Month: January 2009

The Psychology of the Telephoto Lens

by Stanley LearyDepth-of-Field / telephoto / telephoto lens
 
Nikon D3S, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/125, & 300mm using an Alienbees 1600 Flash for fill flash.

“What I need is a telephoto lens.” We’ve all said this. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to discover we can’t get close enough to our subjects with a “normal” lens.

If you have kids in sports or the performing arts or your interest is photographing birds or wild animals, rules or common sense keep our subjects just too far away for interesting photos without a long lens.

Professional photographers reach for their telephoto lenses for the same reason – to fill the frame with the subject.

A professional photographer may use longer lenses to tie a subject to its soundings. In an earlier blog post (here), I talked about using wide-angle lenses to show a person in their environment. You can accomplish this by using remote control cameras before an event. For example, it would be safer to use a remote camera to take pictures of a lion feeding on the carcass up close.

Depth-of-field

One of the photographer’s most creative tools is controlling the depth of field. Depth-of-field is the area in focus in front of and behind the focus. Telephoto lenses have shallow depth-of-field as compared to wide-angle lenses. With either lens, the smaller the f-stop (f/16 vs. f/8), the deeper the depth of field. But, of course, the reverse is true. With either type of lens, the depth-of-field is shallower the more open the f-number (f/4 vs. f/5.6).

Nikon D3S, ISO 200, f/1.4, 1/1600, & 85mm using a Nikon SB900 off camera triggered by Nikon SU800 for fill flash.
Here is a crop of the above photograph. You can see the tip of the nose, and the eyes are out of focus just behind. The small area of focus is a shallow depth of field.

By controlling (limiting) the depth of field, you can force the viewer’s attention to only what you want them to see. For example, take a picture of a football receiver catching the ball. If everything were sharp (large depth-of-field), it would be difficult to distinguish the main subject from everything. However, if you were to make the  picture using a telephoto lens with a shallow depth-of-field, the player and the ball would “pop.” The “pop” is because you would have isolated the player and the ball from the rest of the picture, thus calling attention to what you want the viewer to see.

Portrait photographers use medium telephoto lenses to call attention to the face and not the background in indoor and outdoor portraits.

When you increase the depth-of-field with a telephoto lens, more focus from the front to the back of the photo will make things appear close together from the foreground to the background. The wide-angle lens makes things appear farther apart. Objects in a photograph made with a telephoto lens make those objects appear closer together than in “real life.” The longer (more powerful) the lens, the closer together they will appear and closer to you. It’s a powerful tool. You can use it to make all kinds of statements.

Sports

Nikon D2X, ISO 200, f/4, 1/1000, & 840mm

A sports photographer may use this technique to show a baseball pitcher in his windup; the scoreboard in the background shows a total count and the bottom of the 9th; You can see, again from the scoreboard brought up close behind the pitcher, that it is a no-hitter. Now that’s storytelling and powerful photography because of the creative use of telephoto lenses and selective focus.

If the photographer had used a shallow depth-of-field, you couldn’t read the scoreboard or use a wide-angle lens; the scoreboard would have been too far away to read.

Nikon D2X, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/2500, & 840mm

In portrait photography, a medium telephoto lens shows faces in a normal perspective compared to a wide-angle lens’s distortion. A moderate telephoto lens of, say, 80mm to 100mm lens on a 35mm camera will put you about five to seven feet from the subject for a head and shoulder photograph.

Wildlife

When photographing wildlife, the rule is to use a minimum 300 mm lens to fill the frame. You don’t want to be five to seven feet from nature. Wildlife photographers use 400mm, 500mm, 600mm, or even as long 800mm lenses.

When you shop for a telephoto lens, you’ll find many choices for the same focal length lens. Nikon makes lenses that cost a few hundred dollars to up to $25,000. The ƒ-stop (aperture) is a significant factor in the cost. The lower the number (faster the lens), the more expensive and heavier the lens. 

Fast Lens

There are two advantages to faster lenses. First, faster lenses, like ƒ/2.8, allow taking photos in less light. A faster lens is essential for the wildlife photographer in the woods at dawn or dusk when the animals are out. 

Nikon D2X, ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/1000, & 400mm

The second advantage of the faster lenses – they allow for a more shallow depth of field.

It is possible to rent these longer, faster lenses from some rental houses in major cities instead of buying them.

Before mounting a lens on your camera, ask yourself, “What do I want to say with this picture? What effect will help me to communicate this message to my audience?

What lens will it be?

When you reach for a telephoto lens, it may be for more than to make the subject appear closer. Just as wide-angle lenses not only include more stuff, any lens is a tool you can use to make your point.

The Psychology of the Wide-Angle Lens

by Stanley LearyWide Angle Lens

Some folks choose a telephoto lens to see how close a subject can appear – a bear, for instance. But, unfortunately, these same people doubtlessly chose a wide-angle lens to get-it-all in the picture, usually a landscape picture.

If these people studied the work of professional photographers, they would probably be surprised to find that the pros do just the opposite. A professional photographer picks the lens (tool) to use based on what that tool will allow him to do. It is the same for a skilled carpenter; he likes a tool to carry out a specific task.

Get Closer 

Robert Capa, a famous war photographer, once said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Mr. Capa wasn’t advocating using longer lenses; he was telling us to get closer physically, to become more involved and intimate with our subjects.

A telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens help us tell the same story differently. The choice of lens is like a writer choosing which words to use. It depends on what needs to be said.

A telephoto lens brings subjects closer to the viewer and makes objects in the photograph appear closer together than in reality. A wide-angle lens does the opposite. As a result, things appear further apart than in fact.

Keeping the rendition of extraordinary reality in mind, consider perhaps the most creative or powerful use of a wide-angle lens; when you are incredibly close to someone with a wide-angle lens, you include many of the surroundings. The viewer sees not only the issue but their environment as well.

Move closer with your feet.

Using our feet and not just our zoom lenses to approach a subject, we can make “environmental” portraits. We can now show what they look like, where they are, and what they do. It is now easy for our viewers to relate to our subjects. The photo carries a great deal of information.

I love to show where someone works and what they do for a living. By getting close, the subject is predominate and not a little speck in the middle of a photo.

I can have the person pause whatever they are doing and casually look at the camera, and if I time it just right, I can show them at ease with a pleasant expression. The photo becomes personal to the viewer by being close because I became personal with the subject. You can’t communicate what you do not experience with the camera.

Why is a photo usually better when you are closer to the subject? The wider the lens, the more you get this feeling of being there.

Problems to avoid

There are a couple of problems to be aware of in working with wide angles this close to a subject.

1) It is difficult to use a wide-angle lens in tight without distortion of people and the surroundings: the wider the lens, the more pronounced this problem. A wide lens, like 28 mm, is much easier to use than an extremely wide angle, like 20 mm or wider. Of course, the wider lenses seem to help with creativity.

We’ve all seen shots where the walls look like they are falling forward or backward, or the clock on the wall and the place on the table are ovals instead of circles. This type of distortion, converging lines, can be used for good, but rarely; the general rule is to avoid these distortions. Practice helps.

Keep the subject out of the corners of the picture to avoid bending their head or body out of shape. Keep them out of the center as well since this creates a negative tension (but maybe that’s what you want). Using the super wide-angle lenses is an actual balancing act. In creative work, nothing is cut and dried, and that’s why two photographers can cover the same story, and their pictures will be nothing alike.

2) Another problem, if these weren’t enough, with up close and personal wide-angle shots has nothing to do with technical evils. Working this close to someone can make you uncomfortable. This feeling will transfer to the up close person causing another problem.

Remember some tricks to keep you comfortable during close to avoid this “in your face” quandary.

Tips on getting people to relax

First, tell them what you will do and get their permission before you move in for the shot. A funny thing happens when you do this—they usually get a little excited, are cooperative, and feel like they are a part of the photograph-making rather than just the subject.

Second, they understand that you (and your client) consider them valuable and think enough of them that you want their picture. Therefore, you want to include them in the project.

Third, most people (regardless of what they say) are flattered when you ask them to be in a photo. However, they need help to make it enjoyable.

Using a telephoto lens, you can make a great head and shoulders portrait with good perspective, but it can be too selective to narrow a view to telling a story about a person. But it is possible, and it depends on what you want to say and the circumstances of the shoot.

Working close to people with wide-angle lenses tells their stories intimately and personally.

Watch the distortion, the composition, the projecting of uncomfortable feeling to your subject as a result of working so close, use the background to help tell the story, keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, tote that barrel, lift that bail, load sixteen tons and if all these freaks you out—call me. I get freaked out when the pipes are clogged or the water heater leaks. That’s why I call a plumber.