At the beginning of the month I had a the honor of photographing another fall wedding, the couple whom I worked with was Tyler and Erin, and they were wonderful to work with, patient, understanding, and just a joy to work with. With unpredictable weather that day we were able to use the sanctuary of Knox Presbyterian Church which provided a beautiful back drop for the portrait work.
If you use a Point & Shoot or Prosumer camera, you can pretty much skip most of what is said here, this is more aimed at users of cameras that have an interchangeable lens system. Rangefinders and SLRs.
When it comes to lens, there are two types of lenses, zoom lenses which can change the focal length, and prime lenses, which have a fixed focus.
The Nikon 17-55mm is an example of a zoom lens.
The Nikon 50mm is an example of a prime lens.
Each types have their pros and cons. Zoom lenses offer you excellent versatility especially when shooting events where you often need to have a wider view angle, when photographing groups of people, to being able to focus in on the action. If you just have a prime lens on, you have to do your zooming with you feet, or fumble around with multiple lenses at any given time for the situation. However zoom lenses with today’s technology can only have a max aperture of f/2.8 without being really expensive or very large. Prime lenses, can be a little cheaper than a zoom lens, but be much faster, my 50mm f/1.8 lens is only $150.00. Prime lenses are great for portrait work, or low light situations. I once shot almost an entire concert using my 50mm f/1.8 lens.
There are four categories into which both types of lenses fall into, based on the focal length of the lens.
The first is Ultra-Wide, this is what lenses with a focal length less than, but not including 35mm, fish-eye lenses (which offer a 180° angle of view) fall into this category. Best to use these for landscape and architecture work.
The Tameron 11-18mm lens, is an example of an ultra-wide zoom lens.
An example photo using an ultra-wide lens, using the Tamron mentioned above @ 11mm
The second category is Normal, the reason it’s called “normal” is because is almost duplicates the angle of view that your eyes have (eyes are approximatly a 50mm lens so if you’re on a crop sensor camera, use the mag factor to determain what lens will give you the 50mm length, on Nikon & Canon you’ll want a 35mm lens, on 4/3 camera a 17mm lens). This covers the range of focal lengths between 35mm and 70mm.
Nikon’s 35mm lens.
Taken with a 35mm lens, with the crop factor it is at 52mm.
The third category is telephoto, this covers focal lengths between 70mm and 135mm, often used for portrait, street, and photojournalism, as you can often get a compact lens that still give you a good reach. You can even still get a fast lens for a decent price at this range, even in zoom and prime. Again have a crop sensor, gives these lenses even more reach.
An old Nikon Manual Focus 105mm telephoto lens, a classic lens favoured by photojournalists.
An example of a photo, even on a modern dSLR, the old Manual lenses perform wonderfully.
The fourth and final category is super telephoto, this occupy any focal length greater than 135mm, there are some lenses that are 500mm and higher available. If you’re doing a lot of sports, nature (wildlife), and aerial photography (or stalking) these are the lenses for you, often bulky, and for a good fast lens, you’ll be shelling out upwards of $2000.00. However if you do spend the money, it is well worth it, even for street photography, if the area is crowded enough, you can get the shot you want without being seen.
The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is great telephoto lens, for moderate duty, plus if you add a telecoverter to it, you can get it to reach even further. However it is a bit noticeable, and rather bulky to carry around.
An example photo @ 200mm
Stay Tuned for Part 2, more on how to choose a lenses and why to use certain lenses for each application!