combination of multiple lines on the railing.
5/.
Street Colors
Street storefronts, neon signs, billboards and cafes all have their own characteristics, from which we can pay attention to those brightly colored elements.
The signboard below attracted Lambert to approach and shoot. He kept his mobile phone vertical and horizontal, and used the square frame ratio to highlight the color contrast on the billboard.
And there are usually transparent glass in shops. The skillful use of glass reflection can increase the layering of the picture, help us and tell more colorful street stories.
6/.
Low angle
When shooting with a mobile phone, you can flip the mobile phone over and make the camera position close to the ground for shooting. It is easier to shoot the effect of extending the picture when shooting close to the ground lines.
When shooting on a stone ground, put the lens close to the stone and focus on the backscene, and the foreground will be blurred. The objects in front will be blurred. The effect of using this method to shoot the foreground blur is also very good.
At the same time, you can arrange some elements in the backscene of the picture, such as people, light sources, cars, etc., so that the picture will be more story-telling and not empty.
The horizontal line of low-angle shooting must be stable, and the whole picture will collapse if you tilt it slightly. When shooting the equipment close to the ground, be sure to pay attention to the horizontal line and try to be horizontal and vertical.
7/.
Light and shadow moments
Street light and shadow have unique charm, and their interaction with passers-by and street scenes is often an excellent match. To capture the light and shadow on the street well, you also need to predict. You need to conceive the composition of the photo in advance, prepare for shooting, and wait for the light and shadow of the characters to appear.
When Lambert noticed that the people crossing the road on the opposite side were shined by sunlight and contrasted with the nearby trees, he immediately crouched down to get ready to capture the movement of passers-by.
Shadow is an indispensable element in street photography, and skillful use of shadow will make photos extra interesting and vivid.
Lambert will first observe the position of the sun, find the direction of the light and its distribution on the street, then choose a sunny location and wait for a special moment to happen. These images tend not to wait for anyone, so we have to concentrate on capturing the wonderful moments.
Finally, after seeing this, do you find that the photography process of Great God is actually similar to that of everyone else? The key is to discover the hidden beauty of things through observation. This vision and ability can be exercised in practice. Only by constantly practicing and strengthening can most people's ordinary life scenes be turned into wonderful works in the lens in an instant.
