Lenses and Composition

Digital Photography Live Lesson

Lenses and Composition

Naming Lenses

• Let’s break down the final example:
• In its simplest form, it says Canon EF 35mm f/2
• This is the information always included in a lens
• manufacturer (canon), focal length(35mm) and maximum aperture(f/2)
• All extra information is provided at the discretion of the manufacturer

Lenses can have some funky names!

• Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD
• Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX II
• Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

Maximum Aperture

• You already know that aperture refers to the opening that allows light into the camera
• f/2 is a larger aperture setting that allows a lot of light in, and it creates a “shallow depth of field.”
• So, with our example lens, that means that f/2 is the largest the aperture goes
• You could set your aperture to f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5 etc but not f/1.4, f/1

Focal Length

• In our example, the focal length was 35 mm
• This is the measured distance in mm between the aperture in the lens and the sensor in the camera
• Smaller numbers like 24 mm are “wide” angle lenses
• Medium numbers like 50 mm are “normal”
• Larger numbers like 100 mm are “telephoto”
• The higher the focal length, the closer the image is
• Don’t confuse this for zoom, though!
• Some lenses zoom but are not telephoto lenses
• Watch for naming conventions that include an aperture range because that shows the maximum aperture at different focal lengths

Don’t be Lazy about your photography!

• Laziness limits your creativity
• Put in the work to take great photos!
• Zooming vs moving yourself closer and further away changes the perspective of the image
• This changes the proportions of the photo, and can create different depth
• practice this! Find a subject, and take photos at different distances and zooms with the same framing
• First choose your perspective second choose your focal length