在台灣，外拍(含棚拍、旅拍)其實算是非常多人「默默」參與的活動，為什麼說默默? 因為很多攝影人是背著家人偷偷參加的… 但這不是我今天想要跟大家分享的重點，我今天想要跟大家分享的是，雖然在這圈子的人不少，但大家真正印象深刻的攝影師或照片有多少位或多少張呢?
先不談外拍圈目前線上比較有名的幾位(記得上網找例子)或偶爾拍拍外拍當興趣的職業攝影大師們，大家在FB、IG或其它社群軟體上的各大外拍社團有看過幾張真的讓您非常喜歡、感動、愛不釋手、覺得真的非常有深度、看幾次都像初戀一樣的照片嗎?(被攝人物是你超愛的麻豆那種不算…) 如果有，歡迎您不吝分享讓我們一起欣賞哦!
那如果很不幸的，一時間真的想不出來有哪一張或哪一位，甚至你自己拍過的照片中也找不出一張讓你有上述反應的照片的時候，請大家不要太難過，不是因為你拍過或看過的照片拍的不好看或拍得很爛，而是可能單純只是那些照片，並沒有那麼「有趣」而已!
先來跟大家談談為什麼大部分都是令人印象不深刻的照片吧! 其實我覺得大家如果參加過幾次的外拍活動(尤其是棚拍…)，應該不難猜出其中原因。 大部分的外拍活動都是由團長帶著團員到團長挑好的景，就開始就地大亂鬥了，但為了不妨礙到其他拍攝者，所以我相信大部分的人都是站在離麻豆至少兩到三公尺遠外的距離用變焦鏡拍攝的，而且幾乎是站在同一個方位… 可想而知，除了成像的畫質銳利度差異或真的有特別使用明顯風格的濾鏡，參加同一場活動的大家照片應該在沒參加的人的眼中看起來都差不多，沒有特別有感吧…
至於棚拍活動就更不用說了，拍攝方位比外拍更固定，因為會有穿景的問題，加上打光的位置跟設定幾乎大家都一模一樣，想當然的，今天如果照片打散的話肯定難分彼此…
所以真心建議想享受拍照樂趣的各位，盡可能先參加外拍活動，不要怕曬、怕累、怕走，麻豆都沒在怕了，是吧~
接著就要跟大家談談為什麼那些圈內比較有名的攝影師們拍出來的照片，通常大家都比較有印象。 當然，經驗值有差，這東西雖然聽起來像屁話，但真的是急不來，需要慢慢累積的。 再來，麻豆跟他們可能有某些程度上的認識，可能常合作，可能是朋友之類的。 接著更重要的就是，他們的拍攝自由度比較高，場景都是特別商量過或挑選過的「非芭樂點」; 當然他們也是有在芭樂點把照片拍好的本事啦…。
所以我會建議真的想入拍照坑或外拍坑的朋友們，先多參加外拍活動，除了費用比較能負擔外，也比較有時間認識自己手上的工具，因為外拍能遇到的狀況真的蠻多的，真的很有機會讓你跟你的相機打好關系。 等你累積到一定的程度後(你自己覺得ok的程度就可以了)，你當然可以嚐試自己私約麻豆來大大提升經驗值!
講到這，可能有些入坑一段時間的朋友會好奇，那這樣一開始就互惠不就好了? 當然，這也是一種方法，但俗話說的好，「免費的，最貴!」你可能為了省費用，但你能找到的一般來說也不會是太有經驗的麻豆，也就是你可能要花更多的時間來熟悉你的相機，你們挑的景，你們挑的服裝，麻豆的姿勢…等等。 但如果這些對你來說都不是大問題，歡迎你走這條出發! 或者我會建議，拍拍你的朋友、家人、另一半反而更自然更沒有壓力!
打了一大串還是沒有講到自己今天想分享的重點，其實我這篇真正想要跟大家分享的是我入坑後到現在的一點個人心得。 因為一開始我也是跟大部分的人一樣，就是拿著相機一直按快門，然後開心回到家後打開照片唯一的心得就是今天的麻豆很正很漂亮，然後好像就沒有再開過這組照片第二次了… 但因為我本身就是很喜歡拍照的人，所以後來也開始漸漸對街頭攝影有初步的認識，在沒有跟朋友參加活動的時候，就會慢慢的對周圍有興趣的人事物東拍拍西拍拍。起初也是好奇，想說是不是有辦法用拍街的方法來拍外拍，多次下來的結果，我個人是很滿意的，因為我的照片比以前有溫度、有趣、有fu很多，而且因為是街拍風格，所以裝備真的不用太高規，真的是人人都可以學習體驗入坑又能拍出有趣的照片的方法。
所以之後我會特別從「街拍風格的外拍」為切入點來跟大家分享不一樣的外拍方法。
Portrait shooting or outdoor shooting whatever we called in Taiwan, it seems the most popular activity in photography because most of the guys love shooting “beautiful things”!
After years in portrait shooting field, I found out that there wasn’t many interesting photos or photographers around. And the reason I believed is the way that people do the portrait shooting is mostly the same. Similar location, similar camera, and similar model.
What the activity usually go through is that a leader will take the members and the model to a casual place with casual surrounding, then everyone start shooting from the same direction with similar distance because Taiwanese are so polite, they don’t want to stand in between model and someone’s camera.
As you can guess, the photos came out from this event will look very similar unless someone use a very strong and unique filter.
I was one of them during the first and second year until I start thinking about getting a better camera for myself. I borrowed my friend’s Canon 5D mark III most of the time when we shoot the portrait together, and I really like the result by the camera. But, yes, there is always a but, the camera is just not the one that I can easily afford, and it is quite heavy if you want to use it as an everyday camera.
I start doing some research about what is the best everyday camera and affordable. I think I was somewhat lucky, I found Eric Kim’s blog, I felt Ricoh GR II could be the best choice for me, and I also found out street photography is a really interesting field I will like to know more about. Lucky enough, I got a really nice deal for a used GR II from a photography major student who needed money for his new lenses.
Then I took my GR II with me mostly every day, and shoot around things that I felt interesting during the break or the way to work and the way home at night. I tried to get familiar with the camera, so I played around with all the built-in filters. It all came out lovely, but I personally really enjoy doing the post-processing myself; therefore, I came out just shoot with original setting, and do the post-processing and editing on my own.
After leaving London, I start to join my friend’s portrait shooting activities again. Different from the past, this time, I try to shoot the portrait shooting with the distance, the angel, the way I see things when I was shooting street photography.
After a couple of times of experiments, the result came out nicer then what I expected at the beginning. I felt that my photo starting speaks more stories, more emotion, and more of me. My photos look more interesting, and can easily be differentiate from others. I like portrait shooting more, and would love to try more street shooting then the past.
Therefore, I would like to share my experience to whoever wants to have the same experience or willing to try different way to shoot portrait shooting.
Let us called it “portrait shooting street photography style” by now.
-LOVE YOURSELF
CHARLIE YANG