Perspective: Specialty Lenses and Creative Purposes

We are continuing our focus on Perspective, and finishing up our first month examining the way choice of lens alters one’s viewpoint. This week we are utilizing various types of specialty lenses – telephoto, fisheye, macro, lensbaby, etc. – and seeking to be inspired by the unique qualities of these lenses or seeking ways to use those lenses creatively.

Here are some descriptions of some specialty lenses:

• The telephoto or long lens is often used for portraits, as we discussed in prior weeks, or for sports and action shots, when one can’t get very close to the action.
• Fisheye lenses are ultra wide-angle lenses that create visual distortion, so the image is circular rather than rectilinear. These lenses allow an angle of view that is greater than 100 degrees – sometimes even allowing a 180 degree point of view!
• A macro lens allows you to get very, very close to your subject and may be used to capture details barely noticed with the naked eye. •
• The tilt-shift lens is designed to allow the photographer to tilt the plane of focus and shift the position of the subject without moving the camera back. It is useful when photographing architecture, when one may want to avoid the convergence of parallel lines, though many photographers have utilized it when shooting portraits.
• The lensbaby brand of lenses are designed to give a creative effect, where one portion of the frame will be in focus, while the rest is blurred. In some cases, the lensbaby will mimic the effect of the tilt-shift lens.

As the saying goes, restriction breeds creativity. The narrow purposes of these specialty lenses can inspire the photographer to rethink how she might approach an otherwise familiar situation.  In the below image, I decided to utilize a long, zoom lens when taking an image of a landscape, which would traditionally call for a wide-angle lens.  I liked how it allowed me to fill the frame with “The Mountain” and the city of Bellevue.

Please head over to Who We Become to take a look at how each of us chose to take advantage of the characteristics of various types of specialty lenses by clicking HERE.

Perspective: Environmental Portrait

We are continuing our focus on Perspective, with the first month examining the way choice of lens alters one’s viewpoint. This week and next we will be challenging the “traditional” use of lenses – this week seeking to utilize a wide-angle lens in a portrait or other non-traditional use. Typically longer lens lengths are marketed for portraits, as they avoid distorting the subject and allow the photographer to maintain focus on the person and blur away any distracting background.

Choosing a wide angle lens for a portrait requires the photographer to consider the consequences of the deeper depth of field and distortion when composing the image. Items that are placed toward the edge of the frame often appear larger, which must be considered, and care must be taken that the background contributes to the photographer’s story, as it is unlikely to be out of the depth of field. Using the wide angle lens in such an instance has significant advantages, however – the photographer will often be close to her subject so that they may interact more directly, as well as utilize the subject’s environment in her composition. The effect can be to draw the viewer into the scene and strongly engage them in the scene. Please click HERE to visit Who We Become and take a look at how each of us chose to take advantage of the characteristics of a wide angle lens in nontraditional ways.

Perspective: Isolation

We are continuing our focus on Perspective, with the first month examining the way choice of lens alters one’s viewpoint. This week we are seeking to isolate our subject, whether through the use of a telephoto lens or otherwise.

Telephoto lenses bring distant subjects close by magnifying the scene and, consequently, we are able to view only a smaller portion of it at a time. Moreover, telephoto lenses tend to create a shallow depth of field and compress the background, leaving less environment surrounding a subject, and that environment is often quite blurred. For this reason, portrait artists often use longer focal lengths, so that their subject remains prominent in the frame and other elements are reduced. The consequence, of course, is that the photographer then has fewer elements with which to tell her story.

I have been looking forward to this week, as I got an awesome new lens for Christmas – the 70-200.  I am really enjoying the incredible reach and sharpness of this lens, though I must admit that I am also adjusting to the weight (it’s HUGE!) and the high shutter speed it requires.  I took this image of the Space Needle the other day while waiting for the Duck tour with some family visiting us.  So fun to be able to zoom right up to it!

Please click HERE to visit Who We Become and see the mosaic of images demonstrating isolation.  You can click on any image and it will take you to that photographer’s website.  And please leave us a comment if you like what you see – we love comments.  🙂

It is a new year, a new month, and a new topic on Who We Become. For the first two months we will be spotlighting Perspective, with four weeks examining the way your choice of lens can alter your viewpoint, and the second four focusing more on the camera and photographer.

Most everything in photography is a compromise, choices in which each of the options carries specific consequences. Our perspective results from how we make those choices – not simply the story we tell, but how we decide to tell it.

Wide angle lenses allow our camera to see wider than the eye can, and therefore allow us to include a great deal of environment along with our subject. They are typically the lens of choice for a landscape photographer. Wide angle lenses tend to flatten our subject into the environment, however, so that most everything seems about the same distance away. And just like flattening the globe into a 2 dimensional map, a great deal of distortion can result, particularly toward the edges of the frame. A savvy photographer turns these supposed consequences into advantages. Maneuvering through these choices allows us each to develop a unique perspective.

My image for Perspective: Inclusion is below.  Please click HERE to visit Who We Become and see the mosaic of images addressing inclusion.  Thanks for visiting!