Tag: Photography Fundamentals

Optimizing Images On-the-Go: Mobile Photography Editing Guide

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Introduction

As the title suggests, I will describe my workflow when out and about. While there are surely other ways to do it, this is my method. It works and has stood the test of time. I usually wander around taking photos, then find a café to sit down and transfer my images to my phone. Everything is better with a nice cup of tea (or coffee) and a piece of cake.

Downloading Photos to Your Phone

Most cameras today can connect to phones via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. My two Fujis (X100F and XT2) and my Canon (6D Mark II) certainly can. I enable Wi-Fi on my camera and connect it directly to my phone. Next, I open the corresponding app—Canon Camera Connect for my Canon and Fujifilm Camera Remote for my Fujis. Each manufacturer provides its own app for Android or Apple devices. Once the camera is connected to my phone, I can import my photographs, selecting the images I prefer.

Sorting Photos

Now comes the fun bit: sorting through all those wonderful shots you took and deciding which ones are worth working on and editing. When I transfer my images from my camera to my phone, the phone creates a folder for the imported photos. Different apps will put them in different places, so I’ll leave that to you to manage. As a rule of thumb, you will see them in the gallery app, which will show you your latest photos.

In the gallery app, you can sort your photos by date taken, favourite images, or the place where the photo was taken.

I will assume you have read my last few articles on Photography 101, composition, and the types of lenses available and how to use them, or at least how I use them. If you haven’t had that pleasure, then go and have a read…

Is the photo worthy of publication, and are you happy with it representing your talent as a photographer? Is the image in focus? Is the image well exposed? Does it fulfil its storytelling role? Will it add to your narrative? Or simply, do you like it enough to want to share it?

Let’s assume that you answered yes. You then get to share your image to Snapseed.

Editing in Snapseed

Starting with Styles:

I like to begin by using the “Portrait” style. It is a preset that gives the photo a subtle glow and some vignette. I just seem to like it, and when you have something you like that flatters your image, you are tempted to stick with it. Most times, this will work a treat on well-exposed images. But let’s imagine that you have exposed for the highlights and that your shadows are “too dark” and you want to bring them up a bit. Then I would go to the “Tools” section and use the Tune Image.

En aparté:

When exposing in digital photography, we expose for the highlights, as it is easy to lighten, or “bring up” the shadows, and we don’t want to “blow out” our highlights and just turn it into a mass of white. In film photography, it’s the opposite. We expose for the shadows, as film has more difficulties capturing details in the shadows especially in a photo with lots of light.

Using the Tools

As I inferred in the title, this is my workflow, and shows the way I use Snapseed. There’s a whole load of tools to stylise your image and to completely change the look of it, but I’m more of a “less is more” disciple when editing. Also most apps out there will have similar tools, so you can carry this knowledge with you across the board.

Crop Tool:

One thing I learnt early one is to KISS, i.e. Keep it simple stupid. Sometimes I will have an element in my photo that distracts from my subject. With the crop tool I can just crop the image and make it disappear. I can also use the crop tool to format the image to fit certain social media post settings. I’m thinking about you Instagram and Facebook. Try searching google for social medi formats and you will be inundated with results.

Healing Tool:

Sometimes the crop isn’t enough to take away distracting elements from our photo. You might have a beautiful shy and want to get rid of that Jumbo Jet in the sky. One way of doing that is to wait until the Jumbo Jet has flown away, but let’s say that it’s too late… Using the healing tool will clone part of the image and replace the Jumbo Jet that just wants to noticed and validated man! To get the best results it’s better to zoom into the image and have a smaller area to work on.

Tune Image:

This is where I do the basic edits, bringing up the shadows or bringing down the highlights. I usually keep it to that. At a push, I will bring up the brightness if the photo has been underexposed. Somtimes I will add a little contrast but I tend not to use the other tools. I don’t want to denautre the photograph.

Rotate Tool:

We should always try and keep our horizons straight, except when making the conscious decision not to. The rotation tool tries to straighten what it thinks should be straight. It generally works quite well, but you do have total control as well as a grid to check the lines in your photo.

Brush Tool:

This is where we can do our burning and dodging. You can choose to highlight a certain area and darken others to emphasise your subject. This brings the photo to life. There are tutorials galore on YouTube that go into more detail than I will in this “basics” article.

Black and White Tool:

Welcome to the world of black and white conversion. It’s a process that a majority of my photography goes through. You can, of course, just use the saturation tool in the “Tune Image” section, and you will get a monochrome image. But you can do so much more.

So, let’s do so much more. The black and white tool offers you some presets which might correspond to your taste. I tend to leave them alone and instead press on the circle that will give a series of colour filters to choose from. This is a direct link back to black and white film photography, and you know how much I love that. I love using the red filter, which, as in film photography, will make your blues darker. This is beautiful for those landscape photos where you want a dark sky to complement those fluffy white clouds.  It’s also my default film simulation on the X100F that I use for all my street photography.  It’s just a look that I fell in love with years ago.
The other common filters are all covered too.

  • Orange:  Orange filters give stronger effects than  yellow filters but are not as bold and dramatic as a red. It is therefore an ideal choice to span the effects given by both these filters.  Blue skies will be recorded in very dark tones on the print, giving bold contrast between the sky and clouds. An orange filter will also penetrate haze and fog. Most flowers will be recorded with a significant difference in tone from the surrounding foliage giving impact and effect.
  • Yellow, the general purpose black and white filter,
  • Green:  When photographing foliage in black and white, a green filter is used almost exclusively.  It lightens green foliage, which is particularly important with dark green leaves which can record very dark without a filter. It therefore gives a more natural, lighter feel to the photograph.
  • Blue: A blue filter is not often associated with black & white photography however, it can really add “mood” to a photograph by increasing the effect of haze or fog.  It also lightens blues and darkens yellows, oranges and reds which helps separation in scenes containing a mix of colours.

Export

You have two options.  You can either press on “done” and Snapseed will record your image in the Snapseed folder and in your gallery in the Album neamed Snapseed, or you you can press “share “and you will be presented with various options on how to share your image, to Instagram, via gmail etc.

Before you do that you can press on settings where you can change the resolution of the image that will be exported.  This can help if you need to reduce the image to take up less space on your phone, or if you’re loading the photo up to a website and you require a “lighter” image.

Conclusion

You now have an idea about how I edit my images on the go, and the more time goes on, the more I do it this way.  Is it the same as Lightroom on my computer?  No.  I can’t have as much control as in Lightroom. I can’t batch edit, I can’t do this or that, but I can manage without, especially on the go.  There are of course other options for photo editing on the go like Lightroom mobile,VSCO, your native photo editor app on your phone.  As I said at the beginning of the article this is how “I” do things.  It works for me.  Try it out and it might just work for you too!

Smartphone Photography – Welcome to the Dark Side

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Introduction

You might have caught on to the fact that I’m a little bit the photography enthusiast. I even have a “few” different cameras, most of which are manual film cameras, with a few digital ones thrown into the mix. Over 40 years of learning have gone into getting the results you, Dear Reader, might just have seen on this blog.

Democratisation of photography

How many times have I heard people say, “Oh, I just use my phone,” or worse, “Oh, I could just do that with the camera on my phone?” These statements can really get on my wick! Don’t they just toss aside all the work I’ve put into photography with “real cameras?”

But after a lovely cup of tea and a slice of cake, my nerves have settled, and I’ve had time to reflect on the brashness of my emotions, and come back down to earth. Yes, some people do use the camera on their phone, and maybe, just maybe, unlike the microwave in the tea-making process, it might have a role in photography. Ooooooh, haven’t I just gotten controversial!

A little historical context

Just a quick interlude to remind myself of the democratisisation of photography that came with the Box Brownie in the 1920 and the purists were up in arms! Then the shock and horror of those same purists when colour photography came out with those dastardly Kodak Instamatics, and making photography even more egalitarian. Maybe the phone is just the extension of this and I should remove my own head from my arse and just chill!

The best camera?

“The best camera is the one that’s with you.” — Chase Jarvis.

While this statement might be true in absolute terms, it pains me to admit that for most of the hoi polloi, that camera might just be the one on our ever-intrusive phone. Does that mean I’d choose my phone over a film camera? Hell no! But it does remind me that photography is about capturing the decisive moment in time. I’ve often talked about balance in the photographic process, where you might have to sacrifice grain or digital noise (grains rather disgraced cousin from an inbred family, where somebody knew somebody in the family), to get more light to expose a shot. Or where I might have to sacrifice a certain amount of bokeh, in order to use a longer lens to “bring me nearer to my subject… The eternal give and take, if you will.

I think we might just have to have a little reality check here. Will a mobile phone, or even a very smart phone with a degree in smartness from the dashing and debonair university of Smartness upon Thames, ever be as good as a film camera, or a modern DSLR, even my beloved X100F? No. Sorry if I have just pissed on your bonfire. It will not. However, does that mean that it is completely useless? Far from it.

You still have to “think!”

As an avid reader of this wonderful and thoroughly informative blog, it will not have escaped your attention that I have written a couple of articles about the fundamentals of photography.  Going from the very basics of the exposure triangle, through various rules of composition that come to us from the world of traditional art, and that have been transferred to photography.  You will have found out and learnt about various lenses available for various cameras, and I have even touched upon the differences between medium format and 35mm film photography.  I talked about the advice given for digital as well as film photography.  I’ll let you into a secret, “It’s just as valid for smartphone photography!

Yes, I’ve said it.  If you put in as much effort into getting the shot on a smartphone as you do with your “real” camera, then You will get good results.  Can you have control over every aspect of the shot?  No.  But, and it’s a big but, “so you other brothers can’t deny,” there is a lot of technology in that little device that really helps you out.

Mindful always

What I’m trying to get at is that when you mindfully take photographs, even with your phone, it is always better than just snapping away like a small dog that knows it’s small.  Just a tiny bit of effort towards composition will go a long way.  Think about framing, and where the objects are in your image.  Think about where the light is coming from.  Try and get the best image that you can.  So it’s not a Leica?  You still have your kidneys and haven’t had to sell one yet.  It might be a less formal way of taking a photograph, but I would really like you to respect yourself and put in the effort to take your phone photography beyond the bare minimum.

Conclusion

It would appear that smartphone despite my frist misgivings is here to stay. It is a logical progression of the democratisation of this art. I have been asked to contribute to the website Monochromia, and one of my future colleagues reminded me that one of their contributors uses only his Iphone, and has received all kinds of accolades and has been the subject of numerous Expositions. I have seen his work and it is clear that he is a most mindful photographer, and the only thing that separates us are the tools we use to capture the image. I must not be such a photgraphy snob and so dismissive.

What’s next

I might just have to go further into this subject and talk about editing images on your phone and giving you ways of sharing your images if you so wish.  Maybe even some tips to help you get the results you want.  I will talk about the features of the phone camera, how the AI within can help you not just in photography, but also in video production.  Stick around to find out more!

Manual Mastery – a beginner’s guide Part II

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Aperture.  

The aperture talks about the hole that the light passes through to get to the film, or the sensor, and is measured in “f stops” which will be what you see on your film camera lenses, or what you will see as a value in the viewfinder or on the back of the screen on your digital camera.

On prime lenses you will generally have a value of between f1.8 going up to f16, or even f22 or f32 on your digital lenses.  If you go below F1.8 to f1.4 or f1.2, you have a more expensive lens attached to your camera body.  If you can afford it then why not.

The opening or closing of the aperture blades will affect how much of your photo will be in focus and how much “bokeh” you will be able to get for your image.  You will hear people talking about depth of field (of view).  If I use a large aperture (with a lower f stop number) I will only have a small plane of my image that will be in focus or sharp, and the background will be blurry.  My subject will stand out.  If I use a smaller aperture (a larger number on the f stop setting), I will have a larger plane of my image that will be.

Application

So this exposure triangle thingy. In the previous sections you have seeen the effects that each element can have on your shot.  In photography, as in life, we have to learn how to prioritise.  What is the most important for us?  How will these settings help us get the photo “we” want and not what the camera thinks “we” want?  Do we need to freeze the action?  Do we need the creamy bokeh?  How much light do we have to play with?  What is most important to us?  Modern cameras are pretty good with their automatic settings, but when talking about being mindful in photography, it might just be an idea to keep a minimum of control.

Photography with a manual film camera takes this automation away,and brings us back to basics, hence my referring back to them all the time.  If you can get well exposed shots with a manual film camera, then using digital is a breeze.  In the viewfinder there will be a needle that goes up and down depending on how we change our settings.  As I said earlier the ISO value will be chosen by the film you use, and I explained the different values and how they work.  So that’s one less thing to worry about.  You can’t change your film mid shoot, well you can, but I need a new article to tell you how to do it.  So you’re left with aperture and shutter speed controls.  There’s no LCD screen with a preview, so you have to become an educated guesser.  But if I can, then you can.  This needle, or rather a snazzy modern version, will appear in the viewfinder, and you will see it move as you change your setting.  

Same tool, just a different format.  Or you can cheat, and look at the image preview on the LCD screen.  But that’s cheating, and gets you thinking rather than doing.   

Always bear in mind that as the light changes, then so will your settings to adjust for this changing light.  Just keep an eye on it and be aware as Jean-Claude Van Damme would tell us.

Scenario 1

I need to take photos of little Jimmy’s football match.  I need to have a relatively fast shutter speed (about 1/500th of a second with film as my minimum speed, or up to 1/4000th of a second to capture the action with a digital camera), so shutter speed is my priority.  That can’t move.  So I can play with either my ISO or my aperture to compensate.  I would probably take a 400 ISO (or ASA) film because even in sunlight that would allow me to have everything in focus by using f8, or even f16.  With digital I can really push up my ISO to around 6400 and not have too much visible noise.  The very recent cameras can go even higher without digital noise becoming a problem.

Scenario 2

I want to capture my subject and make the background blurry. Basically bokeh and also low light photography. This could be in street photography, or taking a portrait of somebody where I want the eyes in focus, but not necessarily the ears or back of the head.  I will want to use a large aperture (smallest f stop number, so my priority becomes my aperture setting which I don’t want to change. This will give me that creamy bokeh that everyone raves about.But, with a large aperture I’m going to have lots of light hitting my film.  I will have to bump up my shutter speed, and lower my ISO by using a slower film like 100 ASA or 200 ASA to compensate.  

Scenario 3. 

When ambient light is lower, opening up my aperture, lowering my shutter speed I can compensate for this lack of light.  I might have to use a tripod if there isn’t enough light, or add a flash to my camera to provide my own light.  I could use a higher ISO value and have a film more sensitive to light, but I will get much more grain etc.  Everything is about balance and weighing up what “you” want. 

Conclusion

Talking about film photography and film speeds etc, was very deliberate on my part.  I am convinced that if you can use a manual camera and get good results, then using a digital camera will be so much easier for you.

The exposure triangle is now something that is no longer an enigma.  We have talked about the ISO value, the shutter speed, and the aperture, and how these settings will effect your photograph. The ability to master these three elements gives you creative control over your images, allowing you to expose your image the way “you” want to, and you can go back to the articles about composition with a new eye.  I want you to enjoy your photography, and you now have the necessary tools and knowledge at your disposal to do so.

I would, as always, urge you to take your camera out and shoot.  You can experiment, and practice, and this manual lark will become second nature.  You’ve got this!

Manual Mastery – a beginner’s guide Part I

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How many times have I seen grown men go to pieces at the suggestion of using manual mode?  Or worse, how many times have I seen other grown men saying that to be a real photographer you have to master manual mode otherwise you’re not a real photographer?  Let me assure you that it’s not as complicated as it sounds.  When I took my first  photography lessons in 1984, I learnt it as a child.  You’ve got this, and I’m here to accompany you through the process.   As the Hitchkiker’s Guide so elegantly says, in comforting letters, “Don’t Panic!”

There are some basic concepts to understand, the first of which is the exposure triangle which we were introduced to in the Photography 101 article.  Those three things to consider are, ISO, or film sensitivity, shutter speed, aperture, and balancing them together.

Are you ready?  We’ll go step by step telling you how each of these settings influence your shot, and how we will balance them to create the image that “you” want instead of the image that your “camera” wants to take.  You are the creative boss after all.  And that is the reason that people use Manual Mode.

ISO, or film sensitivity

When I started learning photography in the last century was I was a young boy, yes I was young once, we only had film as a means to capture our images.  You would choose your film in function of the light available.  And when using my film cameras I still work in this way.  100 ASA (which is the same as ISO on modern camera) for sunny conditions, sometimes even 50 ASA, where the film can be used in bright conditions, going through to 200 ASA when it’s cloudy, but with sun shining through, to 400 ASA when overcast, 800 ASA when inside or even 1600 ASA, to 3200 ASA for night photography.  

In the film days we would talk about the presence or absence of grain and this was part of the deal.  You would get less grain the lower down the ASA range you went, and more grain the further up you went.  And this grain was a result of the crystals on the film emulsion, and the chemical developing process.  The choice could be as much about lighting conditions as an artistic decision.  Once the film you chose was in the camera however, it didn’t change until you changed your film.

Nowadays with all this modern technology palaver, you can change this ISO (because it’s digital photography) and change it for each photo.  Unfortunately the higher up you go in these values, the more “noise” you will get.  This digital noise is in a random pattern and totally unlike the grain of film photography.

Shutter speed

Shutter speed, as the words suggest, is about the speed of which the shutter opens  and closes to expose either the film or camera’s sensor.  You see, I told you that this would be simple to understand.  If I can get it, then so can you.  So now we’re on to speed.  When changing the speed of which the light hits the film or the shutter, I can freeze motion, of get a conscious motion blur, where the photo will seem animated.

Let’s say I want to take a photo of somebody running towards me. I will use a higher shutter speed to freeze the action.  Think of sports photography, of catching a  pass of a ball in rugby, or a footballer stopping a ball etc.  Those factors will make or break your image.  Imagine a photo of a football match and you can’t see the ball because it’s going faster than your shutter.  It might not work out for you.  In this situation, on my film cameras I will let the shutter curtain open for just 1/1000th of a second.  Depending on which digital camera I can go as quick as 1/8000 th of a second.

Let’s go to the other extreme.  I’m taking photos of a landscape and I want to show the motion of trees in the wind, the movement of the clouds, or the movement of water. I will use a longer shutter speed, say anything from 1/8th of a second to one second…  The subject will be moving faster than the shutter curtain, and I will get that artistic blur. 

I could be somewhere very dark, so in order to get a clear photo, I will have to let more light through onto my film or sensor.There I might have to use bulb mode in order to leave the shutter curtain for longer than 2 seconds.

For shooting a subject walking I would use 1/125th to 1/250th of a second to freeze the frame.  When using a flash in manual mode, I would aim to be around 1/60th of a second (which depends on your camera’s flash sync value).  When talking about shutter speeds I’m thinking of my film cameras  and bearing in mind that most digital cameras will have wider ranges of shutter speed.  Another tip for you would be to not let your shutter speed go below the number of your focal length (the legendary reciprocal rule).  Let’s say I’m using a 50mm lens, then I would not use a speed under 1/50th of a second, or even 1/60th of a second.  If I have a 200mm lens I would not go under 1/200th of a second. This is to counterbalance the weight of the lens and avoid lens shake.

Conclusion

This article has a lot of information in it and I have decided to separate everything and have a Part II.  In this Part I we have talked about sensitivity to light be that film, and the different ratings of films for various lighting situations.  In digital photography we have a wider range of ISO settings and with the newer cameras, the noise in an ISO 3200 setting will produce a much less grainy image than with film.  However this “grain” can be used as an artistic choice and I will let “you” experiment and see what each film gives you.

We have talked about shutter speed, and the ability to freeze an instant with a higher speed.  And the opposite of this to create motion in our image.

Next week we will talk about Aperture and how this effects depth of field and discover the rich creaminess of bokeh.  We will also explore various scenarii and give concrete examples of the effects of this triangle and how to turn it into an advantage.

Zooming In on Flexibility Part II

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We have talked about the different kinds of zooms in my last article, but now I’m going to present you with concrete examples of the different zooms in my own personal set-up, and try to concentrate on the “user experience” that each lens offers.  At the end of each section there will be a slideshow to give you examples from the archives to illustrate how I have used this lens in the past.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM

I remember the sheer joy of opening this, my favourite lens for my 6D Mark II and hearing it click into place on my camera’s body. It felt heavy and substantial.  It has the red ring, known to Canon users as a gauge of high quality. I was onto a good thing.  It bridged the gap between my desire to go wide and get that distinct distortion that comes with going wide, and a more conservative, more sensible 35mm focal length of my X100F.

And then I went out and tried it in the field.  Well in my bedroom anyway, being suitably amazed by the wide angle of view that I now had at my disposal.  I’d read about distortion, and had watched enough YouTube to know what I was in for.  But the first time is always special.  I soon learned how to take advantage of its capabilities, realising that getting down low could create leading lines in compositions that I had only dreamt about before.

If you have seen my Instagram, you will have seen this lens in use and how I have been able to adapt from an urban setting to getting my feet dirty in the countryside or getting them wet on the beach. I have nor regrets about this purchase.  But it, despite its many attributes, has its limits.   It is adapted to landscapes and cityscapes.  It’s great for giving a different view of the world that is more “interesting” to look at.  I have used it for portraits and taking full advantage of this aforementioned distortion.

It might well be a contender for the title of Ian’s favourite lens.  Sorry you prime purists!  

CANON EF 24-70MM F/4L IS USM

This is the lens that I actually have on my camera at the moment. Why?  Because I was out at the pub taking photos for a leaving do for two of my friends.  I needed something I could use to get general shots of the evening and that wouldn’t let me down.  This lens is a beast and a workhorse.  It gets the job done!, which is why I bought it in the first place.  I was going to be photographing a wedding for a friend of mine, and I needed something that would help me throughout the day.  I would be taking portraits, group photos, photos of the reception, and this was the classic lens for such a situation.  It has you covered.  I basically put my flash to TTL mode, and camera to program mode, and all I had to do was to get the shot.  Photographically it was a great day and I managed to get some pleasing shots for my friends. It’s also my go to lens for filming video…

It was “take your camera to work day.”  I was going to be taking pictures of timber at the factory where I work and it was still in my bag, and securely attached to my camera.  I was able to get clear shots for my boss, and the lens didn’t let me down even if I had to be in one of the darkest areas of the factory with dubious lighting conditions. This is where image stabilisation becomes your best friend. 

It was still in my car when I took my daughter and boyfriend to see their friends near Nantes.  I had just written the article about Spring Springing, and wasn’t happy digging into the archive.  I felt that this was being lazy, and that you, Dear Reader deserve better…  The camera with the 24-700mm lens on it was just sitting there begging to be let loose!  So I let it loose on the trees around the Mairie of Basse Indre, and took advantage of its “macro” function. So go and have a look at the article to see those.

CANON EF 70-300MM F/4L IS USM

I don’t have the very latest version of this article, but a more old-school version, so it’s not as super duper as the later super duper models, but it was a heck of a lot cheaper at around 150€ instead of 850€ for the newer super duper models.  But I’m not here to talk about specific model types etc, but about the focal lengths of this lens and how I  have used them in the field and my experience of using this lens.

As a small boy I was a member of the RSPB and loved seeing all the various birds in the garden but also in the countryside.  I even learnt about how to draw them.  I grew up, and now have a super duper camera with a lens that will allow me to capture these birds on camera without spooking them.  

One of my favourite outings in Nantes is taking one of the electric boats out on the river, and I have this lens with me to capture the wildlife that I know I will see.  I am by no means a wildlife photographer like the ones you see in the documentaries stalking their prey for weeks etc.  But it doesn’t stop me from trying to see what I can get without necessarily overdoing it. And even for getting shots of birds using the various feeders in my garden it’s fine!

I have used the lens after having watched YouTube videos for landscape photography using it to seek out details in the landscape.  This was definitely something new for me, and definitely a useful exercise forcing me out of my comfort zone and making me see the countryside in a different way.

It’s not the lens I gravitate to first, but I’m happy to have it as an option.  It isn’t the most modern of lenses either, but it’s certainly “good enough” for what I need it to do…  Do I regret this purchase?  No.  Is it limited in its scope?  Yes.   Am I bovvered, as Catherine Tate might say?  Still no.  Would I buy the “super duper” version of this lens?  Probably not as it doesn’t correspond to the majority of photography that I do. Photographing birds is more of a hobby and not my main photography aim in life..  

Conclusion

I think you have the information at your fingertips now to help you decide on your lens choices be that for primes or for zooms.  Those nice people in the photography shop will be more than happy to take your money from you, but now, you have the knowledge to get past the sales pitch and make an educated purchase knowing what you’re letting yourself in for.  While we’re on the subject of purchasing and investing in gear, always have the following concept at the back of your mind.   Glass is more valuable than a camera body.  Better glass on a less top of the range body will always get you better results.
But much more than the importance of gear, is the importance you get your beautiful booty off that really comfy sofa, and get out into the world with your camera and your lens and train that beautiful eye of yours to capture some awe inspiring images!

Zooming In on Flexibility Part I

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We’ve talked about prime lenses and the difference between primes and zooms.  But we haven’t touched on zooms.  Yet.  But we’re about to enter the dark side.  They have cookies.  So now that we’ve had a cookie, let’s talk about having our cake and eating it.  Metaphorically speaking of course.  

The ability to zoom in on a subject, be it in photography or in conversation has become such an ubiquitous saying.  Zooming in on the details in a conversation.  The image evoked is fair though.  A zoom lens allows us to zoom in visually. 

I might even go as far as to describe them as a guilty pleasure.  That kind of thing that gets results but leaves you feeling a little dirty afterwards, and you feel like you have to justify why you couldn’t just use a purer prime.  Well sometimes you need the versatility of a zoom.  It means you have to take less kit to weigh you down.

This article started as a single piece of writing, and then going more in depth, it has morphed into a series of two articles.  I have a lot of information for you, and it might be easier to digest as a two part story.

The Zoom lens work flow

A zoom lens is more than an investment, it is akin to having four lenses in one support.  One going from 16mm, 24mm, 28mm to 35mm, another from 24mm, to 35mm, to 35mm, to 50mm, and onwards and upwards to 70mm.  Roughly translated you’re getting more glass for your buck, which sounds very enticing.

Advantages and disadvantages

 As in all photography, everything is a matter of balance though.  Ok, you may have more glass, but instead of creamy f1.8, f2.0 creamy bokeh, the trade off will be f4 bokeh, while still nice isn’t as creamy.  You might find f2. Bokeh but you’ll be paying many more bucks.  The difference in price between the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM and the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L IS USM is around 1000€ which doubles the price of your lens.  This basic economics speaks volumes to me.  

The different focal lengths in just one place allows you to adapt more quickly to a changing situation rather than “faffing” about changing multiple lenses multiple times.  Just one turn of the focal ring, and you’re good to go.  So you’re more available to contemplate a scene and not miss a thing.

They are generally larger than the more subtle nifty fifty, and the general public will take you for a “pro” and wonder why you are pointing a massive obtrusion towards their face.  Some zooms are of course less imposing than others, but you might have to explain more about what you are doing.  

The types of Zooms  

I have talked about the concept of a zoom lens as being a collection of different lenses in just one lens.  In the next article I will describe the example of each zoom I  use, but here I will do the introductions.  We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.

For me, there are three types of zooms, the wide angle, the general, and the telephoto.  So three types of zoom tend towards three types of application.

The wide angle zoom offers you a wide angle of view, and its downfall of image distortion can be made the most important feature allowing you a means of getting creative in your images.   You can go from those beautiful vistas so beloved of landscape photographers, to those of us who seem to have an obsession with taking close-up photos of bicycles and helping the audience see the world in a more non-conventional or even exciting way.  

The general zoom, is as its name suggests a zoom that has you covered for general scenarii.  The focal lengths are the ones most commonly used.  It’s great in a street photography or documentary environment allowing you to easily glide between wider and narrower views.  Even though the aperture may not be as important as in primes, the image stabilisation helps the photographer when the light becomes more challenging. 

The telephoto zoom allows us to be closer to our subject whilst at the same time being a greater distance.  Useful not only for wildlife photography, but also for sports photography where the players are on the pitch and not the photographer!

Conclusion

Now we are on the same page and have a greater idea of what the whole situation is and how these solutions can help you as a photographer, be that a beginner, an intermediate, or a more advanced photog.  I talk about guilty pleasure, but when push comes to shove, the viewer of your photography doesn’t care.  They care about the image and how it makes them feel.  The fact that we used such and such a  lens is just speaking to them in a foreign language.  We’ve talked about the trade offs but also the benefits of zooms and in my next article I will talk about my set-ups and the experiences I have when shooting with these lenses..