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Lesson Info

Subject Zone

So in the last section, we were talking about the angle of view and the focal length for different types of subjects. And there's one more area that I would like to investigate and look at a little bit more closely and it has to do with action or sports photography. And it's a concept that I call the subject zone. And this is something that's really important for anyone who is shooting with telephoto lenses and particularly shooting sports and action type photography. The subject zone is the area your subject needs to be within to be photographed. And if you were to ask a sports photographer why do they choose a certain lens, and it's usually because it's the lens they have to use because they're required to be a certain distance away, but it's also often the lens that they want to use. And the general concept that I want to convey here is that big lenses have big subject areas. All right? So let's investigate how this works. All right, so let's just imagine the runway. Maybe this is l...

ane one of the track as we're photographing a runner coming down to the finish line. All right, so we want to shoot pictures of this runner coming towards us. And this is an unusual situation, because we don't have any boundaries. We can be as close to the subject as we want. Where should we photograph the subject, and what type of lens should we use? So let's think about the same situation looking straight down from above. And we'll have the distances marked out in meters. 10, 20, 30, 40 meters away. Where should we photograph this subject, and with what lens will this look the best? All right. So, I'm gonna bring up some different options of lenses we could use. So 24, 50, 100, 200, and so forth. And if we were to look through the viewfinder, our subject is gonna come running towards us. And we want to get a collection of photos. We want to get a lot of photos because the expressions and the gestures, the motion change, we want to get as many good photographs as possible. Now we're dealing with a vertical subject, so we should probably shoot this in a vertical format. Now, at what point when the subject is in the distance should we start shooting? My general thinking is when the subject is about half the size of the frame. If they are smaller than half the size, they are probably so small we're gonna have to enlarge the picture and it's gonna become very grainy because we're just enlarging too much. And so at a certain point, as they come from an infinity distance behind us, you're kinda looking, when are they half the size of the frame? And that's generally a pretty good point to shoot. You could start before it, or you could start after. But this is what I would call the back of the zone. This is when you start shooting. And as they approach you, you shoot the photos as quickly as your camera can. And since in this example, we are trying to get a full frame figure, they reach the front of the zone. And so we have the back of the zone and the front of the zone. And that it what I call the subject zone. That's where the subject needs to be if you want to get a photograph. If they're back further, they're too small, and you have to make an enlargement. If they're closer, they're cropped and you don't get the full frame. So, with a 24-millimeter lens, it has a very wide-angle point of view. And so when you shoot your first photo... Let's bring up all of them here. When you shoot your first photo, your subject's not that far away. And your closest photo is when they are really near the frame, because it is such a wide-angle lens. As we use a more telephoto lens, in this case a short telephoto 100, the closest shot, a little bit further distance, but the back of that zone moves notably back because that cone is much narrower. Let's take this out all the way to a 400-millimeter lens. Your subject is going to be much further away at the front of the zone, and the back of the zone is much, much further away. So this subject zone is gonna be much larger with this 400-millimeter lens. So let's go back to our runway here. With a 24-millimeter lens, where that subject needs to be is from 1.25 meters to 2.5 meters. Very close, right in front. So you can shoot a picture of let's just say, the New York City Marathon finish. You're standing at the finish line, and you get them one step before they come across the finish line. But you don't have much time to shoot because they're only gonna be in that zone for just 1.25 meters. Now, you may have noticed we have doubled the zone because we have doubled the focal length. And as we double the focal length to 100, the zone doubles once again. And this really starts to add up. And so 200, now we have 10 meters in which to get our shot. And so we can get a shot of this runner coming down to the finish line in many different areas with many different lenses. We can choose any lens we want. But there's gonna be a big advantage when we have more time in which to get this shot with a larger telephoto lens. And so, I have a bit of running history, and so that's why I'm talking about runners here. Now a good runner will be running at about 25 kilometers per hour. And we can run a little bit of math through this. That means they're covering one meter every 0.144 second. And that means I can figure out how long they are gonna be in that particular zone in order to get the shot. So if you've decided to stand at the finish line and use a 24-millimeter lens, they are only gonna be in that time zone for less than 2/10 of a second. You have barely any time at all in which to press the shutter. Now a good sports camera will be able to fire upwards of 10 frames per second. We can now figure out how many frames can I shoot while the subject is in that zone? And so with a 24-millimeter lens, you're gonna get one shot at making that picture happen. With a 400-millimeter lens, you're gonna get 28 shots of that subject in that zone. And if you wanna get just the right form and the right facial expression and the hands in the right place you want as many opportunities as possible. So even though you have the opportunity to use any lens possible, I would probably be using a telephoto lens in this case because it gives me the most opportunity to get the widest variety of images. And so when I shoot runners, I'm gonna shoot with a 300 or 400-millimeter lens so as I shoot the first shot, I could have a whole series of shots. And they're not changing in size in the frame. And this is part of that compression effect of a telephoto lens. And I can shoot a dozen shots and then I can pick out which one I think is the best. And so I can find a good spot on the course and shoot a whole series of shots and pick out the ones that have the best form and the best facial expressions and even though I talked about the front of the zone being where they fill the frame I will continue to shoot as they get closer and closer. And so the subject zone formula: the zone between the point where the subject is the same size as the frame and where the subject is half size. So you want to start shooting when the subject fills about half the frame and think about where are they gonna be when they absolutely fill the frame. You can actually think about this as you're out on the field with whatever it is that you might be focusing out there. And so this is the area that your subject needs to be within. And big lenses have big subject areas. And so in those areas where you can shoot with any lens you want, you're gonna get more opportunities with the telephoto lens. Now it doesn't mean you should always use a telephoto lens. Sometimes that wide-angle lens gets you the look that you want. But if you're concentrating on your subject, big lenses have big subject areas. All right, so just kind of closing out this whole section on focal length. If you were to ask a well-honed professional, why did you choose that lens? For any particular shot, you go to a talk and you hear a photographer. You're like, why did you use that lens? They're probably gonna say it was the right lens for the subject. And they're talking about probably the angle of view, either the depth of field or the light-gathering ability. It might be that it was the only lens that would possibly work. They were just in a tight situation and that's the only lens in which to get the shot. But I bet you if you ask this question of a good photographer, they're not gonna say "I was too lazy to move." (audience laughs) And that's why some people like to buy certain lenses. Well, I'll get a zoom lens, cuz I don't like to move around a lot. All right, so I was able to go into my Lightroom catalog and look at all the lenses that I use and figure out, how often do I use the different focal lengths? And I told you that I really like the 24-millimeter focal length, so you can see I use that 19% of the time. I know some people are big fans of the 35. I don't use it quite as much. Been using the 50 a lot lately, so that number has gotten a little bit bigger. And I don't own an 800, but I can take a 400 and put a doubler on it, but I just don't end up doing that type of photography. A bird photographer would have a really big peak over here in the 400 to 800 millimeter range. So everyone's numbers are gonna be a little bit different. But I know by looking at this that if I grab my 16 to 35, and my 70 to 200, just two fairly basic lenses, I'm gonna be pretty well covered for most things that I would want to do out in the field. And so when most people are asking, well, what lenses do I need, well, you probably need a little wide angle and you need a little bit of telephoto. And then it's gonna depend on exactly what you like to shoot is where you go from there. And so, in this class, I've been talking about the 16, the 24, 35, and these very specific numbers. And I simply have chosen these numbers because they are fairly popular numbers and they're separated a little bit. But there are plenty of other focal lengths that are either wider or in between these, and there's nothing wrong with them. It doesn't really matter what the number is. It's what you get with that lens. And so 135 is a nice number, but I didn't talk about it, and it's just slightly in between the others. And so I just wanted to kinda simplify things in this class down to a few simple numbers here. And so there's lots of great focal lengths out there. Experiment, play around, and have some fun with them. So, what are my favorite focal lengths? It depends on what I'm doing. For architecture or real estate type photography, you're gonna need a wide-angle probably, and it's likely that you're not gonna need much more than 85. For landscape and nature, that 14 to 200 millimeters is probably a very good range. This is where most of the stuff is. Travel, event photography, street photography, candid, wedding work, that's the 24 to 200. And so when I say these are my favorite focal lengths, does this mean you shouldn't use a 20-millimeter lens? Not at all! If you have a 24 to 200 millimeter range, and you're about to go do that type of photography, chances are that most of your bases are gonna be covered with what you need to do. And if you want to try to get something unusual, you absolutely pull out one of the lenses that I don't recommend and you use it in there because then it's gonna really mix things up. Which is kinda nice to do. If you're working in a studio, or a portrait area, probably not gonna need much other than a 50 to 200 range. Sports photography, 85 to 600. Doesn't mean I don't love a fisheye sports shot. I know in the Olympics, there's always a bunch of photographers that stick a fisheye lens right by the Steeplechase so as the runners are jumping over the water jump there's a really cool fisheye shot. And so I have no problem with that at all. And if you want to get into wildlife work, you're gonna need at least a 200-millimeter lens, all the way up to 800 depending on the size of your subject and how close you can get to it. And so if you have those focal lengths for that particular genre, you're in a pretty good spot. Couple more recommendations. This is from Jeffrey van Egam. Any recommendations for underwater photography in terms of field of view? You're talking to a photographer that has only shot about six photos underwater. (laughs) There is an unusual effect with water where it forces everything to become more magnified. It's kind of like the crop factor. You take a normal lens down and it becomes a telephoto lens. And so you need wide-angle lenses. And so typically the wider angle, the better. And it depends on the clarity of the water. And it depends on the lighting gear as well. Because some water is much clearer. Like here in the Northwest, the water is not quite as clear as it is in other parts of the world and so photographers have to get very close to their subjects which means they need typically wider angle lenses. So it depends on where you're going to be diving and the exact nature of it. But something in that general 16 to would be a perfect zoom lens underwater. You might even need something even wider. Because I know fisheye lenses can be very popular underwater. And what a perfect place to use a fisheye lens. I love that you have an answer, John. And how to think through it, even if you've only shot six underwater photos. That's awesome. Okay, speaking of fisheyes, how good are the fisheye extenders in comparison with a fisheye lens? Say I have three to five real estate jobs a year. Can you recommend a good choice? Okay, I'm thrown off a little bit on the question, because they say a fisheye extender. And that, I don't know what that is. I'm guessing it's a fisheye add-on lens, which is kind of like the add-on lenses that we talked about earlier. It's not as wide as the fisheye, if this is what they're talking about. It's not as wide as a true fisheye. And it's definitely not gonna be as sharp and probably prone to a lot of flare issues. And so it's a cheap way of doing it. It would be more of a fun gimmicky lens. I don't know how well it will work for a business aspect. All right, thanks for that. And from a nature lover, what are your thoughts on using extenders in general? Okay, so extenders are what I would consider gadgets, and that's gonna fall into our gadget section. And they are something that I own, and that I use from time to time and place to place. And so they are a valuable tool. I'll talk more about them with visual examples, of course. Of course you will. (laughs) Okay, let's see. Another one, are all short telephoto lenses considered macro lenses? If not, what makes a lens a macro lens? Okay, so no. Not all short telephoto lenses are considered macro lenses. Macro lenses are special lenses that have a little different design to them. I think I got one right here. And so let me take off the hood on this. And so this is a hundred-millimeter macro lens. And if you were to compare this against a standard macro lens, or a standard hundred-millimeter lens, the standard hundred-millimeter lens would be much shorter. And these lenses in here have to travel. I don't know, this one doesn't extend out, so it doesn't do as well to show you, but the lenses inside need to move away from the film plane, which would be back here. And so they tend to be a little bit bigger lenses. But the macro lenses that you'll be finding will range anywhere from a normal focal length up to a medium telephoto. So there is a whole section on macro lenses as well. So we'll be talking specifically about them and the advantages of using 100 over a and 200 over 100 millimeter lens. And so there is a little bit of a difference there. All right, fantastic. We look forward to that. And this question I think is actually gonna lead us into our next section. Jeffrey van Egam says which is better quality-wise? A single focal length, or a zoom lens? So if you know the exact focal length that you need, the fixed focal length lens will be sharper than the zoom. However, they might be equal, depending on what aperture you have them set at. And so once you... As we get more into this, as we stop our lenses down, we're gonna notice less of a difference. But in general, the fixed lenses are sharper because they are simpler to make. If you can imagine being a lens designer, and you're given the job of making this lens that does this one angle and view, and this one thing, and then another designer is given the job of making a lens that goes back and forth, and is just as sharp. It's just hard to do. And the funny thing is, is that I have heard the exact same phrase for the last 30 years in photography. And that is, well, zoom lenses are almost as sharp as fixed lenses these days. And they've been saying that the entire time. And so it's just a fact of the matter that fixed lenses are always sharper than zooms. The question is, is there any problem with the quality of your needs and what you have? And the fact of the matter is, is that most zooms are more than good enough for every publication and every professional use out there, but if you wanna be a pixel peeper, get right up there, aw, this one's sharper! You're gonna get that, you're gonna find that in fixed lenses.