Spring is here, flowers are blooming, it’s time to go outings. How to take beautiful photos scientifically under the beautiful scenery

Have you been out taking photos recently? Spring is the perfect time to go out and take some beautiful photos, but are you worried about not knowing how to take photos? Today we will talk about the science of cameras, so that you can use scientific knowledge to take satisfactory photos.

Tips for scientific photography: Use lens distortion wisely

The tool we use most in our daily photography is our mobile phone. Most of the main cameras on mobile phones are wide-angle lenses. Because we usually take photos, especially selfies, we are usually not too far away from the subject. Wide-angle lenses allow us to capture more scenes within a limited distance. However, wide-angle lenses have a big disadvantage, which is lens distortion.

What is lens distortion? Simply put, the edge of the lens image will be distorted. The distortion of a wide-angle lens is generally barrel distortion, that is, the image will be distorted toward the edge of the picture, forming a sense of outward deformation and pulling.

Because of lens distortion, the edges will be distorted, so when we take a group photo, if we are at the edge of the picture, there is a high probability that our body and face will be pulled and deformed due to lens distortion, affecting the appearance. Therefore, when we take a group photo, we can keep the phone farther away and keep ourselves away from the distortion area in the photo.

So is lens distortion useless? Actually, it is not. If we can use lens distortion properly, it can also enhance our photos. Since the edges of the photo will be stretched and deformed, we can use this to lengthen our legs. By shooting from an upward angle, we can get a pair of long legs without having to stretch them in post-production.

Scientific photography tips 2: Use spatial perspective

In our vision, there is a basic perspective law that things appear larger when they are near and smaller when they are far. That is, nearby objects will occupy a larger proportion in the picture, while the opposite is true for distant objects. By using this rule, you can take wonderful photos of holding the sun and the moon in your hands.

Of course, the application of spatial perspective is far more than that. It also has a great impact on our portrait selfies. A very important point is that it will affect the shape of our face in the photo.

There is a face zoom effect on TikTok. When our character walks back and forth in front of the camera, the camera will automatically adjust the picture zoom to keep the size of the head in the picture unchanged. At this time, we can see that the face shape varies greatly when the distance from the camera is different.

When we take selfies, we are close to the camera. The distance between our facial features and the camera is different, which will present different perspective effects. The nose tip will be relatively prominent, while the ears will appear small and deep because of the distance. The face photo will have a feeling of bulging outwards. When we are far enough away from the camera, the distance between our facial features and the camera will be greatly reduced, and the whole face shape will be more even and natural.

This is one of the reasons why the rear camera takes better pictures than the front camera, because we usually take pictures from a farther distance than the front camera, so the face shape will be more natural. So when we take pictures, in addition to moving the phone closer to take a half-length or close-up photo, we can also increase the shooting distance and then crop it later, so that we can have a better-looking face shape.

Tips for scientific photography 3: Use the relationship between light and dark

When we take pictures, we certainly hope that we are the protagonist in the picture and the visual center. So how can we become the visual center of the picture? In addition to using conventional central composition, guide line composition, golden section line composition and other composition layouts to highlight the characters, we can also use light and dark contrast to highlight the subject of the picture, just like the picture below, where the ordinary stone is highlighted in the woods.

Image source: provided by the author

The same is true for taking portraits. As long as we make the subject brighter, the subject will naturally stand out. If the initial shot is not bright enough, we can make up for it in post-production.

The high brightness of a person can not only make him stand out in the environment, but also has a very good effect, which is to make the skin look whiter. In a photo, the higher the brightness of the same object, the lighter its color will tend to look, that is, the color will tend to be whiter, so that our skin will appear whiter. On the contrary, insufficient light will cause the skin to be dull and dark.

Having learned so many photography tips, we must not let them gather dust in our phones. We should seize the opportunity to take beautiful photos of our own, capture the beautiful scenery, and leave behind a good memory.

Written by: Lao Ke Kai Brain Hole

Reviewer: Ge Chuanguang

This article is produced by the Science Popularization China-Creation Cultivation Program. Please indicate the source when reprinting