portraits

Portrait Photography Using a Telephoto Lens

Portrait photographers often overlook a telephoto lens because many people are under the misconception that these lenses are only for stunning skylines and distant subjects. However, these versatile pieces of photography equipment can create stunning portraits that flatter your subject better than an 18mm lens. Using a telephoto lens when shooting portraits will help reduce distortion that can unfortunately occur with wide-angle lenses.

​Shot with my 28-300mm

The focal length of telephoto lenses range from about 28mm to 800mm and above. The longer the focal length the more detail the lens can capture from a distance. It also means the lens is bigger, heavier and more expensive. Telephoto lenses can be separated into three types:

1. Short Telephoto Lenses - These range from 85mm to 135mm (your mileage may vary) and are perfect for shooting candid shots and portraits. For example, the short telephoto lenses allow you to take stunning pictures at weddings where you're close to your subjects yet you don't want to intrude in the process. These shorter lenses are lightweight, compact and easier to hand, which allows for fast shooting.

2. Medium Telephoto Lenses - Ranging from 135mm to 300mm, medium lenses are ideal for action and sport photographers who -- for example -- are standing on the sidelines but need to get close to where the action is. This type of photography requires proper aperture setting to minimize blur when shooting fast-moving subjects. 

3. Super Telephoto Lenses - Typically, these types of telephoto lenses -- which range from 300mm and beyond -- are used only in professional nature, wildlife and sports photography, and are not used for portraits.

​Nikor 28-300mm lens

These are not hard and fast numbers and you can find a number of ranges to play with. For instance I've fallen in love with the 28-300mm Nikor lens that lets me stand back and zoom in tight for great portrait photos. ​

Longer lenses provide a shallow depth of field, which helps isolate the subjects from the background and creates a strong, pleasant image. However, remember not to stop down the camera's aperture too much and instead leave it a bit wide so you don't lose the depth of field. When shooting from below or above the subject, you can unintentionally lose the unwanted perspective. With a telephoto lens, you are able to step back from the subject and the farther away you are, the less noticeable the height difference will be. This provides you with a head on, level view. Keep in mind that these longer lenses generally require a higher shutter speed to prevent camera shake.

Using a telephoto lens can help you step out of your comfort zone and improve your photography no matter what level of experience you have under your belt. Plus it'll let you keep your distance from your subject so you can still get great portraits without standing in his/her face. 

Shooting Baby Portrait Photographs

It's that time again, time to shoot another round of baby photos for my family. I always find baby portraits to be difficult because my daughter likes to bob and weave all over the place. And I have a minimal amount of time before she needs milk or a nap!

One answer I've found is to shoot in Manual Mode and really amp up the shutter speed without going too high on the ISO. The more ISO the more noise but noise reduction software is so good these days that I don't really mind it. The hard part is keeping the blur to a minimum and that's where the shutter speed comes into play. I usually start around 1/160, that gives me a nice clean shot with minimal blurring. 

I also shot this series with a few different lenses. On my Sony NEX-7 I used my new 50mm prime lens. It's a cropped sensor which means I had to sit further back from my daughter than I would normally like but it takes great pictures. The other lens I used on my Nikon D800 is the 70-300mm, this is a great piece of glass for getting just the shot you want with a nice bokeh (or blurring of background). 

I did some minimal post processing on these. A few I just ran through Lightroom and a few I used Color Effects Pro. Tell  me your thoughts!

 

 

Baby Portrait

Tips For Great Indoor Portrait Photos Using A Flash

A simple trick to get better portrait photos with a Sony NEX-7.

 

A simple trick to get better portrait photos with a Sony NEX-7. I created a website to learn photography and fail in public. If you're new to photography and want learn with me please visit www.photographybegins.com

Portrait Photo of the Day

hen my son was born a few years ago my wife asked me to take photos of him each month on his "birthday". I know, I know, but as a smart husband I obliged. And now that my daughter is 5 months old today i snapped another round of "birthday" photos.

shot this with a Nikon D800 and some nice afternoon sunlight.

va at five months