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Lenses Part 2

So we like it here so far. We're up to about eighty five millimeter working our way up through. So from here on, we're going to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about my best friend, which is the seventy two, two hundred millimeter, and I mentioned a little bit yesterday that I didn't always have a seventy two, two hundred for a very long time. I thought that the seventy two, two hundred was the thing that you bought when you were stuck in the balcony of the church and you weren't gonna really be able to shooting you shot had to shoot long because you were for farther away from your subjects, right? It's kind of a photo one o one basic way of thinking if I can't get closer to them, I need a lens that will let me zoom to them. That's what I used to think about the seventy two hundred, but it wasn't until I really thought about what the seventy two, two hundred was bringing to the table in terms of my composition and in terms of the look of my final image that all of a sudden i...

t went from being that thing that I only use sometimes to something so indispensable to me that I actually have two of them. Now, I don't have two of the latest and greatest of them that's, a level of crazy that even I don't aspire to. But when they did come out with the newer seventy two, two hundred faster focusing nano coated glass, everything is just sharper and crisper and better. I saw a very distinct jump in the clarity of the images that I was shooting the speed with which I was focusing, and because I do use that lens so often throughout the day that buying the upgraded version was simply a no brainer. That said, I did not get rid of my old one, I kept it because I do use it so often because I don't have anything in my bag longer than one hundred five millimeter macro. So if anything were to happen to my seventy two, two hundred, I don't have anything to replace it with, so I literally have two of them in my bag overkill, maybe, but the day I dropped a d for with a seventy two, two hundred on it, I sure am glad that I have another one in the bag. I'm not advising you to go out and buy two of them, but again, as I mentioned before, if you buy a new lens, you look at your old linds. Do you need the money that you would make from selling that old limbs more than you would need the insurance policy of having another one in your bag on lee? You can decide that I can't tell that to you, but my seventy two, two hundred is beloved to me. I use it for everything and let's talk about it all the way above and beyond and all the way around I do shoot it at seventy millimeters. I don't want to say that I only shoot my seventy, two hundred at two hundred because at seventy millimeters it's still a beautiful thing sometimes it's simply because of face sometimes it's, because I'm shooting family formals in central park there's every tourist that has ever been in new york there because obviously it's a saturday and they're all in the park. Bride and groom want to do pictures at the fountain? Why am I not at two hundred millimeters? Because I physically could not separate myself from the bride and groom and stop people from walking by it's not like I'm in a church where I can ask people to clear the aisle it's not like I'm in a venue where I can say, hey, guys, do you mind stepping out of the way I'm in the middle of a public park? I can't ask people to move so I'm shooting as long as I possibly can to get as much compression as I possibly can within the realistic confines of where I'm at stepping through I will shoot it at one hundred sixty millimeters it's not either seventy or two hundred there's a whole range of millimeters in there that I can use she did a one hundred fifty looks a bit like that looks a bit like that I'm not sitting here and I'm not thinking oh my gosh the seventy two, two hundred millimeters I have to shoot it when I want compression at two hundred all the time that's not what I'm going for I'm going for a longer focal length and whether it's one sixty one eighty two hundred you're doing whatever the situation will allow now I am if I am desire ing compression I am going to compress it as much as I possibly can which means getting it is close to two hundred millimeters as possible but you can't always in a crowded reception space when the dance floor is only so big you can't always get all the way to two hundred so sometimes it's one eighty one times it sometimes it's one sixty three I'm not sitting here you know knocking centerpieces over so that I can get further back I'm just doing what I can with the space that I have that said the seventy two hundred at two hundred is a glorious beautiful wonderful thing now a lot of photographers will say, oh you're seventy two, two hundred that image I mean like the backgrounds like blurry so you shot that in two eight right? Wrong what you're mistaking for an out of focus background do the aperture choice is the compression of that lens at two hundred millimeters there's a difference so a seventy two, two hundred at two point eight yes, you have the two point eight effect you also have the compression going on top of that as well. This right here you take a look at the background oh, the background is blurry. That has to be two point eight right? Wrong that's a four the reason the background in layman's terms is blurry is buzzing because of lind's compression not because of aperture. So if you're not entirely certain if the effect that you're going for is an aperture decision or aylin selection decision take your lenses take your eighty five one four put something out in a field somewhere, shoot it with eighty five one for out one for then shoot it with the seventy two, two hundred to eight and then f four and in your fifty at one two and then it f four and then start looking at all of these images and then you'll start seeing o this is the desired effect that I'm looking for this is the combo of f stop and focal length that's getting the exact look that I want and does it take time to kind of figure out what your preferences are? Of course it does if you're new in a photography you have to know this right now but experiment with it and as I said yesterday as you go through the years your style will start to emerge and it will start to evolve you just have to be patient with yourself but I will use the seventy two, two hundred to shoot details I don't know not a lot of people when they think about shooting details think about pulling out their seventy two hundred but I showed some of these examples yesterday especially this one right here this is a table scape shot with a seventy two, two hundred at two hundred and this table seats what two, four, six eight I think it's a twenty percent table it's a long farm table but the compression of the seventy two, two hundred shot at two eight combo the two eight with the compression of the two hundred and you have a really beautiful final effect to the final image this is deliberate this isn't a fifty one two a one two to seventy two two hundred at two hundred at two eight I will use my seventy two, two hundred for family formals as often as I possibly can as close to two hundred millimeters is I can get this is at two hundred millimeters because it is very flattering two body types all body types everywhere it's beautiful on the face the compression is beautiful on the body and you have to be careful anything above this to me, if I put my tele converter on it and make my seventy two, two hundred you know, make it four hundred then you start to compress the face so much it contento look flat, so I have to be really careful with that. I went through this love affair with my tele converter for awhile, and then I realized that I was actually smashing my clients faces down because I was compressing them so hard for me. Two hundred is the sweet spot, so I will actually in a church when shooting family formals get all the way back down the aisle and I will shoot those family formals with the seventy two, two hundred millimeters at two hundred millimeters doesn't mean that I have to keep the aisle clear. It does, it doesn't mean that I constantly have to say excuse me, ma'am, I'm so sorry do you mind taking a seat? It does, but to me the final effect is absolutely worth it so it's something that I'm willing to invest the time in, I will shoot toasts with a seventy two, two hundred and I know that a lot of you out there are probably saying, wait, well, how can you step back and explain exactly how you let that family formal or exactly how this was set talking about the gear that I'm using is going to be revisited over and over and over again in every applicable episode? So when we talk about family formals, I'm going to tell you that I used the seventy two, two hundred I'm going to talk to you about the settings that I use in that situation I'm going to talk to about the lighting that I use using a seventy two, two hundred for toasts I'm gonna talk about where our off camera flashes position I'm going to talk about their relationship of my shutter speed, my aperture and my ambient light all of that will be explained so don't think that I'm leaving you out there hanging I'm just simply here talking to you about the selection of the lens and why seventy two, two hundred at two hundred it's not it to eight it's not a three five it's enough or it doesn't have to be a two eight tohave this beautiful blurred foreground and to focus on lee on the bride and lose the groom in the background that's not too ate that's four that's linds compression parent dances and first dances it is my go to linz, so whenever a parent dance is about to happen, and whenever first dance is about to happen, I make sure that my d for with my seventy two, two hundred and my radio transmitter for my off camera flash are ready to go. Usually by the time I hit the ceremony, that lens doesn't come off my d for for the rest of the day. I use it for ceremonies. I use it for bridegroom together. I use it for family formals, introductions, first dance, parent dances, toasts if they're cutting like doing ah moti over the bread, I'll use it for that not going to use it for something like ahora. I'm not gonna wait out into a dance floor with a seventy two, two hundred that's, not the tool that I need for that job. However, for all of these aforementioned things, seventy two, two hundred fantastic during the first dance, you've got a bride and groom out on the dance floor and they're you know, dancing on the dance floor is massive and their crowd is like twenty feet behind them. What better way to make it feel more intimate? Than to shoot at two hundred compresses that background up to your subjects makes it seem like it's closer makes it seem like they're family is closer behind them, pulls that scene into it and doesn't make them look like they're just a bridegroom alone on a dance floor by themselves. So it's a really useful tool for that time of the day and again toasts, toast, parent dances, first dances, cake cutting if I can manage it I just like compression, but I have to make sure that if I'm shooting a lot of things at two hundred that I'm peppering and other focal lengths as well because then if, as I mentioned before, if I shoot everything at two hundred that's justus bad as being one note with another limbs and for portrait for portrait it's beautiful flattering to the body flattering to the face bringing that background up to your subjects sometimes it's to create a more intimate feel sometimes it's to make it feel like their family is closer to them or make it feel like something that's far away is right up behind them sometimes it's just deliberately done for beautiful graphic effect bridegrooms sitting on the edge of the fountain far enough away that the spray is not hitting them being as careful as I can sun and exactly the spot where I want it seventy two two hundred at two hundred at four point five but the backgrounds all out, you might say your backgrounds all blurry what you mean that's not too ate that's linds compression and again, this is something that you have to take your lenses and you have to go outside you have to experiment with focal length and aperture and find your own sweet spot my sweet spot for shooting a bride and groom together outside is the seventy two, two hundred and two hundred at either f for four point five gives me the background effect I want while still having both of my clients in focus and flattering I don't understand I see all of these blog's with it with all of these brides and grooms shot with eighty foot with the fifty one two at one two and they're both not even remotely and focus and I guess maybe I'm old or maybe I'm a maverick or just weird or incredibly on hip, but I like my clients to actually be in focus I want to see all of both of their faces I realize that's revolutionary I also don't like to turn them yellow and, you know, superimposing mason jar on it. But you know, one thing that I've learned as I've gotten more acquainted with my gear is I've become more familiar with the technical side of everything realizing that I don't want to chase trends and I just want to be classic again, I feel like this is thirty days of houses and became very stodgy so do with that what you will however, that said I was talking about shooting the seventy two, two hundred at f for I don't always shoot it at four sometimes I'll shoot it at two point eight because that combo of the lens compression and that lynn's at two point eight is a one two punch to me of something incredibly beautiful so these people that you just saw over here sitting at this fountain all we did here was he took emily the bride took her over to the other side of the fountain and I shot through the fountain into the light I like this image it makes me angry I see a lot of problems in it I wish it were better but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it when I look at all of my images I critique them as if this is a competition and I can take this image from oh, I really like that too that was horrible and I should have deleted it in about two point two seconds I am my own absolute worst critic I hate almost everything that I shoot I'm tired of looking at my own work um and I allude to this several other times in the thirty days that my husband I we have a phrase called making a picture did you make a picture today and I don't mean did you make a really nice moment that you can put in your slide show or did you make a picture that you khun blawg but did you make a picture? Did you make that picture that when you make it you're like that? Is it this is I'm moved by the work everything has come together this is my moment I'm lucky if I get one a year sometimes to maybe in two thousand thirteen for me the pictures where the image of the bride coming down the stairs over here the image of the bride and her father and her grandfather those air it for me those are my pictures of the year I'm really proud of those the other two I like him an awful lot I enter them in competition they're great but when everything comes together you're linds selection your knowledge of creativity, your knowledge of composition and then your client's give you that moment that's making a picture everything else I just generally prefer to tear to shreds usually about two o'clock in the morning when I'm kind of tired but the seventy two, two hundred four portrait again the foreground background compression you cannot mimic with any other limbs you cannot mimic with any other oh I'll just shoot my fifty one two at one two and it sort of looks like that no, it doesn't and if you think it does shoot those two lenses side by side and compare maybe you like the look of the fifty one point two and if you do do do it I'm not saying you have to have a seventy two, two hundred but I think that it's important to be knowledgeable about what all lenses do at all focal length and apertures so you can start finding what resonates with you the most but I just really love it not only the compression what it lets me due to the foreground and background all of these air shot at two hundred it is an absolutely phenomenally versatile in which a lot of people don't think that it is whether it's a portrait or first dance or apparent dance and again to show an example that I showed yesterday where I you have a scene this was shot with my twenty four to seventy at twenty four this shows you exactly where I put jessica and her husband they're people walking in the background there are bushes I've graciously included the scaffolding for your viewing pleasure but with the seventy two, two hundred at two hundred I didn't move them all. It is a change the way I saw and change the tool that I brought to the game I made two pretty different looking pictures simply by picking the right tool and picking the right composition with the right light with the right approach showing you a few more examples because I swear to you if all of you do not understand linds compression by the time I am done I will do another thirty days of lens compression I'm getting I don't know no no that's never gonna happen that was just a joke please don't take me seriously so I shot a couple of things side by side with the seventy two two hundred at seventy and then it two hundred is the same picture they're in the same spot look at that house behind them at seventy millimeters look at how far away that house looks at two hundred millimeters look how close that house looks now these air both shot at four both of them the only thing that I did between image one an image to was I took a step back and I dropped my knee that was it. And by a step back I'm talking like about a foot back not like one of those massive steps got back a little bit got down same thing seventy two hundred the only thing that changed was me step back drop down a little bit the end and the only reason why I dropped down was because in the image on the left the the line is going directly straight through her head and when I change my angle a little bit it was a little bit less egregious but both at f four another example we showed these people on the side of the road tucked in the foliage yesterday take a look at where they are got people walking by busy street this is cape may new jersey this is the day remember yesterday when I was talking about the day that I left all of my camera battery's at home this was this day worked out just fine by the way the way that a story resolved in case anybody was actually wondering four cameras in my camera bag d for de three sd three d seven hundred which is my like last gas back up there was a battery in it if the battery hadn't been in it I would have gone to and I am not joking I would have gone to a wal mart and bought a camera I had enough time we always patter timeline I would've gone and got something I called home my husband was at work talk to his studio manager we think they frantically called around to a couple of people a guy that second shoots for him every once in a while I paid him two hundred dollars to rock drive round trip to cape may and bring me my batteries oh but your husband's a photographer you might say how convenient don't you have friends give anybody make sure somebody has a key to your house like obviously someone can get in in case of emergency I have people that you can rely on for backup the day that might kick my tires went flat we called my assistance parents who got in their car to come rescue us if we hadn't been able to take care of ourselves, they would've driven us to the wedding so again I'm trying to show you that not only can you make good pictures like so in any scene whatsoever you can you can do it under extreme duress if you become more comfortable with your gear this luckily was after we got all of our batteries everyone was breathing sandra had been revived from passing out on the floor um oh you got to do the best you khun dio but this doesn't look like they're crammed on the side of a busy street it doesn't look like there, you know, in the middle of kate may with tourists walking by and tons of things happening it looks like they're in their own little oasis on this lovely beachside area by themselves because of the composition but also because of the seventy two, two hundred and again we looked at this one yesterday still bears repeating twenty four millimeters two hundred millimeters side of the road it could be anywhere and for those of you who thought well, you just shoot it really fancy venues guys were on the side of the street and then again twenty four millimetres they left the beach, we were walking back over to their reception. We were walking through the little garden that separated the condo building next door and congress hall, which is where their reception wass twenty four millimeters two hundred millimeters theirs in the exact same spot right where they're standing right here. Look at the background, look at what's surrounding them. Two hundred millimeters, same scene, same place both f or just the magic of the linds compression. Yes, and you have two different bodies to just take the federal quick? Or do you have them hold that moment for? No, it was actually the images with the twenty four were shot by my assistant. Okay, because I was like, wow, this is a really great, you know, I'm doing a lot of seventy, two hundred a lot of seventy, two hundred, the ones that were side by side, where one was a seventy and the other was two hundred. I just did it myself, but these where there was like a big wide one, she just kind of snapped a couple as I was going about throughout the day. But if I did want to shoot a scene both at twenty four and it two hundred, I just take one camera body shoot and take the other camera body and shoot and just go back and forth and sometimes it involves swinging them both over my shoulders and just going back and forth myself begin I try to be very careful on my body as much as I possibly can and keep those lenses from hanging off of me. All you can do is all you khun dio really? So before we move onward and we start talking about flash which is going to take a while to talk about I'd like to address any questions that you guys have about lenses, linds compression aperture selection we had some really great questions about back button focusing and focusing and re composing which was kind of a major thing to consider any questions about anything that I bring or why don't I bring this or anything like that at all? Do you know someone in the chat room last house? Excuse me? Michael jones photography just isn't news lens hood's as one image seems like it had a flare it's a really great question actually, yes, I do use linds hoods I but not on all of my lenses. I have them on the eighty five one four I have them on the seventy two, two hundred I have it on my macro macro twenty four to seventy, eighty five seven, eighty two hundred so I had to think through the progression of the day, so yes macro eighty five twenty four seventy seventy two two hundred yes partly because I'm trying to use it to keep the light out of my linds partly because I'm in insufferable klutz and so the obvious question would be well why don't you then just buy a filter and put a filter on your lands if you're trying to protect your lens why would I buy a filter and put it on top of a twenty five hundred dollar piece of glass I'd rather just put the lens hood on it and protect it and I can't tell you the number of times I've turned a corner like a moron just fling flung around a corner my camera goes who in the lens hood goes I've broken some lens hood's before but I've only broken elin's once because I was a straight up idiot and threw it on the ground yeah I do I do like linds hoods that said even with the lin said sometimes I will open up on allows him flair to come in just for artistic effect and sometimes even when the sun is at exactly the right position in the sky no matter how many linds hoods you have on there you can't keep it out of your lens so part for shade part for saving the lens from me thank you any other questions from the t take a handful or we move on absolutely island a photograph would like to know what do you think about buying the seventy two, two hundred f four for budget reasons and using the eighty five one four for low light situations? This town that's a brilliant idea? Okay that's a brilliant idea why not seventy two, two hundred for why not for me? If I had to choose between the seventy two, two hundred at two eight for one or for oh and eighty five one, four, four, one eight I would put my one and into the one four of the eighty five okay and by exactly what they were considering. And then if it's some point in time, if they find that it is both financially reasonable and their work demands it, then upgrade your seventy two hundred that's a very smart financial decision cool and just follow upon your seventy two hundred is their image stabilization there is absolutely because I'm again and insufferable klutz I just need to be saved for myself repeatedly throughout the day and also another thing to bear in mind when we're talking about lynn's selection is also to talk about being careful about your shutter speed with each corresponding linds. I used to make a lot of really tragic decisions where my shutter speed was too slow with the lens that I was using, so because I am an aperture priority shooter when I'm shooting my eighty five millimeter this also warrants another explanation I'm an aperture priority shooter and I'm an auto eso shooter anybody else thank you I like you everything I say you know it's good um I used auto eso online icons not because I can't set my I s o but because I trust the auto esso and the way that works is idle in and I tell my camera camera the lowest I s so I want you to go to is this the highest I s so I want you to go to is this the second I start dipping under x shutter speed? I want you to move me to the next so so with my eighty five millimeter I'll say listen I'm shooting a getting ready the bride's people are gonna be moving around a lot the second I go under one hundred sixtieth of a second I want you to bump me up to the next so and then I let him do it not because I don't know how to change my eyes so I don't know what I'm doing with s o but because the camera has proven that it can make those decisions for me the second I switch over to manual on anything I have to turn off auto eso because then it has no clue what I'm trying to do so auto esso and corresponding shutter speeds with the eighty five one hundred sixty eighth of a second with the macro it's a sixtieth of a second because the ring's not going to get up and do a dance across the table I know it's going to stay there so I can go slower with my shutter speed even though the lenses longer with twenty four to seventy unless I'm using a flash, I try not to go under one hundred sixty eighth of a second when you're using a flash, all bets are off because your flashes freezing your subject for you, but with the seventy two, two hundred I try especially with the bride and groom dancing people are moving introductions people are coming fast I'm trying to stay in natural light ah four hundredth of a second or fat, sir so that I don't have any camera shake so that I don't have any motion blur now that's a different game the second you papa flash on because your flashes freezing your subject and your shutter speed can be lower, but we're talking natural light. We're talking about that in conjunction with being an aperture priority shoot are hand in hand with being auto eso, which might have just sparked a whole bunch of other questions I'd really like to get all like linds related questions taken care of before we move on to the wonderful thing that everyone is frustrated about as flash and video let's let's have one last question but for we move on, please dio for newbies and for people with low budgets, you were going to take your lenses and put them in the order of when you would have purchased them. If you're just one at a time, what order would you choose, please? Twenty four to seventy, eighty five, seventy, two hundred, macro, thank you in that order. Great, thanks. I know it's tough, you know, and that's that's fine, I mean, and listen, everybody starting from somewhere like a very expensive bag of gear, and it takes a long time to get it there. But I really believe in going slower and investing in the quality of the glass because it will last you longer it's like buying a thirty dollars pair of boots that target it's gonna fall apart after, like two months. And eventually, if you'd bought ten of those, you should have just bought the three hundred dollar boots that would have lasted forever. I can put any analogy and shoes, so