Take advantage of the light in the landscape photography

The most important thing in landscape photography is to look good, canvas prints and light plays a very important role in it. Even at the technical level, even the most breathtaking scenery is not just the light falling on the camera sensor. Even when it comes to emotions in landscape photography, light is one of the key factors. If we want to emphasize the drama brought by scenery, canvas prints online we need to look for high-contrast light, while if we want to pursue an ethereal state, we should look for soft colors and shadows.

And light is always changing, it changes with time and Angle and weather. Therefore, mastering the character of each light can help us make better use of light to take better pictures. Today, let's talk about the characteristics of light at different times of the day: golden hour, blue hour, noon and night.

Everyone has heard of the golden moment, the golden moment is the best time to take pictures. When the sun is tilted at the edge of the horizon, the direct light intensity decreases, the low-angle sunlight slowly shoots into the air, and the whole world is bathed in a soft golden sunshine.

Golden moment is very short, the best light is usually only a few minutes, missed only have to wait again, so before we decide to take a picture, we must know the local sunrise and sunset time, make a shooting plan in advance. Since the sun is still visible, the light is good enough, even if you don't need to use a tripod for handheld photography. Since the light intensity of the ground and sky is relatively high at this time, we may need a set of gradient medium density filters to help us properly expose the sky without overexposure.

When the sun has just set or has not yet risen, the blue moment is when the sunlight can still reach the upper atmosphere, so even if the ground has begun to get dark and the sky is still shining, the whole world is immersed in a quiet blue. Just like the prime time, the blue time doesn't last very long, usually only about 20 to 40 minutes, and we can plan to shoot the blue time after the prime time in the evening or before the prime time in the morning.

The color change in the sky at blue time can be colorful, not only can it be a variety of shades of blue, it can even be orange, yellow or other warm colors. Of course, regardless of the color, the light at this time is very dark, because the sun is below the horizon, so we may need a long shutter speed to ensure the correct exposure, so we need to fix the camera, you need a stable tripod. When shooting long exposures, even if the camera is firmly supported on a tripod, it is best not to press the shutter directly. Use a remote control or timing shutter to avoid the slight vibration that is inevitable when the shutter is pressed.

Noon perhaps the most troubling is the light of the high strength contrast, when the sky is very bright, it is difficult to keep the land and sky details are complete, so some of the photographer can choose HDR, but HDR if too much will make images look lost authenticity, thus making the HDR photos don't covet retain all of the details, or enough is enough, after all, authenticity is also very important. Of course, the intention is to make something that looks like a painting.

Of course, we can also give up the sky and directly shoot the scene on the ground, so as to retain more details by simplifying the composition. Not every landscape photograph has to have the sky in it. There may be many interesting pictures on the ground for us to capture.

It takes more patience and skill to shoot the scenery at night, but in the end, it's all worth it. And for the night, don't forget the stars and the moon, as well as the vast universe, are actually the source of light, a little faint stars through the appropriate shooting techniques, but also bright. But because light pollution and air pollution are so serious in cities, people living in cities have long forgotten what stars look like. The only way to film the Milky Way is in an environment free of light pollution.

If you just want to take pictures of stars, you should pay attention to the shutter speed. Because of the rotation of the earth, the stars we see in our eyes are actually moving all the time. If the shutter speed is too slow, what you may get is not star points but star orbits. Here, I would also like to add that for starry sky shooting, there is a little trick called "rule 500", which can help us refer to the lowest shutter speed that the currently used lens can accept, so as not to shoot the orbit of stars. This rule indicates that the maximum shutter speed of starry sky shooting should be 500 divided by the focal length of the lens. For example, if shooting with a 24mm lens, the slowest shutter speed should be 500/24 = 20.8s; if shooting with a 35mm lens, floating frames the slowest shutter speed should be 500/35 = 14.3s. After getting the shutter speed, you need to adjust the aperture and sensitivity to control the accuracy of the exposure.