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SLR Lounge Live Q and A and Image Critique

Lesson 7 of 29

How Do You Choose The Right Lens?

SLR Lounge Live Q and A and Image Critique

Lesson 7 of 29

How Do You Choose The Right Lens?

Lesson Info

How Do You Choose The Right Lens?

Let's talk about the nifty 50. And how How is it that you go about choosing a lens? For starters, like you walk in a scene, how do you choose what lends to use and then to maybe briefly comment on the different quality of lenses based on their aperture and up steps? Okay, So picking a lens to uses is kind of really about what you want, Teoh. What? You want to show off in an image And we always say this like the number one thing that when you pick up a camera that with one thing that everyone of us does we pick up a camera is you bring it up to your viewfinder without even thinking what you are trying to do, right? So I want to kind of say, That's step number one. So I'm gonna put up here step number one, and we're gonna talk about this later on. Okay, So several one is just to think about what your story or purposes before even pit touching the camera all. What are you trying to do with the image that you're creating now? Generally, if you're shooting a family portrait session, it's no...

t like you can constantly be stopping to, you know. Hold on, guys. Let me put the camera down and think of the purpose. Actually, you probably could do that with a family with a wedding. Not so much. So you're just gonna think about it as you're going along and shooting, right? But the big thing is, is what are you trying to achieve? Because if I'm trying to achieve, like, let's say just a portrait versus a I'm gonna say full length versus environmental. Now I'm gonna draw again. So and we'll go over here will be headshot. OK, so So I tried to draw face. Sure. Not bad. Not bad. All right. That wasn't I don't really draw like that. Okay, Okay. So let's say this is a This is a headshot, right? That's our field of view for a typical headshot. We crop a little. Maybe the hair. Maybe you show the hair. Either way, it's up to you. But you kind of crop in and you should head like that. That gigantic, awful thing over their biggest head shot in the world. I need to change that. Um, OK, so let's say that this is a will say, like a 3/4 portrait. So I mean, we're cropping like this. Whatever it is, You know what I mean? I'm gonna actually cropping in his hip. I know. That's something that's that's wrong. Okay, We're not actually cropping at the hip. Don't do that. But it's a little whiter. And then we'll say full length And then let's say environmental. So doesn't this really dictate your lens choice versus anything else? Like what you're trying to achieve with the shot. So with a headshot, and any time you're getting close on your subject, any time, go at least so 85 millimeter plus so you can go up to 100. You go to 200 you go whatever link that you want. But don't go below that, because what ends up happening is if you get on a 50 you go close up on a subject, it's gonna distort their features. So the further you can stand back, and then the more zoom you can put on two year lens, the better they're gonna look. You're not gonna make them look like they have a gigantic nose and so forth. But a 3/4 portrait we could do this on, say, 50. I mean, you could still do this on in 85 but you can get a little bit wider if you're shooting back a little more. Maybe you're cropping at the time. Maybe you're cropping a little bit up higher. You can generally do that with a 50. If I was gonna go bust and up, I'm gonna go to an 85. But if I go down to like the shins or the legs, you could do that on the 35. Leave some room in the frame are sorry. 50. Leave some room in the frame. Their full length. I would say between like 35 to and environmental. This is like anywhere between to 24 or maybe 17 like 35. These air just rough numbers. So don't take this is like concrete. But this is just thinking about what is the purpose. And how are those focal length kind of fit in there now, when I when really any book any. When anybody talks about what focal links you should be using on your lenses. What sensor format do you think they're talking about? Full frame, right? So just remember that if you're on a crop frame, if it's a 1.6 crop, your is actually more like a 50 something well, to say 50. Okay, if it's a two time crop, your 35 equals 70. So that's the issue. Is that? And that's why when you want to see when you want to get a crop frame lens that's designed to be a wide field of view. If you were to think about it in full like, let's say, the 12 millimeter lens going onto a two time crop camera, it's to see 12 millimeters. They have to design it for, like, six millimeter like that. That kind of you know me because it's going to be two times that. So when you put it onto a full length or a full full frame body, that's why you can see all the edges of it, because they're designed to be truly why? Because that sensor is cropping it cool. Did I get the question? Did a lot of talking. Actually, there's like a shotgun blast. Hopefully, parts of it hit the target. No, I really love how you explain that and also that reiteration. And I think one of the hardest things is to totally understand how the focal length changes depending on crop Frank versus full friends. So thank you for bringing that in.

Class Description

Pye Jirsa and CreativeLive held an open Q&A based on the lessons taught in Photography 101, Lighting 101, and Lighting 201 classes.

This course includes questions based around the fundamentals of using your digital camera, camera flashes, and the intricacies of posing. Pye demonstrated with live models and gear to make this a free course that truly benefits your catalog!

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a Creativelive Student

Pye is an awesome instructor! He explains everything in a way that you understand it. He is a wealth of information. Love all of his classes!! I love Creativelive and SLR Lounge! Continue doing the great work that you do!!

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Pye is an amazing teacher! I've learned so much from him over the years - both in person and through his tutorials. What's even more amazing is that he is able to do it LIVE! He is able to clearly explain complicated concepts through easy to understand lessons. I highly recommend his courses to learn everything from the basics to advanced topics!

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Wow! Pye is an awesome instructor! I've learned SO many things - nuggets of gold!