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16 Articles

I particularly like that the word “lens” can be used both in a literal way to describe an object through which light passes to be observed or recorded—“I shot that with a wide-angle lens”—and in a figurative way to refer to the way that we view the world and our memories—“I thought about my childhood through the lens of old age.” Everything we see as humans passes through multiple lenses; all of our experiences are shaped by a multitude of literal and figurative lenses that absorb, diffract, focus and shape our sense of the world. Photography is in many ways the act of placing another lens in the stream, to redirect some of that experience and save it in a way that then can retransmit that experience to others. The choices in…

PICKING THE PERFECT LENS FOR PORTRAITS

WHAT MAKES A LENS GOOD FOR PORTRAITURE? Several factors come together to make a portrait lens. First and foremost is the focal length. Most photographers will tell you they want a longer-than-normal lens for portrait photography—a short to medium telephoto. On a full-frame DSLR, that translates to lenses with focal lengths typically between 70mm and 200mm. Popular portrait lens focal lengths are 85mm, 100mm, 105mm and 135mm. Of course, as long as there have been photographs, photographers have made great portraits with shorter and longer lenses as well. But it’s this focal range into which most portrait lenses fall. The good news is, this type of lens—a short to medium telephoto—is a great place to get a lot of bang for your buck. Many manufacturers’ portrait lenses are some of the sharpest in…

PICKING THE PERFECT LENS FOR PORTRAITS

PRIME LENSES FUJIFILM FUJINON XF90MMF2 R LM WR Equivalent to 137mm in the 35mm film format, the XF90mm lens for Fujifilm’s X-mount series of APS-C mirrorless cameras is a great portrait lens.The WR abbreviation indicates the lens is weather-resistant, perfect for serious shooters who work in all sorts of challenging conditions without fear of sand, dirt or moisture infiltrating the lens and camera body. Comprising 11 elements in eight groups (including three ED elements), the XF90mm provides even illumination from edge to edge and minimizes vignetting. It also delivers beautiful bokeh because of its circular seven-blade aperture.The quad linear motor provides fast autofocus as well. Compact and light, this sharp ƒ/2 lens is perfect for portraits. Price: $949. Website: fujifilmusa.com LENSBABY VELVET 56 Available in practically every lens mount imaginable, the Lensbaby Velvet 56 is…

LENSES FOR LANDSCAPES

What mental images come to mind when you think about “landscape photography”? In my mind, those words evoke imagery of rocky expanses, verdant forests and giant waterfalls. But the more I spend time thinking about it, the imagery becomes more granular. I continue picturing the trunk of a cactus and its spines being backlit by the setting sun. I think about the mesmerizing patterns formed along the undulating walls of sandstone slot canyons. And how can I forget that one moss-covered rock sitting perfectly still as a never-ending rush of water rages all around it. I mention all of this to underscore a point that partaking in landscape photography can mean many different things to many different people. However, what unifies us all is that we strive to share a piece…

LENSES FOR LANDSCAPES

Whether you prefer prime or zoom lenses, use an SLR or mirrorless camera, or have a full-frame or cropped sensor, there has never been a better time to be a photographer.There are so many lens options for you to choose from, at a wide array of prices, and for virtually every camera manufacturer. I’m a Sony mirrorless camera shooter as well as a Zeiss Global Lens Ambassador, so it’s safe to say that I prefer Zeiss prime lenses, but I also have some choice zoom lenses that I’d like to recommend below.As always, remember that you can first rent just about every lens out there before deciding to buy. I find this to be a very cost-effective way to determine how to smartly invest in your lens arsenal. MID-FOCAL-LENGTH LENSES If I…

LENSES FOR TRAVEL

In any travel photo essay, images from a number of photographic genres will be called for to tell the full story from a given destination. Travel categories range from portrait, wildlife and landscape, to food, architecture and interior photography. In fact, I don’t think there’s another type of photography that does, for a lack of a better expression, require the wearing of so many “hats.” This isn’t a bad thing; it opens us up to opportunities that photographers working in other genres might never get to experience. A lot of travel photographers seek the holy grail of lenses—something that’s light enough to take anywhere but versatile enough to capture whatever magical moment comes along. There’s a lot of debate over the “perfect” focal lengths for travel, but if I could have…

LENSES FOR TRAVEL

OLYMPUS M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 7-14MM F/2.8 PRO The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm F2.8 PRO lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras has a 35mm 14-28mm full-frame equivalent, the perfect focal lengths for those who find themselves in tight architectural and geological spaces or want to capture great expanses.The lightweight splash- and dustproof lens can focus to just under three inches for extreme closeups and has a constant ƒ/2.8 aperture, making it a valuable tool in low-light, non-tripod situations. Price: $1,299. Website: getolympus.com TAMRON SP 15-30MM F/2.8 VC USD Tamron’s ultra-wide-angle ƒ/2.8 zoom lens for Nikon, Canon and Sony full-frame cameras offers image stabilization (except for the Sony model, which has that feature in its body) and excellent corner-to-corner image quality. As one of Tamron’s SP (Super Performance)-series lenses, its XGM (eXpanded Glass Molded Aspherical)…

CAPTURE THE ACTION

The sports photographer can be easily identified by the contents of their camera bag. Peek inside, and you’ll find a collection of superlong lenses, monopods and lots of storage cards. You’d expect to find supertelephoto lenses in the bag of a Sport Illustrated shooter, but look closer and you’ll notice a whole unexpected collection of glass, too. Super-wide-angle lenses, fisheyes and portrait lenses are part of a sport shooter’s kit, and for good reason. There was a time when a sports photographer could be a specialist, spending their career courtside at NCAA basketball games or positioned in the end zone at a local stadium. But sports photography has evolved through technological adaptation ever more rapidly than the sports themselves have. Technologies like instant replay and virtual first down lines have changed…

CAPTURE THE ACTION

Sports photographers probably have a greater need for a variety of lenses than do most portrait or landscape shooters, and often with higher performance. A cactus in the Sonoran Desert isn’t going to move while you’re trying to lock focus on it, but a snowboarder is constantly on the move. Look inside the bag of the average sports pro, and you’ll find lenses ranging from ultra-wide to ultra-long. If you’re concentrating on one sport, you could pick just one type of lens—medium-telephoto for close sports like gymnastics or lacrosse, or a long telephoto lens for ski jumping or NASCAR—but a variety of lenses will give the sports shooter more flexibility. ULTRA-WIDE-ANGLE LENSES The ultra-wide-angle lens isn’t used often in sports, but when it is, nothing else looks like it. Useful for sports shots…

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

Photographers spend a lot of time and money striving to get the right combination of gear and technique to capture a “perfect” shot, one that strikes the viewer as a natural extension of what a human might see. We reviewers debate the characteristics of lenses in terms of their fidelity in reproducing the world around them. How many lines per millimeter is the lens capable of resolving, does it have a coating that reduces flares, is there vignetting or distortion in the corners? When it’s more important to convey a feeling or an experience, though, it’s time to turn to a specialty lens, one that’s designed not for an accurate representation of what the human eye can see, but instead to modify the scene in front of the camera to distort,…

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

MACRO LENSES CANON 65MM f/2.8 1-5X This is a go-to lens for the macro photographer, and the best choice for shooters looking to get above life-size with their macro work. Combine this with Canon’s macro flash system, and it’s a setup that’s hard to beat. Price: $1,000. Website: usa.canon.com CANON EF-S 35MM f/2.8 MACRO IS STM This brand-new wide-angle macro lens from Canon has a built-in LED ring light to evenly illuminate a subject.The hybrid IS image stabilization keeps teeny things in the center of the frame, even when the lens is handheld. A smooth servo AF system makes this lens perfect for macro videography as well. Price: $350. Website: usa.canon.com TAMRON SP AF 90MM F/2.8 Di MACRO LENS Available for both Nikon and Canon cameras, the Tamron 90mm macro offers excellent image quality, autofocus and 1:1 reproduction…

A PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE

I began my career as a portrait photographer before I began my career as a parent, but even then, children were always my favorite subject. To me, everything about children is poetic, and using my camera to frame each lilting and lyrical detail is what ignited my interest and fueled my passion to cultivate a career in photography. I reveled in capturing the little things that delighted me about my tiny subjects: soft, gentle faces, plump fingers, smooth skin and wispy hair. As I began to have my own children—two very photogenic daughters—my take on children’s portraiture evolved. Seeing things as not “just” a photographer anymore, I began to see my subjects through the lens of motherhood, which was a more multifaceted perspective. I began to notice, with a greater appreciation,…

A PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE

LENSES DEMYSTIFIED

A camera’s lens, arguably, is more important in shaping the final look of an image than is its sensor. Perhaps this wasn’t exactly true in the era of film, where the selection of different emulsions and the handling of film could have a radical effect on the final image quality. But with today’s cameras, where digital imaging sensors have advanced to a point where it’s hard to find one that produces a bad image, the lens can change the final photograph in an infinite number of ways. Like a pair of glasses modifies the light that hits your eye, a camera’s lens simply modifies the light that hits the sensor, with the aim of creating either a more accurate image or of creating an image that’s more pleasing than the human…

LENSES DEMYSTIFIED

THE LOWDOWN ON LOW-DISPERSION

• Low-Dispersion (LD) glass elements, used in Tamron lenses, are made from special proprietary glass materials with extremely low dispersion indices (an inherent tendency for glass to disperse or separate light rays into the colors of the rainbow). LD glass, in all its various incarnations, makes sure the path of light through the lens is concentrated and stable for the best possible color accuracy, image brilliance, sharpness and contrast. • Extra-Low-Dispersion (ED) glass elements can be found in lenses by Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Sony. • Ultra-Low-Dispersion (UD) glass is a special type of optical glass developed by Canon whose properties nearly match those of fluorite. Fluorite, which is crystalline, has abnormally low refraction and dispersion characteristics, which optical glass can’t achieve. The effect of two UD glass elements gives almost the…

THE TILT-SHIFT EFFECT

My first commercial assignments landed me in a kaleidoscope of interiors. From kitchen remodels to spacious hotel suites, I was hired to photograph interiors. At first, photographing room interiors sounded pretty simple—go in, set up a few lights, put on the wide-angle, and blaze away. But reviewing my images after a few shoots, I realized I had a big problem. All the room walls were bowing inward; presenting warped hotel room images to clients didn’t go over so well. To correct this keystone effect, I needed to keep my lens parallel to the wall. And to easily change my perspective without bending the walls, I needed a tilt-shift lens. Soon after getting my first tilt-shift lens, I realized that keeping vertical lines straight was only the beginning of what this lens…

THE TILT-SHIFT EFFECT

Lanikai Sunrise

“The photo was taken on Lanikai Beach on Oahu in February 2016,” writes photographer Frank Silva. “The two islands in the distance are known as Na Mokulua (“the two islands,” in Hawaiian), also commonly called The Mokes. Lanikai is one of the most beautiful and iconic beaches on Oahu, and I wanted to capture it at sunrise. I had just recently discovered long-exposure shots and loved the effect it has on waves and receding water. I set up at the water’s edge right around sunrise. The sky was loaded with clouds so after the sun rose it was covered, which allowed me to still get some water motion if I used a small enough aperture.” You can follow Frank Silva on Instagram @frank.shoots…

Lanikai Sunrise

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