Thursday 30 April 2009

Telephoto For Portraits

I used my telephoto lens to go to the zoo last weekend and you have seen some of the results. It makes sense to use a telephoto lens for the wild animals that are at some distance from the public but it doesn't make much sense if you want to take pictures of fish in an aquarium or small reptiles. The subjects are too close to you and a normal lens will do. Some photographers change the lens frequently. I don't like changing lenses because it gives dirt the chance to get into the camera. I prefer to take two cameras with me and I did take two on Sunday. I may show you some photos from the other camera in the near future.

What I wanted to say today is that portraits are better with a longer lens. You have to be stood further away to get the whole subject in the frame, so a bigger studio is better than a smaller one. Why should this be the case? Well I am not adding an image this time so I am not going to insult anybody, but let's say someone has a big nose. If you take a photo close to the nose then you exagerate its size. Think of converging verticals and the nose is much closer to the lens than the rest of the face. It is only a slight change of perspective but a subtle change may improve your portrait.

Happy snapping

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