Antarctica is the last continent found on the earth, and it is also the only continent without indigenous people and population. It is completely covered by huge glaciers, with an average elevation of 2350 meters.
Antarctica and its surrounding islands make up Antarctica, covering an area of about 6.5438+0.4 million square kilometers. Generally speaking, "Antarctica" refers to the area south of 60 south latitude stipulated by the Antarctic Treaty, including Antarctica and its surrounding waters, with a total area of about 52 million square kilometers.
Antarctica is the farthest place from us on earth. There are magnificent natural scenery and unique wildlife here, which is self-evident for photographers. With the increase of China tourism company chartered flight, more and more photographers began to list Antarctica as their destination. So, how do you plan your Antarctic shooting? How to seize this rare opportunity?
First, travel time selection and route selection
Winter and summer in Antarctica are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere. The season suitable for tourism is from June 1 1 to March of the following year, which can be divided into three completely different time periods.
(1)165438+1October-65438+mid-February: In the spring of Antarctica, you can see birds such as icebergs and penguins courting; The weather is fine at this time and the price is relatively cheap. However, because the ice has not completely melted, the accessible location is limited.
(2) 65438+mid-February to mid-February: In the Antarctic summer, the temperature is high, the sunshine time is long, animals are active, and there are many places where conditions permit landing. The number of tourists is the largest and the price is higher.
(3) From mid-February to mid-March: At the end of summer in Antarctica, the temperature is getting lower and lower, and penguin chicks begin to molt for the winter. This is the most active period of whales, and the tourism price is moderate.
At present, the area available for regular travel in Antarctica only accounts for 3% of the total area, mainly concentrated in the vicinity of West Antarctica. There are mainly two routes, the Antarctic Peninsula and three Antarctic islands.
Other routes are relatively few, such as the trip to the South Pole, which needs to be reached by plane, and the cost is several times that of regular travel.
Antarctic Peninsula Tour: A very classic and efficient route, usually starting from ushuaia, the southernmost city in the Argentine world, or punta arenas, Chile. After crossing the Drake Strait, it reaches south shetland islands (where the Great Wall Research Station in China is located) and the Antarctic Peninsula. During this period, it cruised along the coast and landed, and then returned via the Drake Strait.
This route can enjoy the representative scenery of Antarctica, get in close contact with wild animals such as penguins, seals and whales, and save time. It usually takes about 15- 17 days to come back from home, which is very suitable for lovers exploring Antarctic scenery.
Example of Antarctic three-island tour route
Three Islands Tour in Antarctica: Generally starting from ushuaia, South Georgia and Falkland Islands are added to the peninsula tour. There are a large number of wild animals such as penguins and seals on these two islands, which can let you enjoy more abundant animals and plants, special scenery and Antarctic exploration sites. The total time consumption generally takes 23-25 days, and the cost is high. I hope they have enough time.
Second, the shooting method
During the Antarctic trip, the main life and activities will be carried out on the cruise ship. The open deck of the cruise ship itself is a very good viewing and shooting platform, where you can enjoy the views of the bay and icebergs and watch all kinds of animals from a distance. Occasionally, the ice floes of seals and penguins will float across the ship's rail. If you are lucky, you can even see whales on the boat.
[Sunset shot on the deck outside the 9th floor]
Generally, cruise ships have outer decks with different heights for shooting. For example, the midnight sunshine we filmed has the outer decks on the 6th and 9th floors. The higher position has a better view, which can better show the whole scenery, while the lower deck is suitable for shooting wild animals near the water.
In fact, shooting on a cruise ship can be said to be very comfortable and even extravagant for us photographers. We don't need to carry big bags over mountains and sleep in the wind. When the light is good, it only takes two minutes to rush from the room to the deck.
[assault boat cruising]
If you want to get closer to the South Pole, you must cruise and land by assault boat.
Cruise is to take an assault boat to shuttle in the waters near the cruise ship. Generally, you will choose areas with good scenery and many wild animals. The time is 1-2 hours, during which you can shoot on the assault boat, but the space is limited.
Landing, that is, taking an assault boat to set foot on a nearby island or Antarctic continent, you can get close contact with wild animals such as penguins. Explorers need to do a good job of investigation in advance, make a good route plan, and display signs of the scope of activities. The landing process is also conducted under the command of the expedition, and the time is generally 1-2 hours. You can shoot it with a tripod.
Cruise ships usually offer some extra activities, some of which cost extra, such as hiking in the snow and kayaking. One of the most recommended is the photo parade, which is taken by a kayak parade led by a photographer stationed on the ship. Because photographers will look for more valuable goals and give suggestions, they are more suitable for photography creation than ordinary cruise ships.
Three. equipment selection
What kind of equipment do you need to carry in order to shoot satisfactory works in Antarctica?
There is a vast scene in Antarctica, and the probability of using telephoto lens is much greater than that of wide angle, while most wild animals such as penguins, seals, whales and albatrosses appear in the distance. At this time, the focal length of 70mm-200mm is somewhat out of reach. It is recommended to carry a telephoto zoom lens with a telephoto of 400 mm, such as EF100-400 MMF/4.5-5.6 Lisiiusm, which is the most common lens on cruise ships. One of our colleagues, a dedicated photographer, has even been wearing a 600mm telephoto lens. He even connected a 2x lens and photographed whales in the distance with a focal length of 1200mm.
In addition to leisurely shooting on the deck, the pace of cruising and landing shooting is also relatively fast, especially when the ship bumps in the waves, shooting opportunities may appear at any time. At this time, if conditions permit, it is difficult to change lenses. Therefore, the lens with large zoom ratio is very suitable for cruising and landing shooting, such as 28mm-300mm or similar focal length.
If you want to have a wide focal length coverage and high image quality requirements, you can prepare two wide-angle and telephoto lens bodies respectively. This time, I brought an EOS5DMarkIV to take care of 4K videos and photos. Can give full play to the advantages of high pixels. Usually, the two lenses are EF 1 1-24mmf/4LUSM and 100-400mm lenses respectively. In addition, I prepared 20mm and 50mm large aperture focusing heads to shoot people and stars.
Because it is often necessary to capture the moving and bumpy shots, the focusing ability of the camera and lens is particularly important, which can help you better track the target and capture the wonderful moments. Similarly, the anti-shake function is also valuable. Wild animals are important shooting content in Antarctica, and their appearance and movements are unpredictable to some extent, which also requires the equipment to have better focusing ability and high-speed continuous shooting ability. The performance of Canon 5D4 is fully in line with expectations.
High-speed continuous shooting is good for capturing movements.
To sum up, if it is for the purpose of photography, it is recommended to carry at least two bodies, one main body, one spare body and one telephoto lens combination. You also need a stable tripod. At the same time, to carry as many memory cards as possible, as well as laptops and mobile hard disks for backup, many scenes may only be encountered once in a lifetime. Don't be stingy with the shutter at this time. Compared with the travel itself, the stored price is already very cheap. During the two-hour photo tour, I took thousands of photos. During my stay in the Antarctic, the amount of data taken every day is about 150-200G, half of which is video and half is image.
Pay attention to protective equipment during the journey. Antarctica is clean with little dust, but the seawater has a high degree of corrosion to photographic equipment. If the equipment is splashed by seawater, it should be cleaned in time.
Four. Shooting suggestion
Because it is often necessary to capture pictures in motion and turbulence, the target is also moving. At this time, in order to ensure the clarity of the image, the high-speed shutter is
It is suggested to use shutter priority mode and set the sensitivity to automatic, or in aperture priority mode, increase the setting upper limit of automatic sensitivity (I set it to ISO400). Generally, the contrast of Antarctic landscape is not great. Although improving sensitivity has an impact on tolerance and noise, it is still worthwhile compared with obtaining a clear image.
The camera should also be set to the mode of high-speed continuous shooting and the fastest focus adjustment.
The rate of sunny days in Antarctica is very low, and it is common for cloudy days to last. Prepare to shoot on a cloudy day, the sun may appear at any time. When you encounter wonderful light, you must seize the opportunity to shoot more.
Search more, observe more and shoot more: Antarctic scenes are very rich, which tests everyone's observation ability. There is no need to converge with others. Pay attention to the opposite direction. In the distance of sight, there may be unexpected gains, and every image from different angles may be unique.
Use contrast to express scale: Antarctica is a vast country, and people easily lose their sense of scale. At this time, some familiar objects, such as people and ships, are placed in the picture. It will highlight the sense of scale.
In addition, ensure that the equipment is in shooting state at any time: including battery, memory card, focus setting, etc. And wonderful pictures may appear at any time. Once, a whale suddenly appeared beside the boat. At that time, my memory card was just full, so I had to delete it while shooting. Very embarrassing.
Fifth, ensure the safety of photos.
Daily backup and maintenance: During my stay in Antarctica, I made a rule for myself that every day I must back up the data taken that day from the memory card to the mobile hard disk, even in the pain of seasickness. Moreover, I have prepared two mobile hard disks, double backup. On the return flight, two hard disks are stored in different luggage to ensure data security to the maximum extent.
This is not an alarmist. The energy invested in data backup can avoid "making mistakes into eternal hatred". Many people suffered data loss during this trip, and some people damaged or lost their memory cards on board. A group member even lost his camera just after getting off the plane in China, and the memory card full of all the pictures of the trip disappeared with the camera, which may be a greater loss than money.
"If the South Pole is music, it must be Mozart; Art must be Michelangelo;
It is literature. It must be Shakespeare. Besides, there must be something greater than these. "I hope that photographers and friends can set foot on the South Pole and show these greatest beings with their own lenses.