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Equipment Selection: Lens Breakdown

So once you're thinking of all of those things that's just about the image making the light the background the composition that's great we're thinking about all of that now when you go to pick up your camera and take these images what camera body or using you using what lindsey are you putting on your camera and wire you putting those lenses on your camera we'll talk about equipment selection and equipment selection is actually incredibly important and it's something that I didn't think about enough when I started my photography business you know when I got started everyone was like oh you know the best lands in the entire world is like the fifty you have to get a fifty fifty and this is the best and I was like okay I'll buy a fifty and so I bought it and I shot with it and I didn't really give any thought to what the look of fifty millimeters does to an image and then someone said oh you need a seventy two two hundred because when you're in a church and you're really far back you need...

to be able to zoom and I was like okay that makes sense I needed to stand on a balcony of a church I didn't think about things like linds compression at you know wide focal links I didn't think about lynn's compression at two hundred millimeters and what that does to your subject in the background and why those things are important and more importantly how those things will change the look of your final photograph and I had sort of ah lightbulb moment in two thousand seven when my husband sort of was making fun of me for the longest limbs that I own to being like a one thirty five and he's like you know try shooting brides at two hundred millimeters see see how flattering it is to the body see what it does to the foreground in the background and it was just like oh my oh my gosh hold on the's focal lengths actually have great impact on what the final photograph looks like and it's it's some things that you think about but some things that are like little moments for you later that oh I can pick a seventy two two hundred and seventy does this and two hundred does this and two hundred and f ate looks like this and so on and so forth so now when I pick up a lens and I put it on my camera it's because I know that that 00:02:02.121 --> 00:02:06. linds will help me make the picture that I want look 00:02:06.68 --> 00:02:09. the way I want it to look from foreground to background 00:02:09.59 --> 00:02:12. to compression on the subject toe f stop that I choose 00:02:13.27 --> 00:02:15. now it's a tool instead of just a narsingh alot of 00:02:15.83 --> 00:02:17. stuff that a bunch of other people told me to buy 00:02:18.77 --> 00:02:21. we're going to talk mostly about the following several 00:02:21.81 --> 00:02:25. lenses I have one hundred five millimeter macro for 00:02:25.12 --> 00:02:28. detail images to preface it all out I am a nikon shooter 00:02:28.89 --> 00:02:30. I've been an icon shooter since two thousand seven 00:02:31.1 --> 00:02:34. because they're awesome I'm mostly shooting these 00:02:34.21 --> 00:02:38. days with the g seven fifty it is it is as good as 00:02:38.65 --> 00:02:42. they say it is my d for us is have now joined the 00:02:42.41 --> 00:02:45. ranks of backup cameras so I'm using the d a ten in 00:02:45.51 --> 00:02:47. the studio and for portrait's an engagement sessions 00:02:48.05 --> 00:02:50. but my primary camera on the wedding day is actually 00:02:50.11 --> 00:02:54. now thirty seven fifty because it's that good so when 00:02:54.09 --> 00:02:56. I'm talking about all of these lenses they are nikon 00:02:56.64 --> 00:02:58. lenses I don't use off brand linds is not because 00:02:58.78 --> 00:03:01. they're not great but because I love my nikon lenses 00:03:01.67 --> 00:03:04. so I have one hundred five millimeter macro for detail 00:03:04.09 --> 00:03:07. images I used to have the sixty it was also awesome 00:03:07.57 --> 00:03:09. but then I had a chance to use the one oh five I liked 00:03:09.89 --> 00:03:12. the longer focal length for details it's a very sharp 00:03:12.84 --> 00:03:16. linz I use it often enough that the additional cost 00:03:16.35 --> 00:03:19. of that lens was very well justified because the results 00:03:19.41 --> 00:03:20. spoke for themselves 00:03:21.7 --> 00:03:24. I have an eighty five one four um and if I'm going 00:03:24.71 --> 00:03:26. to put my eighty five on the camera it is going to 00:03:26.88 --> 00:03:30. be because I want to shoot it at one four I could 00:03:30.16 --> 00:03:32. put a seventy two, two hundred on and shoot in the 00:03:32.4 --> 00:03:34. eighty five millimeter arranged I have a seventy two 00:03:34.51 --> 00:03:36. two hundred and four at a seventy two two hundred 00:03:36.75 --> 00:03:39. to eight but if I'm going to go for that eighty five 00:03:39.41 --> 00:03:42. it's because I'm going to go for the one point four 00:03:43.11 --> 00:03:45. if all your budget will allow is an eighty five one 00:03:45.35 --> 00:03:48. eight that is a wonderful lens but if you have a little 00:03:48.53 --> 00:03:51. extra money to upgrade you will definitely see where 00:03:51.46 --> 00:03:53. your money goes to when you see the difference between 00:03:53.96 --> 00:03:57. one eight and one for especially on this particular 00:03:57.45 --> 00:04:00. linz and we're going to see examples of all of these 00:04:00.09 --> 00:04:03. in a second I also have a twenty four to seventy twenty 00:04:03.94 --> 00:04:07. eight prime and a thirty eight prime for wider angle 00:04:07.72 --> 00:04:10. views are the thirty five prime sorry seven twenty 00:04:10.94 --> 00:04:13. four to seventy twenty eight thirty five there we 00:04:13.05 --> 00:04:17. go my twenty eight is just a tiny little twenty eight 00:04:18.46 --> 00:04:21. two o oh no twenty eight to eight it's a little bumble 00:04:21.71 --> 00:04:24. bee it makes a zippy noise when you focus it um my 00:04:24.61 --> 00:04:28. thirty five I had the one for but I almost never shoot 00:04:28.51 --> 00:04:31. my thirty five at one for so I ended up selling it 00:04:31.9 --> 00:04:34. why have a lens that khun goto one for if you're never 00:04:34.7 --> 00:04:37. going to shoot it there I have my thirty five tuo 00:04:37.29 --> 00:04:41. on I usually shoot it to eight or more so there was 00:04:41.01 --> 00:04:43. no need for something that I could shoot it at one 00:04:43.27 --> 00:04:45. point four if I'm never going to actually shoot it 00:04:45.98 --> 00:04:48. at one point for I bought it I loved it it was sharp 00:04:48.9 --> 00:04:51. it was amazing for someone who needs that it is a 00:04:51.14 --> 00:04:54. killer lynn's it just didn't fit my arsenal and I 00:04:54.97 --> 00:04:56. have too much stuff anyhow so I sold 00:04:58.0 --> 00:05:00. and then my seventy two two hundred for compress backgrounds 00:05:00.71 --> 00:05:02. yes of course when I met churches and I'm stuck in 00:05:02.93 --> 00:05:06. balconies it is awesome it is also my primary go to 00:05:06.02 --> 00:05:08. linz for portrait's of all kind and we're about to 00:05:08.55 --> 00:05:10. talk through every single one of those lenses and 00:05:10.68 --> 00:05:13. what I use them for I have two seventy two two hundreds 00:05:13.88 --> 00:05:16. because I'm weird like that at the seventy two two 00:05:16.33 --> 00:05:20. hundred and four which is so light when you put the 00:05:20.26 --> 00:05:22. seventy two two hundred f or on that d seven fifty 00:05:22.6 --> 00:05:24. it feels like you're playing with a child's camera 00:05:25.14 --> 00:05:29. it is so so light it feels like a toy it is phenomenal 00:05:29.47 --> 00:05:32. when I shoot brides and grooms together when I'm shooting 00:05:32.13 --> 00:05:35. family formals I'm never going to shoot three you 00:05:35.33 --> 00:05:38. know three, five or two eight because I want them 00:05:38.51 --> 00:05:40. all to be in focus I'm going to be shooting at four 00:05:40.63 --> 00:05:43. or higher so why would I love that enormous seventy 00:05:43.53 --> 00:05:46. two two hundred to eight around and it's not because 00:05:46.47 --> 00:05:50. I'm a girl and it's heavy and when well um I can carry 00:05:50.89 --> 00:05:53. it that's not a problem but that seventy two, two 00:05:53.13 --> 00:05:56. hundred f four is so very light that I sometimes find 00:05:56.15 --> 00:05:59. I can hold it at slower shutter speeds because it 00:05:59.72 --> 00:06:02. I'm not kind of boeing under the weight of it and 00:06:02.62 --> 00:06:05. also the seventy two two hundred two eight on that d seven fifty feels like I start needing a mono pod because the lenses so much heavier than the camera body the seventy two hundred four feels really great on that lighter camera you want to talk about what I use for each of these one more note about the seventy two, two hundred part of the reason why I do carry two of them in my bag is because it is such a staple on the wedding day for me I've dropped one before I had a horrible incident where I dropped a d for s and a seventy two two hundred to eight and it made noise is that no camera should ever make when you drop it and when you tried to shoot it sounded like I was like grinding up something it was horrible and then for the rest of the day the longest focal length I could shoot was one of five on my macro and it you know we'll change the look of the images and because it is such an important shooting at two hundred is such a big thing for me now I have two in my bag and it of course now that I have two in my bag I haven't broken one sense as you do yes sir of course about first of all sense a sonic and one of the person we're wondering are you talking about specifically about shooting these on a full frame body or a crop sensor body actually talk a little bit about the bodies you use how that changes your your lens is true I have never shot on crop since her body's not because there's anything wrong with them they're tremendous cameras out there that have crop since our bodies I just I have never used them I know a lot of people who do these they still do use these lenses it does change look just a little bit but everything that I shoot is full frame and especially with the g seven fifty being adam or inexpensive price point it's a great entry into um kind of that full frame realm so and I feel so bizarrely passionate about that camera that I actually wrote a review on my block about the d a ten versus the g seven fifty so if you're looking at those two cameras and you're kind of stuck on your time to figure out which one's better for you if you hit up my educational blawg it's the dynamic range dot com there's a review on there that takes you through why I love each of them but no I've never I mean if you have a crop sensor camera there's no need to go out and upgrade but I probably would still bring this same arsenal of lenses for it yes that's great and speaking of it being an arsenal we have fabby sal marone and your it's a wrangel who both are asking about shooting with an assistant and as we're going in and talking a lot about creativity and working in difficult situations do you always have someone helping you or is this stuff you can do by yourself? Well it's actually interesting that you should say that's a great question I do always have an assistant helping me she's amazing for any of you who have watched the thirty days of wedding photography you got to see a lot of her and she actually I forced her on air for two days which she didn't like but she took one for the team on that one I never go to a wedding without an assistant it's not because I can't do my job without one but it makes my job easier without one and to be clear she's an assistant not a second shooter so she paul she'll shoot a little bit here and there it's mostly holding lights, getting family groupings together things like that taking behind the scenes images with her iphone which you'll see soon but I'm actually coming back to do a class in november here for creative live all of these case studies that you're going to see and I hope you like them I keep alluding to them very heavily all of these things that I did I did with an assistant but they're all things that you could do by yourself and a lot of what I hear is well what if I'm just by myself and what if this and what if that I'm coming back to do the wedding photography survival kit where I'm goingto literally go to terrible locations and make hopefully really good pictures I make something there I hope it's good but I'm gonna do it all without an assistant to show you that if you don't have an assistant you're going to sweat a lot more and hustle a lot more but you can do it it does make it a lot easier for me on an eight ten twelve our wedding day sometimes I have to a weekend a shoot fifty weddings a year not having my assistant there would be very hard I would I would burn out in june instead of up tipper great uh which is a problem but like wedding photographers right now like we're all completely burnt out because it's dead middle of the season yeah, pretty much oh, and then one more. Maybe before we keep going on horse and just this is just kind of toe take it to the opposite direction we have five people want to know what the minimum amount of gear that you need when starting out and tom w was asking do you think you could shoot an entire wedding with a single focal length or is it really important to have this variety could I shouldn't entire wedding with a single focal length of course I wouldn't want to because it's very limiting and I've heard photographer say I could shoot a whole wedding on my fifty and I'm thinking what why would you do that then you would have the same focal length for everything if I were starting out and I could only by two lenses hello by the twenty four to seventy and the seventy two two hundred boom done the next thing I would add for me would be the macro because detail photography is important to me and therefore important to my clients I kind of need a macro after that I would add the eighty five and then I would just start adding when you feel you need things like I got the twenty eight and I got the thirty five because I was shooting receptions and getting incredibly tired and starting the twenty four to seventeen well not heavy gets heavy when you carry it for a very long time and again it's not because I'm like oh I can't carry my cameras it's because they shoot fifty weddings a year and I have to sort of conserve my strength and so I would look at these images and I'm like I'm shooting them all between twenty eight and thirty five millimeters anyhow let me just get a tiny prime that literally I mean the d seven fifty without on it is I'm worried I'm gonna throw it over my shoulder every time I lifted up to my face um the biggest advice that I would have and I in thirty days I talk about this a lot don't buy something that you don't already know you need so go with the twenty four to seventy seventy two two hundred make sure you've got a backup camera picked up a couple external flashes and then don't buy anything else until the need presents itself all of that on dh I'm just one more reminder for everybody I'm seeing some questions about what did she just say or I missed this part if you jump in the chat room the folks in there can help you out with anything you may have missed of course you can purchase that and we watch it see it as much as you need let's go ahead and dive into the light let's do it so when we're talking about why these lenses you know I told you the lenses like carrie why do I need them one hundred five millimeter macro is my detail lens when I used to shoot a lot of kids every once in a while I would use my macro for kids because it would let me get in close on like they're tiny little eyes there's bubbles in their drool but then also back up and shoot it is a portrait lens luckily I don't shoot babies anymore that's a whole other thing but yeah one hundred five millimeter macro it's a very versatile linds of all you've got the sixty that's great if you just want to get an extension to for your camera or you know a little converter whatever you have to do to get there a big thing with me is that I always advocate you don't need the latest and greatest you don't need the biggest and brightest and best if a macro is something that you're going to use for less than a dozen shots on a wedding day one hundred five is great I bought that because I knew that it would be a beast for me I would be able to use it for years you know it would be very durable there are cheaper options there are off brand options you don't have to spend that kind of money on a macro but I use it for rings and rings also rings sometimes more than one way ring at once then some rings and occasionally ask you to bring with it ah a couple of years ago I started kind of jazzing up my ring shots making them or interesting working with interesting background and we're going to talk very heavily about the relationship between your background and your foreground and what are these backgrounds and why am I setting it up like this in a minute but once I started shooting more interesting ring shots and sort of putting them out there in the world then people started asking for them you know, show up on a wedding day and a client will give me her ring and be like I can't wait to see what you're gonna do with my ring and I'm like oh me too I just got here um jewelry really anything like smaller than my fist bracelets those are going to be the sorts of things I'm going to use the macro for maybe at a reception I'll pull it out and shoot tiny details on the table but nine tenths of the time on the wedding day after the bride has gotten ready the macro is back in the bag and I'm not going to need it again because it's for little details I know a lot of people shoot the rings during the reception or later in the day I try to front load my wedding day with that stuff get it done and get on with it twenty four to seventy, twenty eight and thirty five most of the time once I'm shooting, getting ready it's going to be the twenty four to seventy for most of the day that's one of the lenses that I put on my camera to start the day. I always have two cameras on me on our wedding day and I start with the twenty four to seventy on one of them and it usually doesn't come off until the reception and it only comes off at the reception to put on the twenty eight or thirty five sometimes I'll use a twenty eight or thirty five for some other part of the day but it's not sort of a general rule it's more of a one off hey I think I really like the twenty eight for this for no reason other than why not the twenty four to seventy twenty eight thirty five are all sort of in the same family for me and I use them for anything from dress shots two details I will use it for details understanding that the look of a twenty four to seventy eight twenty four is not going to be the same as the look of one hundred five millimeter macro it's just a completely different lens I use it for bride getting ready bright shaking hands with her dog I mean cause that happens all the time ah wide angle views of the ceremony whether it is a small outdoor ceremony or your standard everyday inside ceremony when I am shooting ceremonies usually I'm a tte the front with my seventy two two hundred shooting the processional got the seventy two, two hundred I'm kind of jamming around with that during the ceremony this is one time during the day that my assistant will shoot and she stays in the back with twenty four to seventy catches the bride right before she comes down the aisle and then this is her job but we'll use it for wide angle shots during the ceremony and having her shoot them usually means that I don't have to run back and forth like I don't have to be up in the front and like shooting something kind of nice and close and then go all the way to the back and shoot something why and then everyone turns around and looks at me in that super awkward we try to keep our unobtrusive nous at a very high level I don't often shoot the twenty four to seventy during portrait ce but when I do it's because I want something like this you know we'd finished shooting the bride and the bridesmaids and her mom is helping her walk back to the hotel and a picture of the bride in the mom walking just them with a long lens would have been one story but stepping back and using the twenty four to seventy twenty four including the building is a completely different story so choosing that lens choosing any lens as I've mentioned before is going to help me tell my story but when I do use it for portrait's it will be because I want something like this because I want something very wide I want to show the entire scene my husband and I jokingly call this like little person big scene like the where's waldo picture we have to find the little bride and groom, but sometimes it's a very effective look. It wouldn't look like this at two hundred millimeters. That wouldn't look like that at two hundred millimeters. Neither would that. So when I'm choosing that twenty four to seventy, oftentimes I'm going to be very close to the twenty four side of things, things like that. Or when I want to show an entire scene and everybody in the scene is doing something interesting or as I've mentioned before it is often the linds on my second camera when I'm shooting something like a first dance it will enable me to go back and forth between a seventy two two hundred and a twenty four to seventy for the first dance so I've got a little off camera flash huh usually I cropped this one but if you look to the far left you could actually see my assistant standing there with the flash off camera 00:18:06.903 --> 00:18:09. so there's no mystery where it's coming from but for 00:18:09.63 --> 00:18:12. a very little room like this opening up with a twenty 00:18:12.21 --> 00:18:15. four to seventy twenty eight ah thirty five it's going 00:18:15.53 --> 00:18:18. to allow you to see the room and give you a different 00:18:18.95 --> 00:18:21. relationship with your background remember that image 00:18:21.48 --> 00:18:23. I showed before with the bridegroom dancing and the 00:18:23.08 --> 00:18:24. people were kind of standing in background they were 00:18:24.58 --> 00:18:25. a little blurry 00:18:26.75 --> 00:18:29. that's kind of the flip side of that this is opening 00:18:29.19 --> 00:18:31. up and showing the whole room gives you more of a 00:18:31.72 --> 00:18:33. sense of the size of the room how many people are 00:18:33.64 --> 00:18:36. there more of a scope of the scene 00:18:38.05 --> 00:18:42. eighty five one for I love it so much I just when 00:18:42.5 --> 00:18:45. I was cannon I had the eighty five one eight when 00:18:45.2 --> 00:18:47. I switched a nikon I went ahead and invested in the 00:18:47.2 --> 00:18:51. one for that. Eighty five one four is not the same 00:18:51.45 --> 00:18:54. blurry background as a seventy two, two hundred two 00:18:54.03 --> 00:18:56. hundred it's a very different background relationship 00:18:57.35 --> 00:19:00. so my eighty five one four I will actually use it 00:19:00.01 --> 00:19:03. for details but I'm going to use it at one for so 00:19:03.21 --> 00:19:05. that only a little bit of the detail is in focus and 00:19:05.51 --> 00:19:08. then everything else just melts away into that delicious 00:19:08.96 --> 00:19:11. one for background like so 00:19:12.75 --> 00:19:15. and like this image that we looked at already there's 00:19:15.13 --> 00:19:18. light there's composition there's background choices 00:19:18.04 --> 00:19:21. and subject choices and also lin selection eighty 00:19:21.5 --> 00:19:24. five one for at one for a note about one four if you 00:19:24.81 --> 00:19:27. want to shoot at one for do not focus and recompose 00:19:27.85 --> 00:19:30. you're what you're like yes, you're working with such 00:19:30.23 --> 00:19:32. a narrow depth the field that if you focus and recompose 00:19:32.59 --> 00:19:35. even the little list bit at one for you've knocked 00:19:35.06 --> 00:19:37. her focal point completely where you don't want it 00:19:37.59 --> 00:19:39. to be so you have to make sure that you move your 00:19:39.81 --> 00:19:43. little red focal point on top of her face on top of 00:19:43.78 --> 00:19:47. the eyelash on top of the exact thing that you want 00:19:47.12 --> 00:19:49. in focus for that reason I tend to not use eighty 00:19:49.7 --> 00:19:53. five one four at one four on moving subjects that's 00:19:53.22 --> 00:19:53. just hard 00:19:55.15 --> 00:19:57. I'll use the eighty five one for at one four for details 00:19:58.65 --> 00:20:02. and for getting ready when I want to really just all 00:20:02.63 --> 00:20:04. I liked when I pull up a picture and somebody goes 00:20:04.61 --> 00:20:08. yeah all I wanted in focus where those eyelashes I 00:20:08.96 --> 00:20:12. love her eyelashes such a beautiful girl wonderful person also but the image is about those eyelashes everything else is secondary so this really shows the linds you choose in the setting you said it at tells your story this would be a different story with the twenty four to seventy at seventy and two eight or f or f eleven now if you shot this in f eleven it becomes a story about everything that's around her also a compelling story just a different story I'll shoot it for getting ready getting ready ah lot of times the phone to use it for a getting ready it's because I'm trying to minimize the background that is one of the helpful things that one four does I will use it for portrait ce most specifically this type of fortress which I do a lot bride sitting on the ground very simple window light if you've watched thirty days or if you're considering watching thirty days we do this for a long time on thirty days if I am going to use it for a moment I have to make sure that I have the time in the ability to get that focal point right on the face of the person who's talking and why one for here they're setting up the reception behind them that's not part of the story that's that's something I don't even want to see so the eighty five at one four allows me to focus on this lovely girl in her expression and how wonderful the scene is without being bothered by the background. Uh eighty five one four during ceremonies when it's so dark you can barely see your hand in front of your face candlelight ceremonies nighttime ceremonies uh ceremonies where you can't really set up in additional light sometimes I'll have to shoot a ceremony at s o twelve thousand eight hundred with eighty five one four at one for I make that face I wish you guys could have seen that it's a face full of abject terror um but you know what it's times like that I'm glad I have the cameras with theis oh performance that I have and the lenses that can behave the way they do because it saves me there sometimes if the light is good during a reception the eighty five one four all use for hate this word candids at the reception like if people are sitting around eating dinner and their tables or beautifully candlelit or the bridegroom happened to walk into a spotlight so everyone can take a picture of them eighty five one four is a wonderful choice because it performed so beautifully in low light and now my favorite my beloved seventy two two hundred you know my husband and I sometimes get asked like if you could bring one lends to a desert island I would think god if I were stranded on a desert island I sure hope I don't have to shoot a wedding on dh second of all, I couldn't pick just one like that's crazy you can't shoot a whole day with a seventy two, two hundred that would be really hard but that said this lens does have a very special soft place in my heart and I use it all day long I'll use it for detail shots sometimes and not rings but if I want something and really I want to set it off set it off from the background so for people who may be more I don't want to see a beginner but having those questions if I wanted to shoot this with the eighty five one four at one for you would have a sliver of the bouquet and focus and yes your background with the out of focus but if I shoot it with the seventy two, two hundred and f or your whole bouquet will be in focus your background will also be out of focus because of that compression at two hundred millimeters I use it during ceremonies both the to eight and the f four depending on how dark the room is seventy two two hundred f or almost always for family formals because I like to shoot my family formals I love those people a cz close to two hundred millimeters as possible often times to help separate them from difficult backgrounds for portrait and portrait ce and portrait um for anyone who's from philly the image on the right is philadelphia city hall. Every bride who has ever even really considered getting married in philadelphia, wants a picture with city hall, and instead of standing right in front of city hall with a twenty four to seventy as people dio, I like to get really far from it and shoot with a long lens. It separates the work that I do from what other photographers do, and I think it makes the background both more compelling unless distracting portraitists more portrait ce seventy two, two hundred and two hundred for reception rooms. Because of what two hundred millimeters does to your subjects relationship to your background, it makes your background appear closer than it really is. So when you have a reception room where everything is very sprawled out, if you shoot it at two hundred millimeters, the sort of illusion there is that the tables are closer together, makes the room film were intimate. I will use it for table settings. Fun backgrounds were goingto one of the things that we're going to talk about is how to make a absolutely awful reception room with plastic flowers look excellent and it's, part of the magic of the seventy two, two hundred first dances toasts I love toasts, speeches by either the mother of the bride or the bride and groom themselves.