How to shoot still life photography Explore behind the still life masters shooting

02 Sep How to shoot still life photography Explore behind the still life masters shooting

Editor’s note: Still life photography, as a very professional field of photography, is different from the versatility of portraits, scenery, and humanities. It seems a bit “cold” because it is difficult for us to see relevant knowledge points to share. When we marvel at still life movies, it is difficult to “see through” behind the photos. This time, I will visit the shooting process of the well-known still life photographer Yan Zimu and share some things about still life photography.

How to take still life photography

First of all, we need to understand what elements a good still life work needs to have? Photography is similar to painting, mainly focusing on the requirements for points, lines and surfaces, as well as atmosphere and texture. So what should I pay attention to when shooting? How should I shoot and what should I use? Next, I will answer them one by one.

Swallow wood still life works

Swallow wood still life works

Really speaking, the still life photography skills are not complicated. They mainly rely on placement and lighting, and the other is the combination of product colors and materials. Before shooting, you need to understand the characteristics of the product, its appearance, and its functional design, so that you can express the characteristics of the product through light and placement based on these points. Of course, still life shooting is not just a single display of the product. How to inject it into aura and become “temperament” requires creative ideas combined with product placement design. So sometimes in order to better express the theme, you need some background assistance, and the background must be related to it, so that it can fit the theme and be more expressive.

Swallow wood still life works

Swallow wood still life works

In addition, in still life photography, in addition to the early stage shooting, the later stage is also a very important link. Still life photography has very high requirements for the front stage and the later stage. Therefore, the post-processing is usually a big project: dealing with incomplete cleaning or product production process problems. Blemishes, colors, highlights, shadows, cutouts, multi-layer compositing, etc. Of course, in order to show better results and reduce the workload in the later stage, it is recommended that everyone can do their best in the early stage.

Next, we will take the photo taken by Yan Zimu as a demonstration. In still life shooting, it is relatively difficult to control products that are prone to overexposure. For example, the works of the following group of cups have better light transmission due to the thin glass wall of the cup mouth, and the paper jam is on both sides. So it is easier to overexpose, which will cause the cup to blend with the background. The bottom of the cup is thicker, so the light transmission is weak, so when lighting, try to face down a little, or look straight, so that the cup is not easy to overexpose. There are two main techniques for shooting utensils: First, use a large area of ​​soft light, and secondly use black cardboard to outline the outline. The decoration of the lamp is mainly at the rear, and the lamp is too high.

Equipment: EOS 5D Mark III Focal Length: 100 Aperture: 14 Shutter: 1/160

Shine from the back, so that the glass will have a sense of transparency, and add a particularly large soft light cloth to the back to make the light more uniform. In order to outline the edge of the cup, a piece of black cardboard is placed on each side, so that the edge has a black line, and the outline of the cup can be displayed. Otherwise, the cup and the background will be indistinguishable. In terms of decoration, two kinds of cups, long and round, are used to stagger them, giving them a sense of hierarchy.

Equipment: EOS 5D Mark III Focal Length: 100 Aperture: 14 Shutter: 1/160

Equipment: EOS 5D Mark III Focal Length: 100 Aperture: 18 Shutter: 1/125

In order to make the still life a little fresh and active, for example, by pouring wine, you can change the color of the monotonous picture to make the texture of the light and dark transition more obvious. Using a macro lens to shoot the process of bubbles floating from bottom to top, this kind of texture will also be better. In the settings of the camera, a high-speed shutter is required to freeze the bubbles in the instant picture.

Powerful “assistant” for commercial still life photography

In addition to the photographer’s own photographic skills and creativity, a good work also has an indispensable helper-photographic equipment. So, what are the still life master Yan Zimu’s photography partners? Let’s take a closer look.

Teacher Yan Zimu still life shooting partner: Canon EOS 5D Mark III + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM macro lens + Canon wireless file transmitter WFT-E7C

Yan Zimu said that the most commonly used combination for his shooting is Canon EOS 5D Mark III + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM macro lens + Canon wireless file transmitter WFT-E7C. Canon EOS 5D Mark III has 22.3 million effective pixels, 61-point autofocus system, 63-zone metering, and supports up to ISO 25600 at standard sensitivity, bringing a very high overall picture quality. In terms of lenses, the macro lens is the most frequently used by many photographers, because the macro itself has a relatively high resolution, and it is more advantageous when you need to take close-up close-ups. If you can’t get so close, the pixels will be more or less affected by post-cutting alone.

At first I was puzzled: Yanzimu “doesn’t take a good photo”, what is happening in the scene?

During the shooting, the author found that many of the shooting and viewing of Mr. Yan Zimu were done directly on the computer, and I was very curious. Teacher Yan Zimu revealed that this is his indispensable good partner in commercial still life shooting-Canon wireless file transmitter WFT-E7C, which can quickly transfer photo files to designated equipment, and has the function of automatic resending, even if communication obstacles occur. Can automatically read files that have not been sent before when the connection is restored. In addition, sending images through the Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E7C does not require reading data from the recording medium, so it is very convenient to place the camera remotely when shooting remotely.

Teacher Yanzimu’s photography partner–Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E7C

Long press the QR code and select “Recognize the QR code in the picture” to follow with one click

The original text was published on the WeChat public account (Jiayou Online): How to shoot still life photography Explore behind the still life masters shooting