{"id":9530,"date":"2011-11-16T23:33:13","date_gmt":"2011-11-17T03:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=9530"},"modified":"2018-01-03T23:00:53","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T03:00:53","slug":"making-your-images-pop-through-lens-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/making-your-images-pop-through-lens-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Making your images pop through lens choice – Compressed perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Making your images pop through lens choice – Compressed perspective<\/h1>\n

The immediate reaction when considering how you could make your photographs *pop* might be to juice it up in Photoshop. But the process should start much earlier – in camera. With a few easy techniques, we can consistently create images that jump off the page or screen. With some of the engagement photo sessions<\/a> that I’ve shown, I get comments about the 3D look to some of the photographs. The look is achieved through a simple technique –\u00a0compressed perspective with a longer focal length.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Technique<\/h2>\n

A. choice of lens<\/strong><\/p>\n

The way that the couple, Lindsay & Chris<\/a>, is isolated \/ separated from the background, is mainly due to my choice of lens – the 70-200mm f\/2.8 – a fast telephoto zoom. Whether it is the \u00a0Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II<\/a>\u00a0 (affiliate<\/em>), or the\u00a0Canon EF 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>), this optic is essential for on-location portraits.<\/p>\n

With workshops, I’ve seen attendees make a common mistake in choosing a focal length. They stand at a certain (comfortable) distance from the subject \/ model, and then zoom to fill the viewfinder with the composition they want. The problem here is that most often they are standing too close to the subject, and are zooming to a too-wide focal length.<\/p>\n

The best approach<\/strong> is to zoom to your maximum focal length, and then step backwards until you find your composition<\/a> … and then only zoom wider if necessary. \u00a0Doing it this way, forces you to use the longest focal length that makes sense for a specific composition. It might seem like a trivial adjustment to your technique, but it could very well change the way your photo look by forcing a longer focal length.<\/p>\n

The longer lens also helps in eliminating distracting elements in the background because of the tighter field of view. With the image at the top, I also lay down on the grass to hide people in the background<\/a>, exactly as described in this linked article. Eliminate and simplify!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

B. choice of lens aperture<\/strong><\/p>\n

A wide-ish aperture with a longer focal length, will give you shallower depth of field. This shallow DoF will blur the background. With this in mind, I most often work in the f\/2.8 to f\/4 range when I use a 70-200mm lens. And to reiterate something – shallow DoF is not the same as good bokeh<\/a>. (And there certainly isn’t such a thing as “giving more bokeh”.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

C. distance to the background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coupled with the choice of wide aperture and a longer focal length, it helps to position yourself and your subject so that your background is distant. This is why the 2nd image has such a painterly feel to the background – it is distant enough and the lens aperture is wide enough to blur it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Lighting<\/h2>\n

The lighting here is also important to lend a certain crispness to the image and help separate the couple from the more muted background. The sky was overcast, so the light was soft … but it was top-heavy, giving shadowed eyes.<\/p>\n

The lighting here was straight-forward off-camera flash with the\u00a0Lastolite 24\u00d724 Ezybox softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>). The off-camera flash was in TTL mode<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0with FEC around -2 or -3 EV.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Post-processing of the image<\/h2>\n

Finally, I have to mention that I did in fact use a basic Photoshop technique to give the images a bit more contrast and saturation. I did this by creating a Soft Light layer at 30%<\/a> as described in this linked article.<\/p>\n

But long before I even felt the image could need a bit more punch, the essential techniques were there to ensure that the images I got in-camera didn’t need Photoshop work to make the pop.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

camera settings for these image<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

1\/250 @ f\/4 @ 640 ISO
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II<\/a>\u00a0 .. at 150mm\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

1\/250 @ f\/4 @ 400 ISO
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0.. at 150mm\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo gear (or equivalents) used during this photo session<\/h2>\n