Below are some simple rules and tips to help beginners and intermediate beginners get good photos.
General
Photography is essentially the capture of light, and if you take a few basic rules to heart with regard to the lighting conditions of the photographed subject, you don't necessarily need a super expensive SLR camera to take attractive pictures. Appealing images are also easily possible with simpler camera models.
And for the recordings here at Wikivoyage, the information content of a picture is in the foreground anyway, special artistic and photographic effects are often very spectacular, but they are always an alienation of the motif.
Outdoor shots
The light source for outdoor photos is usually the sun and daylight, so the position of the sun in relation to the object being photographed and the position of the photographer is always decisive for the image quality.
The Ideal case is a motif with the south, west or east side facing the sun. The photographer is on this side and has the sun behind him. This is not too high in the sky and therefore does not cast large and long shadows on the illuminated side of the subject. In addition, it is still bright enough for short exposure times and thus for blurred images.
The worst or better: most difficult The case for attractive outdoor shots is the unlit north side of a building, with an overcast and gray sky or the backlight from the sun shining directly on the lens.
Season and time of day
- Unfavorable In the summer months it is lunchtime: On the one hand, the sun casts long shadows on vertical surfaces (e.g. from balconies and cornices), on the other hand, these shadow areas are always almost black because of the excessive contrast and the limitations of the technology (camera sensor) and disturb an otherwise quite successful picture. Likewise, areas that are overexposed by the glaring sunlight can easily arise.
- The magical hour is in the summer months the last hour with sunlight in the evening, when this last sunlight can achieve a particularly effective photographic effect: the light from the sun is still sufficient for shake-free pictures, because of the almost uniform illumination of all areas there are no underexposed black shadows or overexposed areas and all colors are still effective. With the onset of dusk, artificial light from street lights or other lights that have already been switched on comes into its own, even backlit shots such as the popular colorful sunsets are easily possible. There are similar effects at sunrise.
- in the winter Because of the much weaker sunlight in the morning and in the evening, it is better to take pictures at lunchtime, and in the winter months the sun is not so steep in the sky.
Camera position
- A elevated position The camera is almost always cheap for taking the picture, sometimes a few centimeters are helpful: if you want to take a picture of a building from a free space and, for example, climb a flower pot, you can easily take pictures over the otherwise annoying heads of passers-by.
- When recording with Back light is essential, you should make sure that no sunlight falls directly on the glass of the lens, every speck of dust lying there then creates reflections in the image. The lens hood is shaded by (the mostly bulky) lens hood, with a little practice a free hand or a camera position with external shadows from buildings or trees and branches.
Certainly you always have a situation on site that moves between the ideal case and the worst case. Here it is important to find an acceptable compromise between the camera position and the lighting conditions by changing the position, and when it rains, fine-weather recordings are simply not possible.
Walking around a little and looking for a favorable location for the photographer is almost always an effective means of improving images on site and is not replaced by the zoom. Often a change of position by a few meters creates a significantly more favorable position and helps to get acceptable photos. The super shots in the tourism brochures were not made in one day either: a detailed exploration of the situation and the lighting conditions on site and on different days and of course the luck with the weather are always included.
Motifs
The division of the picture and the alignment of the subject is also a simple way of achieving special effects in the picture, regardless of the technical possibilities of the camera.
Landscape shots
One of the rules of thumb is that horizon If possible, not to place it in the center of the picture, the two-thirds and one-thirds division is always favorable: Those who value a beautiful cloud formation allocate the greater part to the sky and get a sense of expanse; those who want to bring the motif into the foreground choose the Share for the sky smaller.
A landscape shot in the Back light creates, even in the most beautiful weather and with a steel-blue sky, always a lighter to white and diffuse-appearing sky. Since the shady side is photographed, the colors become paler and the contrasts in detail, such as trees and hedges, disappear. In return, the differences in brightness in the surfaces are emphasized, although quite interesting moods are possible in backlighting. Because the eye sees something different here than what the technology of the camera shows, it is always advisable to check the image directly. The best example of backlit shots are sunsets.
If you want to depict the steel blue sky and any associated clouds, you should always take photos with the light. A 360 ° pan with the naked eye over the horizon quickly reveals the differences in the color of the sky.
building
Indoor shots
Spaces
Portrait photography
literature
The following is an overview of the further and in-depth literature on the topic.
- : Architectural photography. Dpunkt Verlag, 2011 (2nd edition), ISBN 978-3-89864-733-5 ; 230 pages. € 44.90. The target group ranges from the more advanced amateur to the professional.
