Useful Tips

Why are different lenses needed?

Every photographer has at least one lens. The exceptions are the few who have bought a camera and are stuck on the choice of optics for it. At the same time, amateurs often do not use even 90% of the capabilities of their stock zoom lens, the functionality of which is, of course, severely limited. The quality of your images, both technical and creative, depends very much on what kind of lens you have and how you use it. The focal length, for example, sets the "angle of view" of your camera, which in turn affects the choice of the shooting point and the composition of the shot. The aperture range of a lens determines the set of shutter speeds available and shows how much you can control the depth of field in your shot. Traditionally, certain optics are recommended for each scene or type of shooting. For example, a wide-angle is great for landscapes, and a sports photographer will almost certainly attach a powerful telephoto lens to the camera. At the same time, it is wrong to restrict oneself to a previously outlined circle of possible applications. When you know all the "zest" and capabilities of your lenses, you can apply non-standard solutions and get interesting shots using the "inappropriate" optics for a particular situation.

Wide-angle optics

Sigma AF 20 f / 1.8 EX DG ASPHERICAL RF Nikon F

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Wide-angle optics not only allow more space in the frame, but also provide perspective distortion, which can be used to achieve certain effects.

The wide angle on most modern zooms is sufficient for architectural and landscape photography. What are the benefits of 10-20mm ultra wide-angle optics? In simple terms, when using it, more objects of the surrounding landscape "fit" into the frame. However, in fact, this is not the secret of successful use of "wide" lenses. The details in a wide-angle landscape can be tiny, so here are a few compositional tricks that can help make your picture stand out. To get a really good shot with a wide-angle lens, you need to get as close to your subject as possible. This will inevitably distort the perspective. To make the pictures vivid and three-dimensional, visually select a certain object in the foreground or compose the frame so that lines that are parallel in reality are clearly read in it. They will set the dynamics of the composition. It is not uncommon for you to fit a large subject entirely into the frame, especially in landscape or architectural photography. However, the photographer faces a common problem - when you slightly tilt the camera with a wide-angle lens, the parallel vertical lines begin to converge, giving the impression that the subject is tipping back. The only way to avoid this is to make the camera sensor parallel to the subject and choose the most effective angle. If there are a lot of interesting details in the foreground - like the reflection in the top frame, for example, lower the camera as low as possible. Otherwise, you'll end up with an unnecessarily blank area at the top of the image, and you'll have to crop it.

The angle of view of a lens largely depends on the camera matrix on which it is mounted. For example, a 7mm lens on a Four Thirds system camera has the same field of view as a 9mm APS-C lens and a 14mm lens on a full frame camera.

Fixed focal length lenses

Nikon 50 f / 1.8D AF Nikkor

Fixed focal length lenses (fixes) for the most part may seem like fossil mammoths in the modern photographic world, where optical zooms, powerful zoom lenses, and ultrasonic drives reign. But, despite their constructive simplicity, they will find a place in any photographer's wardrobe trunk. There are a lot of fixes. The price of some ultra-wide-angle or telephoto lenses with a large aperture is such that it seems that you can become the proud owner of them only by winning the grand prize in the lottery. But there are also much more affordable models, such as Nikkor 50mm f / 1.8 or Canon EF 50mm f / 1.8 II, which can be found on sale for UAH 1-1.5 thousand. The main advantage of prime lenses over zoom lenses is a higher aperture ratio at a comparable price, which makes it possible to shoot in low light with low light sensitivity without the risk of blurring. It should be borne in mind that many modern zooms are equipped with a stabilizer, which often negates this advantage. But the indisputable plus of the fixes is the quality of the picture and the possibility of obtaining a very small depth of field. Zoom lenses are convenient because of their versatility, but they do have their drawbacks. Zooms "kill" the artist in the photographer and indulge his laziness - instead of looking for a good angle, it is always easier to bring the subject closer or further away. When using fixed focal length optics, the only way to frame is to change the position of the camera itself.

The main advantage of a fixed focal length lens is its aperture.

Even the most expensive and high-quality lenses do not give the highest quality picture when the aperture is open, but a shallow depth of field helps to visually highlight the objects that you want to draw the attention of the person who will be looking at your picture. Incidentally, the loss of sharpness in the lens often increases from the center to the edges of the frame, so we advise you to focus on the subject in the center of the frame.

Telephoto lens

Nikon 80-200 f / 2.8D ED AF Zoom-Nikkor

With a telephoto lens, you can capture in detail what other optics can't do.

A telephoto lens is ideal for capturing distant subjects such as wildlife and sports. But this does not mean that they cannot shoot any other subjects. Since you are shooting from afar, it becomes easier to visually separate the subject from the background (due to the stronger blurring of out-of-focus subjects), or, conversely, create the illusion that distant objects are close to each other. This effect is called perspective compression. A telephoto lens can be useful for shooting architecture, making it possible to snatch individual expressive decorative elements from the general plan and bring distant objects closer. In other cases, "telephoto" is indispensable for work in the reporting genre, when the photographer has to maintain a significant distance separating him from the epicenter of unfolding events. Even in bright sunlight, when working with optics with a small angle of view, it is very difficult to hold the camera sufficiently firmly while exposing the frame so as to avoid loss of sharpness in the image. Most camera and lens manufacturers have developed systems to compensate for vibration when shooting at long exposures and long focal lengths. Sony, Pentax and Olympus build stabilizers into their camera bodies, so most of the lenses on their cameras become stabilized. Canon, Nikon, Sigma, and Tamron use lens shift compensation systems that often perform better, but they are built directly into the lenses, making the design more expensive. Stabilized lenses are labeled with the following abbreviations - IS (Image Stabilizer), VR (Vibration Reduction), OS (Optical Stabilizer), and VC (Vibration Compensation). With a little practice, you will be shooting at shutter speeds much slower than recommended for working with cameras and optics without a stabilizer.

Long-focus lenses not only bring distant objects closer, but also make camera vibrations and vibrations noticeable. Therefore, when shooting with telephoto lenses, you need to be very careful, because the probability of blurring is extremely high.

There is one old rule: to avoid wiggling, the shutter speed should be no longer than 1 / x, where x is the focal length of the lens. For example, if you shoot with a 200mm lens, you should get a good result with shutter speeds shorter than 1/200 of a second. But this rule does not always apply, especially when you have to use low ISO values. A logical solution is to use a tripod, but this is not always possible, so try to find a palm rest, be it a fence, a bench, or a lamppost. Use the fastest shutter speed even if you need to increase the sensitivity to do so. After all, a “noisy shot” is better than a blurry one!

"Fish eye"

Nikon 10.5 f / 2.8G ED DX Fisheye-Nikkor

The peculiarity of this type of lens is super strong distortion and a colossal field of view, which allows you to get pictures that cannot be seen in reality.

Fish-eye lenses are similar to their wide-angle counterparts with a short focal length (8-15 mm), but at the output they give very characteristic pictures inherent only to them. The approach to working with these optics should be done in a special way, since the standard rules do not work here. For example, you need to get much closer to your subject than with a conventional lens. Strong distortion of the geometry of objects does not allow to fully use the usual compositional techniques and rules. Due to the fact that the picture seems to be stretched on a convex hemisphere, the center of the frame will always attract more viewers' attention, and therefore, the main plot emphasis should be located in it.

There are two types of fisheye: full frame and circular. Full-frame gives a picture that is the same size as a full-frame sensor, while circular gives a specific black border around the edges of the frame. The strength of this effect depends on the lens and on the type of camera sensor: the picture from a full-frame fisheye on a full-frame camera and on a crop camera will be very different. Fisheye lenses are known for their extreme distortion.

When using conventional lenses, you try to avoid distortion or remove it using special software. In the case of "fish", distortion is one of the "highlights" of the picture. The amount of distortion can range from simple bending of straight lines to the formation of circular images. When framing, you need to be as close to the subject as possible, otherwise, due to the small focal length, the objects in the photo will appear very small. This may seem strange at first, but you will often need to locate the camera within a meter of your subjects. Even if you are used to shooting with short throw lenses, the best way to master fisheye is to get as close as possible and try to “embrace the immensity”!

The field of view of ultra-wide-angle optics is very large and very often includes large areas of the sky, often with the sun in the frame. Due to the design features, the ND filter cannot be installed on the fisheye. Therefore, images may be damaged due to excessive contrast. The solution to this problem is shooting in RAW. The resulting image must then be processed in Adobe Camera Raw. You can restore details in highlights and shadows using the Recovery and Fill Light sliders. In especially difficult cases, you can take several of the same images, and then combine them in Photoshop.

Macro lens

Nikon 85 f / 3.5G AF-S ED DX VR Micro-Nikkor

A macro lens is a great way to discover a brave new, unexplored world beneath your feet.

A macro lens is a gateway to the world, invisible to the naked eye.Most photographers use these lenses to shoot very small objects, but the remarkable properties of these lenses are not limited to that. As a rule, these are fairly fast lenses with a fixed focal length from 35 to 200 mm. The combination of these two qualities is ideal if you want to effectively and beautifully separate the subject from the background.

In everyday shooting, such lenses can be used as usual prime lenses - for example, for portrait or genre photography. Most often, their maximum aperture is f / 2.8, which makes it possible to take pictures with a shallow depth of field. Therefore, the shooting technique is the same as that of the standard fixes. Please note that when photographing small objects (in fact, for which macro lenses are needed) with an open aperture, the depth of field can be only a couple of millimeters. In macro photography, start by switching to manual focus mode and carefully aiming at the subject you want. If you are shooting a static scene, mount the camera on a tripod. This will reduce the possibility of focusing errors and the appearance of "wiggle" to zero. To make focusing easier, use LiveView if your camera is equipped with this feature.

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