How to take good pictures of the great outdoors: Top 10 things not to do in outdoor photography

The hot summer has passed in the blink of an eye, and the majority of "sexual lovers" may be unable to contain their excitement and can't wait to capture the golden autumn. But how can you take good photos and how can you bring the original impression of nature back to the city? Here, the editor presents the top ten taboos of outdoor photography for beginners, hoping that it will be helpful in your photography life.

1. Avoid direct sunlight

Bright sunlight provides good lighting conditions, making the scenery lively and colorful, and allowing the use of fast shutter speeds and small apertures. However, strong sunlight can also cause problems. The most prominent one is that its dazzling light will make it difficult for the subjects to open their eyes. At the same time, high-angle direct sunlight will create heavy shadows on the subjects' faces, revealing skin wrinkles and damaging the subjects' beautiful image. Therefore, when taking photos outdoors, you should let the sunlight shine on the subject from the side, and avoid facing the face directly towards the sun.

2. Avoid people being too close to colored environments

Under bright light, the reflection of objects will be enhanced. In this case, people should try to stay away from brightly colored scenes (such as newly painted exterior walls of buildings, large awnings, etc.), otherwise the colors of those scenes will be projected onto the people and cause color cast.

3. Avoid taking photos with people standing on the concrete floor when there is overhead light

Because the surface of cement floor is relatively flat and light in color, it will form a strong reflection. This "foot light" from bottom to top often creates a terrifying effect and should be avoided as much as possible.

4. Avoid taking photos next to a tree

Light and shadow complement each other. The stronger the light, the deeper the shadow. When a person stands next to a tree for a photo, the sunlight will often project the leaves onto the person's body and face, creating mottled shadows that detract from the beauty of the picture.

5. Don’t ignore the filter

Under the cloudless blue sky outdoors, all the sun-proof areas are covered with a blue hue; and under the glow of sunset, all the scenery is stained with a layer of orange-red. In such an environment, if you want to keep the original color of the captured scene, you must install a corresponding filter in front of the lens. In the former case, you can choose a light red or amber filter, and in the latter case, you can choose a light blue filter.

6. Avoid using high-speed films

Under clear skies and scorching sun, the light intensity is already very high. If high-speed film is used, the aperture will often be forced to be extremely small, or a slower shutter speed cannot be used. These situations will bring certain restrictions to photographic creation.

7. Avoid random fill light

Under bright sunlight, the scenery will have a strong contrast. In order to avoid excessive contrast, it is effective to use auxiliary light for auxiliary lighting, but you must know the right measure. You must avoid making the auxiliary light too bright, and also avoid showing traces of the auxiliary light (such as a projection opposite to the main light).

8. Avoid relying entirely on automatic exposure settings

Many photography enthusiasts like to use automatic exposure mode when taking pictures outdoors, but they don't know that this automatic exposure mode can only handle some common situations, and it will become "stupid" when encountering situations where the light is half on the bright and half on the dark side or backlighting. Therefore, you have to act according to the situation and make appropriate exposure adjustments based on the specific situation.

9. Avoid facing the camera directly against the light

When taking backlit photos in strong light, you should prevent the light from hitting the lens directly, otherwise halo will easily occur.

10. Avoid wearing clothing with strong reflective properties

When taking photos under strong light, if the subject is wearing highly reflective clothing (such as a white shirt, clothing made of luminous nylon, etc.), the clothing will become snow-white or have large bright spots, making it difficult to show the texture of the clothes.