Skills of take pictures of animals

Usually, when photographing the subject of an animal, the animal will not stay still as the building does. Therefore, when photographing the animal, we need to catch the "movement" of the animal, especially in natural light. We need to choose some light-filled environment to shoot them. Today we are going to look at the effects of photographing animals in different natural light conditions from the perspective of light.

Shoot with a high speed shutter when the light is good

When photographing animals, the most important thing is to photograph the "movement" of animals. For example, they run, jump, play, fly and other sports scenes. This means making sure you have the right shutter speed at all times to keep the subject clear. In general, animals are photographed outdoors in natural light in sunny weather. Take pictures of animals with a high speed shutter.

In order to ensure more accurate focus in shooting activities, it is necessary to set the camera autofocus mode appropriately. When using a Canon camera, you can put the autofocus mode on. When using Nikon camera, you can set the auto focus mode to continuous servo auto focus.

The animal fur glows more when it is smooth

From the direction of light irradiation, we will choose the Angle of light, backlight Angle, side backlight, side light and other angles to shoot. The final picture effect of the photo also has its own characteristics. It is shot in a smooth environment, which is a common light Angle. When the direction of natural light is the same as the Angle of the camera, the animal hair in the picture will show more luster. The detail of hair, color can get more meticulous expression.

The hair of the animals in the photo is almost evenly exposed to light, and there are few obvious changes in light and shadow, which makes the photo lack of three-dimensional sense to a certain extent. Therefore, it is best to think of some ways in the composition, enhance the three-dimensional sense of the photo, such as can arrange the appropriate foreground. Use diagonal composition, so that the picture is not too monotonous. When photographing the pet dogs on the grass at a sunny Angle, the green grass on the ground can be selected as the foreground, so that the sense of space in the picture can be enhanced.

Display the texture of animal hair under backlight environment

The so-called backlight environment, in simple terms, means that the main body is between the natural light source and the camera, the shooting position is the direction of backlight. Generally, we call the side backlight and backlight together as the backlight environment.

When photographing an animal from a backlit Angle, the animal's silhouette is exposed to natural light. The outline light appeared more clearly, and was most obvious when photographing hairy animals. For example, when photographing a pet cat from a side-by-side backlight Angle, the cat's hair will form a circle of bright golden color. When photographing animals from a backlight Angle, there will be obvious silhouette effects, such as the silhouette of birds in the air. It is important to note that the camera should be shot from a backlight Angle to avoid direct exposure to the sun, so as not to cause damage to the camera.

Increase exposure compensation to keep animals from showing dirt

When photographing animals in zoos or on the streets, you will find most of them dirty. It's not as pretty as we see on TV, and there are techniques that are used to make the animals look clean and tidy, such as increasing exposure compensation. Overexpose the picture a little bit to make the picture look brighter and cleaner. However, it should be noted that the overexposure should be moderate, not blindly in pursuit of the cleanliness of the animals, so that the picture loses too much detail, resulting in too little information.

When the zebra was photographed at the zoo, its body looked dirty under normal or slightly underexposed conditions. Properly increased exposure compensation, the picture is a lot brighter, zebra appears a little cleaner.

Use large light ratio to highlight the animal body

When photographing animals with natural light, we can make use of the relationship between light and shade in the scene, and look for some scenes with obvious light and shade. It is to put the animal in a relatively bright place, measure the light of the animal, and make the animal expose normally. The dark part will appear black due to insufficient exposure, so as to highlight the animal body and create a unique atmosphere. By photographing egrets in the light and shade contrast, the subjects can be more prominent in the light and shade contrast.

Smooth performance of butterflies and other animals of bright colors

When photographing animals with bright colors, the light Angle is chosen to reflect the bright colors of the animals to the greatest extent. Macro lenses are used to capture animals in a well-lit environment. They can be small insects, such as dragonflies and butterflies, or larger animals, such as cats.

With plenty of light, use a macro lens with a medium aperture to capture the eyes of an animal. It is important to note that when using the macro lens to shoot, especially when shooting portions or insects, try to choose medium aperture, so as to ensure that the frame has enough depth of field, the scope of both clear enough to show the details, that is, using a macro lens to shoot, when the light is enough, try to choose environment.

When the light is good, use a macro lens to shoot the insects, and choose a smaller aperture to give a clearer range of the picture, so that the details of the insects can be clearly displayed.