How to create a beautiful photo portrait against the backdrop of nature. Dramatic portrait against the background of a landscape in Photoshop What is aperture

Hello! V this lesson you will learn how to make a portrait from a landscape. V social networks such portraits are often used as original avatars. It turns out very unusual and beautiful. This technique allows you to create compositions with a wide variety of moods and allows you to give photos both romantic and dark motives. If you liked them, then you will like this tutorial.

It is quite simple to execute, but it requires careful attention to detail.

Let's get to work!

Here's what you should end up with:

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document of any size in it. For this tutorial I am using A4 format. Then you need to select a photo of the person that you will process. I will be using a photo of a hipster girl posing against a metal wall.

Step 2

The first step is to remove the background. To do this, use any selection tool that is convenient for you, and the hair, so that the finished composition looks more impressive.

If you have the opportunity, you can immediately take a photo where the person's face is on a white background, then you will not need to waste time separating it from the background.

Step 3

Now you need to find a landscape photo that shows a tree clearly separating from the main background. These photos include trees against the background of the sky or against the background of a plain wall. We need its branches to work. It will be easiest to work with a black and white image, since it will be much more difficult for us to separate the branches from the background in a color photo.

The easiest, fastest and most efficient way to select branches is. Also, to simplify the work, you can use it with branches: in this case, you do not have to process the layer with the tree.

Step 4

Duplicate the branches image to make it more saturated. If required, vertically.

Step 5

Place the branch photo on the person's face as you like. After that go to the model layer, select the branches and done. To select branches, press Ctrl and click on the tree layer. To invert choose Selection - Inversion.

Step 6

Add a layer mask to the girl's layer and turn off with branches. A layer mask is applied in the layers palette and is indicated by a red circle at the bottom.

As a result, you should end up with something like this:

Step 8

Merge all layers into one. To do this, go to the topmost layer and press Alt + Shift + Ctrl + E. For the resulting layer, set Screen.

Step 9

So, the main stages of work have come to an end. To make the composition more interesting, place the girl in the center of the canvas and add an orange or blue photo filter: Layer - New Adjustment Layer - Photo Filter.

If you spot an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thanks!

Portrait-painting in the open air (i.e. in natural natural environment). Ordering a portrait against the background of a landscape from a photograph. Landscape in a portrait genre.
Landscape! What is it?

Landscape (French paysage, from pays - country, area) is a genre visual arts, the main subject of painting and graphics, which is the area, natural or transformed by man.

Depending on the main subject of the image and the nature of nature, within the landscape genre distinguish between: rural and urban landscapes; architectural and industrial landscapes; sea ​​and river landscapes.
A portrait painter often depicts a landscape on his canvases. A portrait in the open air is a frequently ordered subject. And how beautiful the ceremonial portrait is against the background of the seascape!
Landscape is often used as an important addition to portraits, everyday, historical and battle paintings, but it can also act as an independent genre of fine art. Artworks landscape painting we are close and understandable, although the person on the canvas is often absent.
Why do artists paint landscapes when it is so easy to take and photograph the natural landscape they like? What is the difference between a picturesque landscape and a photograph of the area?
If a portrait painter depicts a person not only from the external, so to speak, physical side, but also his inner world, then in the landscape he depicts his inner state, his soul. That is, a picturesque landscape is not only a picture of nature, it is a picture of the artist's inner world. And in this sense, a landscape is different from photography.
When we come to an exhibition, we look at the soul of another person. Looking at the landscape, we see the world through the eyes of an artist.
Ivan Shishkin, for example, painted his landscapes down to the smallest detail, so you can't tell from photography. However, this is not the main thing, but the fact that his soul chose this particular species, this is a state of nature.
Therefore, landscape painting is an image of the types of nature with the transfer of the mood inspired by their contemplation.

How many exciting revelations we know associated with this genre. Let's take only our native names - K. Savrasov, K. Korovin, A. Rylov, N. Krymov, A. Plastov, A. Kuindzhi, N. Roerich, I. Aivazovsky and others. They have created a wonderful tradition of Russian landscape painting.
Landscape is a direct echo of a person's soul, a mirror of his inner world. Sometimes he solves major problems, embodies the subtlest spiritual collisions. For example, the Impressionists set themselves rather narrow goals - to convey air, light, to capture the flickering of silhouettes. The Russian landscape in its best incarnations has always been, first of all, a concentration of deep feelings, sharp philosophical ideas.
In Russian landscape painting there are works, the significance of which in the history of our culture is extraordinarily great.
We often say: "Levitan's autumn", "Shishkinsky forest" or "Polenovsky pond". Images of nature excite all people, giving them similar moods, experiences and thoughts. Which of us is not close to the landscapes of Russian painters: "The Rooks Have Arrived" by A. K. Savrasov, "Thaw" by F. A. Vasiliev, "Rye" by I. M. Shishkin,
"Night on the Dnieper" by A. I. Kuindzhi, "Moscow courtyard" by V. D. Polenov, "Above eternal rest"IV Levitan? We involuntarily begin to look at the world through the eyes of artists who have revealed the poetic beauty of nature. The ability to create an image in a landscape, to convey the most characteristic in a natural phenomenon is a quality that is distinctive for the Russian landscape school. This quality, perhaps, determines its place in the history of world painting.Russian landscape painters have always set themselves the task of creating a landscape-painting, which, in terms of depth of design, in terms of the strength of emotional impact, in terms of the amount of "material" for reflection, is not inferior to a multi-figured composition.
Landscape painters saw and conveyed nature in their own way. IK Aivazovsky also had his favorite motives, depicting the different state of the sea, ships and people fighting the elements. His canvases are characterized by a subtle gradation of chiaroscuro, lighting effect, emotional uplifting, gravitation towards heroism and pathos.

The nature, the image of which is presented in the paintings of Russian landscape painters, has nothing to do with an indifferently and thoughtlessly reproduced piece of a field, forest or river for the sake of the "beauty" of this or that motive. They always contain the artist himself, his feelings, thoughts, his clearly expressed attitude to that,
what he portrays. Taking real objects of the surrounding nature, the landscape painter uses both the composition and the color characteristic of them, one strengthening, the other muffling, in order to create a certain image, more precisely to convey the state of nature that is necessary for him by design.
Landscape painters not only see, but also with excitement recognize this or that phenomenon and state of nature. And it is the state, not appearance nature is a subject of study, observation, comprehension of artists.
Landscape painters probably have an intimate conversation with nature in a language that only they can understand. In the phenomenon of nature, the landscape painter sees the meaning hidden by it, he feels the "soul" of nature and understands it in his own way. The landscape painter's talent is always based on a sincere love for nature. Not everyone is given to understand, to feel nature, to be able to overhear her talk. Therefore, not every artist (even a very talented one) can be a landscape painter, just as not every prose writer can write poetry.
Indeed, in order to convey this or that state of nature through colorful and tonal relationships, you need to see all this in nature and put it into the language of colors, because it is impossible to mechanically "write off" a landscape from nature.
No wonder they say that a painting is a piece of nature, filtered through the artist's temperament.

I've always wanted to be with a house like this. Each time, passing by the village of Sokol, she looked enviously towards the pretty houses hidden behind the fences and thought: “It's great, probably, to go out on the porch in the morning, walk in the morning dew, listen to the chirping of birds and in some 10 minutes be in the center cities". Have your own house in Moscow - even the members of the Politburo did not have such a privilege. The settlement of Sokol, however, does not count: in the 20s of the last century, when it was being built, it was still a suburb. Within the boundaries of Moscow, plots for construction were given to only a few very outstanding personalities- Academicians of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy and the famous sculptor Matvey Manizer, who was vice-president of the USSR Academy of Arts for almost 20 years.

"I will meet you at the metro - you yourself will never find it." From the nearby metro, the wife of the artist Hugo Matveyevich Manizer - Nina - takes me literally five minutes into the depths of the block, using only one known paths. Indeed - I would be spinning here ... And here we are at the goal. Behind the fence, surrounded by large trees and neighboring typical high-rise buildings, there is big house with a glass roof, in which the dynasty of sculptors and artists Manizer has lived for more than fifty years. Hugo Matveyevich Manizer, a famous Moscow landscape painter, professor of the department of drawing at the Surikov Institute and the son of famous Soviet sculptors Matvey Manizer and Elena Yanson-Manizer, is celebrating his 75th birthday these days. The reason for communication is more than significant. But our conversation begins not with the work of Hugo Matveyevich, but with a tour of the garden, no less amazing than the artist himself. Rare species of trees grow in the garden - on my arrival they were penetrated by the rays of the sun. The rays rested against the magnificent sculptures standing on pedestals.

- This one, you see, - Hugo Matveyevich leads me to the figure of a ballerina standing under a spreading tree with very interesting foliage and a difficult to pronounce name of ginkgo - my mother's sculpture. She was very fond of Ulanova and ballet in general. The sculpture stood in the foyer The Bolshoi Theater, but how I ended up here - to be honest, I don’t remember. I only remember that when they were transported here, they broke her - right in the ankles. Then I had to weld my feet.
- It seems that exactly the same “Ulanova” is in Stockholm?
- Ulanova knew that my mother had such a job, and somehow (in my opinion, before some of her birthday) she came here with a Swedish friend, apparently a very high-ranking woman. And after a while a letter came from Sweden that they would like to see the sculpture of Ulanova in the Stockholm Ballet Museum. Well, they made a bronze copy and sent it to them.
- Your house is interesting. As far as I understand, your father built it ...
- Yes, it was built in 1951 according to the father's project and with his own money. In general, we got to Moscow in 1943 - from the evacuation: we are Leningraders. During the war, we guys (I still had, unfortunately, now dead brother and sister) and my mother, were evacuated to the Yaroslavl region. Then for some time we lived in Siberia, near Omsk. Father was immediately summoned to Moscow, since he was the deputy chairman of the organizing committee for the creation of the Union of Artists of the USSR. He left his workshop (and he worked, by the way, in the workshop of Opekushin - the author of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow) and left Leningrad on the last train, which was bombed along the way. Father, one might say, miraculously survived: the captain of the 1st rank rode with him in the compartment, who immediately commanded: “Lie down!”. Father went to bed, and everyone who ran down the aisle in panic was either wounded or killed. He even kept a number from his place, punctured by a shrapnel.
Life in the evacuation was deposited in the memory of Hugo Matveyevich no worse than any other landscape:
- We, children, did not sit within four walls - we worked in the field, weeded chicory, from which they later made a coffee surrogate in Rostov the Great. Oh, and this chicory was prickly! It's a shame, of course, that the war changed our usual life - after all, in Leningrad we were seriously studying music and violin.
- Your parents, of course, tried to educate you in many ways?
- Yes, we had a very musical family... We were forced to make music. As for the fine arts, then, oddly enough, there was no pressure. Maybe in vain. I often take my students to my father's workshop and show them a drawing made by my father at the age of ten. They don't believe. So professional. Earlier, children, even in an ordinary school, were given a hand in drawing lessons, one might say, they were drilled, they brought the technique to automatism. Now this is not the case - they develop other talents, imagination. But not the technique.
Finally we go into a house that has seen many celebrities within its walls for half a century. The house, which was built by the sculptor Matvey Manizer, can hardly be called a house in the traditional sense. A common person I would probably say: "How do people live here!" In one part of the house lives the family of Hugo Matveyevich's late brother - Otto, who, like his father, was a sculptor. Now his son Peter, also a sculptor, works in his grandfather's workshop. Hugo Manizer has a home - a solid workshop. In the largest room (former mother's workshop), Hugo Matveyevich creates. Here they dine and receive guests. Another workshop is located upstairs - there is the kingdom of his wife Nina Pulyakhina, a fashion designer.
The atmosphere of creativity is felt in every corner, and it seems that the air is saturated with the scent of paints, old wood, pine oils and stopped time. Outside the large window, trees are swaying with branches. And the silence ... You can't hear the city noise, no matter how you listen.
We begin to list the pedigree, and we get amazing numbers: for four generations of Manizers there are 2 painters, 1 fashion designer, graphic artist and as many as 4 sculptors. Moreover, they are all very famous in artistic world... The only daughter of Hugo and Nina - Olya - is both a model and a graphic artist. True, now she is performing the most the main role- mothers. Among the paintings, easels and canvases placed right on the floor, a toy scooter flaunts.
- Whose is this?
- Olya gave birth to a grandson for us. It so happened that she married a Swiss, and lives in London. They came to us on Easter. Grandson Sasha is already two years old, he drove here on a scooter, like a born Schumacher.
I look through the window panes at the tops of the surrounding high-rise buildings:
- I wonder how your neighbors treat you - are you here as on stage?
- Yes, in general, they do not bother me too much. Sometimes they even guard. Not so long ago, a woman from a neighboring house called: "There is a very suspicious car at your fence." But somehow we are not worried - all the same, all the valuable works have long been in museums, and the sculptures of Matvey Genrikhovich are generally in the squares. And then we got used to this environment - when the house was being built, there were small wooden houses around here. It's all overgrown now.
- Where did you get this interesting surname- Manizer?
- Our dynasty started with his grandfather, artist Genrikh Matveyevich Manizer. As far as I know, this is the name of his mother, a German by nationality. And who his father was is unknown - his patronymic, as I understand it, is conditional. His mother died shortly after giving birth, and his grandfather was brought up by his aunt. He began drawing early and first entered the Moscow School of Sculpture and Architecture. He was very capable - there is even a positive review of his thesis work by Stasov himself. In general, my grandfather had an interesting fate. He continued his studies already in St. Petersburg, at the Academy of Arts, and immediately after graduation he left with our troops to liberate Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke.
A hundred years later, I ended up with students in Bulgaria. And he found the tracks of his grandfather. It turned out that several of his paintings are hanging in local museums. And we thought that they had disappeared - like those that, according to my father, hung in the Winter Palace before the revolution.
Grandpa Manizer was a prolific man. He gave birth to ten children, two of whom were included in the encyclopedia. The eldest of the sons - Genrikh Genrikhovich - became an ethnographer. At the beginning of the last century, he was one of the first Russians to visit the Amazon basin. He also possessed extraordinary abilities: he knew almost all European languages ​​and was excellent at drawing. As a child, Hugo Matveyevich saw many drawings made by his uncle during the Amazon expedition. Then my father gave them to the Ethnographic Museum. And my uncle, returning from Latin America right at the beginning of the First World War, went to the front and soon died in Serbia from typhus, while still very young. Another uncle, Mark Genrikhovich, was a cellist.
- It's amazing - there are so many creative people in one family!
- Once here, a very prominent American was visiting my father. He could not believe that everyone in our family was and is related to art.
- Hugo Matveyevich, you and Nina still work in different genres: you are a painter, she is a fashion designer. But I cannot understand how your parents-sculptors worked next to each other? Probably, they swore constantly ...
- Never. They were very educated people and respected each other's creativity. I've just told how we lived in the evacuation. But he did not mention how my mother got clay in brick factories and sculpted small figures. Even there, in almost inhuman conditions, she did not stop working. I remember that I even took part in the exhibition during the war - I carved two sculptures "Meeting" and "Farewell" from wood. I just want to say that there are two categories of artists. So I personally know a few of these who work only by order. And there are those who cannot live without creativity for a second. My parents were from this category. Already being sick, my mother, in any condition, would get to the work table and sculpt. And it was so easy to check the clock on my father's side. Even when immediately after the war we lived in a barrack in Petrovsko-Razumovsky proezd, my father went to the workshop on Maslovka every day, colleagues, seeing him, knew that it was 9 o'clock in the morning - to such an extent he was organized and punctual.
- Your parents left behind a huge sculptural heritage ...
- Father, of course, made many monuments. The most famous are, of course, the monuments to Lenin in Ulyanovsk and in Moscow, in Luzhniki, Kalinin in Leningrad. Both father and mother in the 30s decorated the stations of the Moscow metro. The famous “Revolution Square” is the work of my father. My father's bas-reliefs hang at the Izmailovsky Park station, and my mother made reliefs for the Dynamo metro station (both in the upper pavilions and below) and on Dobryninskaya. And both have a lot of sculptural portraits. My father, in my opinion, blinded all our military leaders, and my mother - ballerinas and athletes.
- And yet your parents did not insist that you continue. family tradition?
- Absolutely. “If you want to draw, draw,” my father used to say. I entered an art school at a conscious age, at the age of 15, when we moved from Leningrad to Moscow through evacuation. Since before that I had only seen the works of my sculptor parents, and my grandfather's work was not very familiar to me, I was greatly impressed by the work of artists who from besieged Leningrad went with us to evacuation. I still remember these feelings. And I began to try to paint with paints that I liked. And I liked the sunrise - we got up early for fishing, where we went almost every day, we got food. And the places there were beautiful. I also remember pestering artists with stupid questions. One of them was painting at this time, apparently, a commissioned picture, which depicted the execution of partisans. So I probably tortured him, asking him to answer why he is painting a picture from the point of view of those who shoot.
- Many people think that landscape is a dying genre. Especially with such a rapid development of photography.
- You know, the state of nature excited me and still excites me. I see the landscape and am happy. And I don’t think about who’s saying what, but I just write what I like.
There are places where Hugo Matveyevich travels as if spellbound, at any time of the year. This is the near Moscow region and Serebryany Bor. His wife Nina is almost always with him: “So I sit next to him and see how incredibly difficult it is to paint a landscape. Now the sun is shining, in a moment the clouds have swooped down - and everything else: lighting, shadows. I still don’t understand how he catches and, most importantly, maintains the state of nature that he began to paint ”.
- You need to train it in yourself, or you can do something from memory, - continues Hugo Matveyevich.- My friend and I sometimes joked when we went together to write: "Well, this tree can be removed, the haystack can be moved." This is not the point where what is worth, but it is important that the picture is obtained both in composition and in light. But that comes long after school. At one time I was very interested in travel. There was even such a theme - "Fifteen Union Republics", when I, one might say, drove through the whole country.
- You probably brought from trips great amount works. And how many landscapes do you have now - have you not counted?
- Well no. A lot, well, probably a few hundred.
- Maybe count from catalogs?
- There is not enough time. In 1985 I published a large monograph. A lot of works have been written since that time. It would be nice, of course, to do a new album, but you know how difficult it is now.
- I know that many of these works are dedicated to Moscow ...
- I have two or, in my opinion, three sets of postcards with Moscow series. Not so long ago I was offered to do a personal exhibition with Moscow landscapes. And an amazing thing - he wrote as if he had seen Moscow for the first time. We still have such stunning corners in our city! To be honest, the organizers hardly believed that all the pictures had just been painted. But something came over me. Generally, best works I write, as a rule, in one session. I caught the moment, the mood - and forward. The main thing is that the landscape, as they say, does not dry out.
- Hugo Matveyevich, since childhood you have been surrounded by the creations of your parents and grandfather. I have always wondered what should happen in the soul of a person who grew up among such things?
- You know, of course, I didn't get the feeling of a museum. Although you know ... back in early childhood I think that in 1934 (we were just soon moving from one apartment in Leningrad to another), for some reason I was lying on my father's bed (I think I got sick then), and his works hung in front of me. And I remember very well the look from one portrait - how those eyes looked at me, even now goosebumps!
- So maybe this look made you be an artist? Hypnotized?
- Well, I don't believe in mysticism ...
“And I believe in the connection of times,” Nina enters into our conversation. - Look at this landscape, painted by Hugo in Valdai. You see - a lake, a haze on the lake. And now let me show you a picture of my grandfather. " Indeed, the feeling is as if the grandfather, who painted his picture 100 years ago, took a fragment from his grandson and placed it in the background on the portrait of his grandmother's father. The mysticism is perfect. For the portrait of the grandmother herself, unusually beautiful woman named Stella, Heinrich Matveyevich Manizer in 1895 received a gold medal in a portrait competition. Then, by the way, Serov and Repin were in their prime.
- Interesting names are given in your family - Stella, Hugo ... Where, by the way, do you have this unusual name?
- There was such a sculptor - Hugo Romanovich Zaleman. Its reliefs on the facade Pushkin Museum... And the father, who studied with this sculptor, apparently loved and respected his teacher so much that he gave me his name.
- After all, your father, as far as I know, until his death, supervised education at the Academy of Arts. Now you are a professor at the Surikov Institute, a candidate of art history, and you can probably compare art education now and then.
- It seems to me that now the secondary art school, including colleges, is lagging behind. When children come to our institute, they sometimes do not know the elementary things: how to build a form, how to make out chiaroscuro. Sometimes it seems to me that the majority pass the exams simply due to the usual luck: they suddenly hit the mark and passed the competition. And then it turns out that they have not studied all this.
- How long have you been teaching at Surikovsky?
- Yes, 27 years old. And before that, another 13 years at the Textile Institute at the department of drawing, and I remember this time as one of my greatest creative successes.
- How to understand?
- But understand what you want - at the Textile Institute I met my wife Nina.

P.S. Just the other day, Nina Pulyakhina-Manizer presented her husband-anniversary with a gift - she became an honored artist Russian Federation... This title, by the way, is a rarity among fashion designers.

This article is intended primarily for those who first came to the site with a desire to learn how to photograph. She will act as a guide to the rest of the site's materials, which you should pay attention to if you suddenly decide to "pump" your photography skills.

Before learning to photograph, you need to decide for yourself - why do I need this and how deeply am I ready to dive into it? Probably everyone has seen a similar caricature of the diagram of human evolution:

Image from the Internet

Sometimes this picture shows a line between a photographer with a cell phone and a tripod and the caption "some should stop here."

The article you are reading has existed since 2008 and is thoroughly edited every couple of years in accordance with the current trends and trends in the field of photography - amateur and professional. For 10 years of existence, this article has changed its content by almost 100%! This is due to the fact that we are now living in a critical era, when photography has turned from the lot of professionals and enthusiasts into a universal hobby. And not even a hobby, but an integral part Everyday life... You probably already guessed that we are talking about mobile photography. On the one hand, this is very cool, but on the other ... Photography, due to its mass character, ceases to be an art. Every day, millions (if not billions) of the same type of photos with flowers, cats, plates of food, selfies and other nonsense are uploaded to the Internet and, oddly enough, all this finds its viewer - "Instagram stars" gain millions of likes for blurry photos like " me and my cat. " Simply because their pictures are understandable and close to the majority. Photos of recognized masters have a much lower rating among the general public - they do not understand them. Roughly the same as comparing two directions of music - pop and, say, jazz.

Let's go back to the question - why do you want to learn how to photograph? If you do this only because it is "fashionable" or "prestigious" - do not bother. This fashion will soon pass. If you really want to "rise above the hustle and bustle", this article is for you!

A little boring theory

First of all, it should be noted that photography consists of two inextricably linked parts - creative and technical.

The creative part comes from your imagination and vision of the plot. Her understanding comes with experience. It also includes photographic luck - the more experienced the photographer, the more often he is "lucky" with the plot and shooting conditions. When I started my creative way, I looked at the works of advanced authors on photosight.ru and perceived them as some kind of magic. Recently I reviewed the list of selected works and realized that there is no magic in them, just a lot of experience and a fair amount of luck :)

The technical part is a sequence of pressing buttons, choosing a mode, setting shooting parameters in order to realize a creative idea. The proportion can be creative and technical, it can be different and depends only on your decision - which camera will you photograph, in which mode (auto or), in what format (), will you later or leave it as it is?

Learning to photograph means learning how to combine the creative and technical parts in optimal proportions. It is not at all necessary to photograph everything in manual mode (let's leave it to the adherents of the "old school"), it is enough to know the features of your camera and be able to use them in accordance with the shooting conditions. When we see a beautiful picture, it makes absolutely no difference to us how the artist held the brush, how he mixed paints and how high his easel was. It's the same in photography. The main thing is the result, but the viewer is completely indifferent to how it was obtained.

What is the best camera to buy for teaching photography?

If you really want to learn how to photograph, you need a camera, not a smartphone. It is highly desirable that this camera be equipped with interchangeable optics... Smartphones are conceptually sharpened for automatic shooting and even if they have some kind of manual settings. As you try to learn how to take pictures using your smartphone, you will very quickly realize that you are hitting the ceiling - for further development his photo capabilities are not enough. The creative possibilities of any interchangeable-lens camera are virtually unlimited.

To learn photography, it is not at all necessary to purchase the most modern and expensive equipment. Now the amateur technique has developed so much that with a large margin it satisfies the requirements of not only amateurs, but also advanced photographers.

Now about the cameras themselves (more precisely about the "carcasses"). There is no point in chasing the most modern models... They are expensive and generally have little advantages over the predecessor cameras. The only thing that can induce a reasonable person to overpay for novelty is some radical updates, for example, a new generation matrix. In most other cases, innovations in photography are very indirectly related. For example, the number of focus sensors has increased by 5%, Wi-Fi control, a GPS sensor, and an ultra-high-resolution touchscreen have been added. It makes no sense to pay for such innovations 20% more compared to the previous model. I do not call for buying "old", but I recommend a more sober approach to the choice between a new product and a camera of the previous generation. Prices for new items can be unreasonably high, while the number of really useful innovations may not be so great.

Introduction to Basic Camera Features

It is advisable to be patient and study the instructions for the camera. Unfortunately, it is far from always written simply and clearly, nevertheless, this does not negate the need to study the location and purpose of the main controls. As a rule, there are not so many controls - a mode dial, one or two wheels for setting parameters, several function buttons, zoom control, autofocus and shutter buttons. picture style. All this comes with experience, but over time, you should not be left with a single incomprehensible item in the camera menu.

Getting to know the exposure

It's time to take the camera in hand and try to portray something with it. First, turn on the auto mode and try to take pictures in it. In most cases, the result will be quite normal, but sometimes the photos, for some reason, turn out to be too light or, conversely, too dark.

It's time to get acquainted with such a thing as. Exposure is the total luminous flux that the sensor has caught during the shutter response time. The higher the exposure level, the brighter the photo becomes. Photos that are too light are called overexposed, too dark are underexposed. The exposure level can be adjusted manually, but not in auto. To be able to "brighten or dim" you need to switch to P (Programmable Exposure) mode.

Programmable exposure mode

This is the simplest "creative" mode, which combines the simplicity of the auto mode and at the same time allows you to introduce an amendment to the operation of the machine - to make photos forcibly lighter or darker. This is done using exposure compensation. Exposure compensation is usually used when the frame is dominated by either light or dark objects. Automation works in such a way that it tries to bring the average exposure level of the image to an 18% gray tone (the so-called "gray card"). Notice that when we take more of the bright sky into the frame, the earth turns out to be darker in the photo. And vice versa, we take more land into the frame - the sky brightens, sometimes even whitens. Exposure compensation can help compensate for shadows and highlights that drift beyond black and white.

Even in the programmed exposure mode, you can adjust the white balance, control the flash. This mode is convenient in that it requires a minimum of technical knowledge, but at the same time it is able to provide a much better result than a full automatic machine.

What is shutter speed?

No matter how good and convenient it is, alas, it does not always allow us to get the result we expected. A striking example is shooting moving objects. Try to go outside to take pictures of cars passing by. On a bright sunny day, this will most likely work, but as soon as the sun goes behind a cloud, the cars will turn out to be slightly smeared. Moreover, the less light, the stronger this blur will be. Why is this happening?

The picture is exposed when the shutter is opened. If fast moving objects get into the frame, then during the opening of the shutter they have time to shift and in the photo they turn out to be slightly blurred. The time for which the shutter opens is called endurance.

Exposure allows you to get the effect of "frozen motion" (example below), or, conversely, to blur moving objects.

The shutter speed is displayed as a unit divided by some number, for example, 1/500, which means that the shutter will open for 1/500 of a second. This is a fast enough shutter speed at which the driving cars and walking pedestrians will be clear in the photo. The shorter the shutter speed, the faster the movement can be “frozen”.

If you increase the shutter speed, say, up to 1/125 of a second, pedestrians will still remain clear, but the cars will already noticeably blur. If the shutter speed is 1/50 or longer, the risk of blurry photos due to shaking of the photographer's hands increases and it is recommended to mount the camera on a tripod , or use an Image Stabilizer (if available).

Night photos are taken with a very long exposure of a few seconds or even minutes. It is no longer possible to do without a tripod here.

To be able to lock the shutter speed, the camera has a shutter priority mode. It is denoted TV or S. In addition to the fixed shutter speed, it allows you to use exposure compensation. Shutter speed has a direct effect on the exposure level - the longer the shutter speed, the brighter the photo will be.

What is aperture?

Another mode that can be useful is aperture priority mode.

Diaphragm- this is the "pupil" of the lens, a variable diameter aperture. The narrower this diaphragm opening, the more DOF- depth of field, the aperture is designated by a dimensionless number from the series 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. In modern cameras, you can select intermediate values, for example, 3.5, 7.1, 13, etc.

The larger the f-number, the greater the DOF. Large DOF is relevant for when you need everything to be sharp - both the foreground and background. Landscape is usually shot with an aperture of 8 or more.

A typical example of a photograph with a large depth of field is the area of ​​focus from the grass underfoot to infinity.

The idea of ​​a small depth of field is to focus the viewer's attention on the subject, and blur all the background objects. This technique is commonly used in. To blur the background in the portrait, open the aperture to 2.8, 2, sometimes even 1.4. At this stage, we come to the understanding that the kit lens 18-55 mm limits our creative possibilities, since at a "portrait" focal length of 55 mm the aperture cannot be opened wider than 5.6 - we begin to think about a fast fix (for example, 50mm 1.4), so that get a similar result:

Shallow DOF is a great way to divert the viewer's attention from the colorful background to the main subject.

To control aperture, you need to switch the command dial to aperture priority mode (AV or A). At the same time, you tell the camera with what aperture you want to photograph, and it selects all the other parameters by itself. Exposure compensation is also available in aperture priority mode.

The aperture has the opposite effect on the exposure level - the larger the f-number, the darker the picture will be (a clamped pupil lets in less light than an open pupil).

What is ISO sensitivity?

You've probably noticed that there are sometimes ripples, grain, or, as it is called, digital noise in photographs. Noise is especially pronounced in photographs taken in low light. For the presence / absence of ripples in the photos, there is such a parameter as ISO sensitivity... This is the degree to which the matrix is ​​susceptible to light. It is denoted by dimensionless units - 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc.

When shooting at the lowest sensitivity (eg ISO 100), the picture quality is best, but you have to shoot at a slower shutter speed. With good lighting, for example, outside during the day, this is not a problem. But if we enter a room in which there is much less light, then it will no longer be possible to shoot at the minimum sensitivity - the shutter speed will be, for example, 1/5 of a second, and at the same time the risk is very high " stirring", So called because of the trembling hands.

Here's an example of a photo taken at low ISO with a long exposure from a tripod:

Note that the waves on the river were blurred by the movement and it seemed that the ice was not on the river. But there is practically no noise in the photo.

To avoid shaking in low light, you need to either increase the ISO sensitivity in order to reduce the shutter speed to at least 1/50 of a second, or continue shooting at a minimum ISO and use. Moving subjects are very blurry when shooting with a tripod at slow shutter speeds. This is especially noticeable when shooting at night. ISO sensitivity has a direct effect on exposure level. The higher the ISO speed, the brighter the picture will be when the shutter speed and aperture are fixed.

Below is an example of a photo taken at ISO6400 late at night outdoors without a tripod:

Even in web size, it is noticeable that the photo turned out to be quite noisy. On the other hand, the grain effect is often used as artistic device, giving the photo a "film" look.

The relationship of shutter speed, aperture and ISO

So, as you probably already guessed, there are three parameters that affect the exposure level - shutter speed, aperture and ISO sensitivity. There is such a thing as "exposure step" or EV (Exposure Value). Each next step corresponds to an exposure 2 times greater than the previous one. These three parameters are interrelated.

• if we open the aperture 1 step, the shutter speed is reduced by 1 step
• if we open the aperture by 1 step, the sensitivity is reduced by one step
• if you reduce the shutter speed by 1 step, the ISO sensitivity increases by one step

Manual mode

In manual mode, the photographer has the ability to control. This is necessary when we need to firmly fix the exposure level and not let the camera show "amateur performance". For example, darken or lighten the foreground when more or less sky falls into the frame, respectively.

Convenient when shooting in the same conditions, for example, when walking around the city in sunny weather. I adjusted it once and all photos had the same exposure level. The inconvenience in manual mode begins when you have to move between light and dark locations. If we go from the street, for example, to a cafe and shoot there with “street” settings, the photos will turn out too dark, since there is less light in the cafe.

The manual mode is indispensable when shooting panoramas and all thanks to the same property - to maintain a constant exposure level. When using autoexposure, the exposure level will be highly dependent on the number of light and dark objects. We caught a large dark object in the frame - we got an illumination of the sky. And vice versa, if the frame is dominated by light objects - the shadows have faded into blackness. Gluing such a panorama is then one torment! So, to avoid this mistake, shoot panoramas in M ​​mode with an exposure in advance that will ensure all the fragments are correctly exposed.

The result is that when stitching, there will be no “steps” of brightness between frames, which are likely to appear when shooting in any other mode.

In general, many experienced photographers and photography instructors recommend using manual mode as their primary mode. They are somewhat right - by shooting in manual mode, you have complete control over the filming process. You can choose the most correct combination of settings for a given from hundreds of options. The main thing is to know what you are doing and why. If there is no clear understanding of the principles of manual operation, you can limit yourself to semi-automatic - 99.9% of viewers will not notice the difference :)

In reportage conditions, the manual mode is also not very convenient, since you need to constantly adjust to changing shooting conditions. Many do it cleverly - in mode M they fix shutter speed and aperture, while "releasing" ISO at the same time. Although the mode selector is set to M, shooting is far from being done in manual mode - the camera itself selects the ISO sensitivity and flash power, and can change these parameters within huge limits.

Zoom and focal length

This is the characteristic that determines the angle of view of the lens. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle the lens covers, the longer the focal length, the more it looks like a spyglass in its action.

Often the concept of "focal length" in everyday life is replaced by "zoom". This is wrong, as zoom is just a zoom factor. If the maximum focal length is divided by the minimum, we get the zoom ratio.

Focal length is measured in millimeters. Now the term "equivalent focal length" has become widespread, it is used for cameras with a crop factor, of which the majority. Its purpose is to estimate the angle of coverage by a specific lens / sensor combination and bring them to a full-frame equivalent. The formula is simple:

EFR = FR * Kf

FR - real focal length, Kf (crop factor) - coefficient showing how many times the matrix of this device is smaller than full-frame (36 * 24 mm).

Thus, the equivalent focal length of an 18-55 mm lens at a 1.5 crop will be 27-82 mm. Below is a rough list of focal length settings. I will write in full frame equivalent. If you have a crop factor camera, simply divide these numbers by the crop factor and you will get the actual focal lengths you need to expose on your lens.

• 24 mm or less- "wide angle". The angle of coverage allows you to capture a fairly large sector of space in the frame. This allows you to convey the depth of the frame and the distribution of shots well. 24mm is characterized by a pronounced perspective effect, which tends to distort the proportions of objects at the edges of the frame. Often, it looks impressive.

At 24 mm, it is better not to photograph group portraits, as extreme people can get heads slightly elongated diagonally. A focal length of 24mm or less is well suited for landscapes with a predominance of sky and water.

• 35 mm- "short magician". Also works well for landscapes, as well as for shooting people in the background. The angle of coverage is wide enough, but the perspective is less pronounced. At 35mm, you can shoot portraits in full height, portraits in the setting.

• 50 mm- "normal lens". The focal length is generally not the best for taking pictures of people. close-up... Single, group portrait, street photography. The perspective is roughly what we are used to seeing with our own eyes. It is possible to photograph a landscape, but not every one - the angle of the field of view is not so large and does not allow to convey depth and space.

• 85-100 mm- "portraitist". The 85-100mm lens is well-suited for shooting portraits up to the waist and at larger scales with predominantly vertical framing. The most interesting picture can be obtained from high-aperture lenses with a fixed focal length, for example, 85mm F: 1.8. When shooting at a wide aperture, the "eighty-point" blurs the background very well, thereby emphasizing the main subject. For other genres, an 85mm lens is a stretch if it does. It is almost impossible to shoot the landscape with him; in the room, most of the interior is outside his field of vision.

• 135 mm- "close-up portrait". Focal length for close-up portraits in which the face takes up most of the frame. The so-called close-up portrait.

• 200 mm and more- "telephoto lens". Allows close-up shots of distant subjects. A woodpecker on a trunk, a roe deer at a watering hole, a football player with a ball in the middle of the field. Not bad for close-up photography of small objects - for example, a flower in a flower bed. There is practically no perspective effect. It is better not to use such lenses for portraits, as the faces are visually wider and flatter. Below is an example of a photograph taken at a focal length of 600mm - there is practically no perspective. Near and far objects on the same scale:

The focal (real!) Distance, in addition to the scale of the picture, affects the depth of field (together with the aperture). The longer the focal length, the less depth of field, and accordingly, the background blur is stronger. This is another reason not to use wide-angle lenses for portraits if you want to get background blur. Here lies the answer and the question - why "" and smartphones blur the background poorly in portraits. Their real focal length is several times shorter than that of SLR and system cameras (mirrorless).

Composition in photography

Now that we're in general outline sorted out the technical part, it's time to talk about such a thing as composition. In short, composition in photography is the relative position and interaction of objects and light sources in the frame, thanks to which the photographic work looks harmonious and complete. There are a lot of rules, I will list the main ones that need to be learned first.

Light is your most important visual medium. Depending on the angle of incidence of light on an object, it can look completely different. Black and white drawing is practically the only way to convey volume in a photograph. Frontal light (flash, sun behind) obscures volume, objects look flat. If the light source is shifted slightly to the side, this is already better, a play of light and shadow appears. Backlight makes shots contrast and dramatic, but you need to learn how to work with such light first.

Do not try to fit the frame all at the same time, photograph only the very essence. When photographing something in the foreground, keep an eye on the background - it often contains unwanted objects. Poles, traffic lights, garbage cans, and the like - all these unnecessary objects clog up the composition and distract attention, they are called "photo garbage".

Do not place the main subject in the center of the frame, move it slightly to the side. Leave more space in the frame to the side where the main subject "looks". Try different options whenever possible, choose the best one.

Zoom in and zoom in are not the same thing. Zoom increases the focal length of the lens, causing the background to stretch and blur - which is good for a portrait (within reason).

We shoot the portrait from the eye level of the model from a distance of at least 2 meters. Lack of zoom by increasing the focal length (zoom in). If we photograph children, we don’t need to do this from the height of our growth, we will get a portrait against the background of the floor, asphalt, grass. Sit down!

Try not to shoot a portrait from the front (like a passport). Turning the subject's face towards the main light source is always beneficial. You can try other angles as well. The main thing is light!

Make the most of natural lighting — it's more artistic and lively than flash lighting. Remember that a window is a great source of soft ambient lighting, almost like a softbox. With the help of curtains and tulle, you can change the intensity of light and its softness. The closer the model is to the window, the more contrasting the lighting.

When shooting "in a crowd", a high shooting point is almost always advantageous when the camera is held with arms outstretched. Some photographers even use a stepladder.

Try to keep the horizon line from cutting the frame into two equal halves. If there is more interest in the foreground, place the horizon at about 2/3 of the bottom edge (earth - 2/3, sky - 1/3), if in the back - respectively, at 1/3 (earth - 1/3, sky - 2/3). This is also called the "rule of thirds". If you can't snap key objects exactly to the "thirds", place them symmetrically to each other about the center:

To process or not to process?

For many, this is a sore point - whether a photograph processed in Photoshop is considered "live" and "real". In this opinion, the people are divided into two camps - some are categorically against processing, others for the fact that there is nothing wrong with processing photographs. My personal opinion about processing is as follows:

• Any photographer should have at least basic skills in photo processing - to correct the horizon, frame, cover up a speck of dust on the matrix, adjust the exposure level, and white balance.
• Learn to photograph so that you do not process it later. This saves a lot of time!
• If the picture initially turned out well, think a hundred times before you programmatically "improve" it.
• Translation of a photo in b / w, toning, graininess, the use of filters does not automatically make it artistic, but there is a chance to slip to bad taste.
• When processing a photograph, you need to know what you want to get. No need to do processing for the sake of processing.
• Explore the capabilities of the programs you are using. There are probably functions that you do not know about and that will allow you to achieve results faster and better.
• Don't get carried away with color correction without a high-quality, calibrated monitor. Just because an image looks good on your laptop screen doesn't mean it will look good on other screens and when printed.
• The processed photo must be "mature". Before publishing it and giving it to print, leave it for a couple of days, and then look with a fresh eye - it is quite possible that you will want to redo a lot.

Conclusion

I hope you understand that learning how to photograph by reading one article will not work. Yes, I, in fact, did not set such a goal - to "lay out" everything that I know in it. The purpose of the article is only to briefly talk about the simple truths of photography, without going into subtleties and details, but simply to open the veil. I tried to write in a concise and accessible language, but even so, the article turned out to be quite voluminous - and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

If you are interested in a deeper study of the topic, I can offer my paid materials on photography. They are presented in the form e-books in PDF format. You can see their list and trial versions here -.