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In some of my posts, such as the one about the Best Lenses for Travel and Humanitarian Photography, I venture to suggest a good single lens for travel. My recommendations have typically been the Canon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 or the more expensive Canon 24-105 f/4L. Both offer a useful focal length range for travel, image stabilization, and excellent image quality (relative to their price, of course – the professional L lens is of much higher quality). The 24-104mm also boasts the fast and quiet USM focusing motor.
One lens that I have previously failed to mention is the unique Canon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens. Its broad focal length range, image stabilization, and USM focusing motor with full-time manual focus* are all appealing features. (*you can over-ride or tweak the autofocus with a twist of the focus ring without switching to MF.) But what makes it a potentially great travel companion is its size and appearance. Due to its use of Diffractive Optics (the DO in its name) the lens is relatively small and light. And in addition, its exterior is black rather than the white of the L lenses. Thus it becomes a much more portable and much less obtrusive lens than the big, white 70-200mm and 70-300mm L lenses.
The unique green band of the Canon 70-33mm DO lens
The 70-300mm DO declares its uniqueness with a green band around the front of the barrel, where the red band of the L lenses sits. Diffractive Optics is a technology developed by Canon to reduce lens size while maintaining image quality and eliminating chromatic aberrations, and currently only two Canon lenses use DO. This lens has been around since 2004, and has overall received excellent reviews. For a professional photographer it will never quite replace a 70-200mm or 70-300mm L lens due to its slightly lower image quality and sharpness, and lack of the f/2.8 or f/4 maximum aperture throughout its full range, but for those just a little less demanding it could be the perfect travel companion for photographers not wishing to carry around a larger and more noticeable white lens.
There are mixed reviews on its sharpness. Some users claim it is sharp as can be, some say it loses sharpness at certain focal lengths and apertures, and other say with standard post-process sharpening there is virtually no difference between it and an L lens. One complaint that can’t be denied is its propensity for lens creep. Due to the weight of the lens elements and the fact that it zooms externally (unlike the internal zoom of the 24-105mm or the 70-200mm lenses) the zooming barrel will move on its own when pointed up or down. The lens has a locking switch for storage or for walking around, but otherwise it is going to creep. This DO lens also does not have a rubber weather-sealing ring at its mounting base, which is disappointing for a lens in this price range.
Optically the 70-300mm DO displays a couple unique characteristics as well. At certain apertures a hazy, often described as dreamy, outline will appear around bright out-of-focus areas. And due to the concentric circles of the DO optics (visible in the lens just by looking at the glass at an angle) out-of-focus spots of light also contain concentric circles, or “targets,” as shown in the image below. These rings also appear in areas of flare, so it is best not to use this lens if you are a fan of shooting into the sun to achieve purposeful lens flare.
The interesting bullseye/ target bokeh of the 70-300mm DO lens, pronounced when at narrow apertures (f/16 here) – click image to view larger on Flickr.
The above image is a crop from the one below. Notice that in addition to the concentric circles, the bokeh of bright light spots becomes hexagonal at narrower apertures (like f/10 or f/16) as shown below, but it is nice and circular starting at f/8, without the targets being so pronounced at wider apertures (like f/5.6).
Canon 70-300mm DO lens – hexagonal bokeh with bullseye targets seen at f/16 – click image to view larger on Flickr.
So if you are looking for a high quality lens for travel with an exceptional telephoto zoom range, you may wish to consider the 70-300mm DO. It is not everyone’s ideal single lens for travel because its focal length starts at 70mm and thus lacks the wide angle range, but for those who like to zoom in close and capture faces and details, it could be a lens that stays on your camera much of the time. And even for those who already have a big, white 70-200mm lens, this could come in handy in many situations which you wish to be a little more discreet or even appear less intimidating to your subjects. Go to the store and play with one, and I think you may find that you love the size and feel of this lens, and can envision its great travel potential.
See and purchase the 70-300mm DO lens at Amazon.com
Have a look at some other reviewers’ posts to learn more about this lens, its technical specs, and its performance, as well as see images comparing its size to other lenses:
Review and description with size/ weight comparisons at The-Digital-Picture.com
Review focusing on image quality at Photo.net
Field test and very technical review at Luminous-Landscape.com
Word on the street is that there is going to be a 5% price increase for many Canon lenses and Speedlites starting February 1, 2011. Here is one list showing potential increases ranging from 1% to 11%.
(I always find it a bit silly and obsessive when photographers take photos of their own gear but, well, I needed an appropriate image!)
So make that decision now and buy that awesome new lens you’ve been desiring, before the prices go up! Don’t know which lens(es) to buy? Be sure to check out one of my most popular posts, Best Lenses for Humanitarian and Travel Photography to get the run down on several recommended lenses (which also applies to general and everyday photography).
If you decide to purchase from Amazon.com, I would appreciate it if you use my referral links on that post, or use this link to enter Amazon and make your purchases! Amazon will give me a little something, which helps to support this blog. Thanks!
I suppose I should join the photo blogger holiday tradition of putting together a holiday and Christmas gift guide for photographers or those who are shopping for the photographer in their life! If you plan to purchase any of these items through Amazon.com, I you can use the product links I set up throughout this post, which will bring you right to that product’s page on Amazon. (Amazon will then reward me with a small referral reward for my effort, which will help support my blog. Thanks! If you are in the UK or wish to purchase from B+H, see the end of this post for link information.) And now on to the shopping:
The first thing you are going to need is the Canon 24-105mm f/4 lens Mug or Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens Mug to drink your hot cocoa or hazelnut coffee as you are unwrapping the rest of your gifts. These extremely popular and awesomely realistic mugs, complete with rubber ring grips, have a wide f/4 or f/2.8 opening which enables them to take in copious amounts of liquid just as your lens takes in all that light. The lens caps protects your beverage when not in use – no UV filter needed.
The best gift of the season for most photographers would most likely be a brand new digital dSLR camera to upgrade what they are currently shooting with – one with a few more megapixes, improved autofocus system, faster continuous shooting speeds, and some new bells and whistles.
For many photographers this will be the new Canon EOS 60D body only or the Canon 60D with 18-135mm kit lens. The EOS 60D has continued Canon’s tradition of ease of use, great ergonomics and controls, fantastic image quality and low light performance, plus added a swiveling real LCD screen. And full HD video with more frame rate options than the competitors.
For Nikon shooters the best choice is the brand new, highly sought-after Nikon D7000. The Nikon D7000 body only or D7000 with 18-105mm lens cost a bit more than the 60D, but they provide the additional features to justify the higher cost: faster continuous shooting rate, partial magnesium body, more advanced and customizable autofocus system, and two SD memory card slots to save all those shots and HD movies. Either one makes a excellent camera that is capable of producing high quality images.
Of course you are going to want some new lenses to go with these cameras. Why not step up to the professional quality lenses to see that immediate improvement in image quality, color, contrast, as well as lens and autofocus performance? For Canon this means the L series of lenses. Expand your focal range or fill in some gaps with a high quality wide angle zoom, standard zoom, or telephoto zoom.
For wide angle zooms, look at either the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM or the EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
For standard zooms, which make for a great “walk-around” lens, consider the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM or EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM
And in the telephoto zoom range, look at the EF 70-200, f/2.8L II IS USM or the much less expensive and lighter EF 70-200, f/4L IS USM
One of these lenses in each pair will be both more expensive AND heavier, so be sure and handle them first before you decide on one.
This may also be a good time to start experimenting with prime lenses. Their extra wide maximum apertures will allow you to use them in much lower light, and will create great, smooth background blurring for awesome portraits. Depending on how closely you like to work to your subject, a few to consider are the Canon 35mm f/2, Canon 50mm f/1.8 II for about $100, Canon 50mm f/1.4 (a little more costly 50mm), or the Canon 85mm f/1.8.
An extremely fun lens to work with is the Canon EF 100mm f.2.8 Macro USM. It is incredibly sharp, has dramatically narrow depth of field at f/2.8, and works as a great portrait lens too. If you have never used a macro, go try one out and experience what makes them so cool. The 60D and D7000 images just above were taken with this lens, as well as the cool close up shots of the following post comparing the Nikon D7000 vs D90 vs D300s.
If you need just one versatile lens for everyday use or for travel, the three lenses to consider are the EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM in the L series lenses, or else the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS or EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS.
Of course with any of these lenses, be sure to protect them with a clear or UV filter, preferably a high quality, coated B+W brand UV filter. You can read a lot more about these lenses and how to choose between them in my earlier post, Best Lenses for Everyday and Travel Photography.
Possibly the most comfortable way to carry your camera around all day, especially when using a larger, heavier lens, is the BlackRapid RS-7 Camera Strap. I highly recommended this strap, and I use the older RS-4 version daily. They have made some steady, welcomed improvements on them, including the curved shoulder pad of the RS-7, the quick release strap, and the improved connecting hardware. The base that screws into your camera is a lower profile, stronger single piece, and the securing screw surface on the clasp ring is smooth rather than knurled so that it will no longer scratch up your camera bottom. The strap is comfortable, easy to use, quick, strong, and rugged. I often use it in conjunction with wearing a backpack, and although the straps fight for space against each other on my shoulder, it still works fine. There is also now a version designed for women, the RS-W1 plus a new woman’s version in just black. They are also introducing 2 different pieces of hardware which will allow you to attach your camera to a tripod without removing the R-Strap’s base that is already attached to your camera.
You are going to need something to carry all this equipment around in. My current favorite is the Lowepro Compu Trekker AW backpack, which is now called the Lowepro ProRunner 350 AW. I use this as both my airline carry-on and my working bag during the day. The size works perfectly for both needs. It easily fits the airline carry-on size, including smaller international requirements in some regions, yet fits more that it would first appear. With careful configuration of the interior dividers, I can fit 2 Canon bodies, three lenses, a 580EX II flash, its diffuser, 2 external hard drives in cases, a couple memory card cases, and some filters. In the outside pocket, I have a couple battery chargers, extra batteries, medium Rocket Blower, miscellaneous cords, caps, and accessories. In the rear pocket designed for a laptop, I easily fit a 32″ 5 in 1 reflector. The pack is extremely comfortable, has tons of padding on the straps and the back so that its weight never bothers me and I don’t feel the reflector in my back. I often wear it for hours a day while working, and it is never a problem. The Pro Runner 450 AW might be a better carry on size so that you could carry more gear on the plane with you (if it fits the airline’s requirements) but it would be too big for daily use. There are also rolling versions of these, with an “x” in the name, thought the retractable handles and wheels add weight and size to the bags.
For budding adventure videographers, the item of the year is the GoPro HD Helmet HERO Cam, which you attach to your helmet, head, mountain bike, snowboard, skateboard, motorcycle, or whatever to shoot professional quality, point of view video. It comes in a variety of packages with different mounts. Film and share your adventures in full HD video!
And to save all those images you are taking, memory cards will make great stocking stuffers. I like Sandisk Extreme 16 GB SD cards. If you still use CF cards, be sure to get the SanDisk Extreme 16GB CF cards. Use a Sandisk card reader to upload the images to your computer, rather than from the camera directly, in order to save the camera batteries. This Sandisk Card Reader is for the CF cards, and the 5 in 1 reads SD cards.
And for some basic stocking stuffers, here are a few simple but essential items for keeping your camera and lenses clean:
Giottos Medium Rocket Blower in the medium or large size. Always have it handy for getting dust off lenses in a hurry, because blowing on them – no matter how careful – leads to spittle on the lenses 5% of the time when it doesn’t matter and 95% of the time when you are in the most critical situations.
Pearstone LP-1 Lens Pen – Works great for cleaning off mysterious spots, smudges, and fingerprints that always appear on the lens (this is why I always use UV filters) as well as that a-fore-mentioned spittle. There is a retractable brush on one end and a cleaning head on the other end. Twist the cap to load the cleaning tip with the carbon based cleaning material, then remove the cap and use. Please read the instructions and visit the LensPen website to fully learn how to use it properly.
For more photography equipment and accessories like those above, be sure to see this previous post Equipment for Travel (and Everyday) Photography.
To edit and save all your photos, you are going to need some hard drive space and some software:
External Hard Drives – The Iomega Ego 1TB and a Lacie Rugged USB 1TB work great both at home and when traveling. There is a FireWire version of the Lacie Rugged 500GB also. Both are built solid and sturdy, and each fit perfectly in the Case Logic Portable Hard Drive Case made for these types of drives. Get the cases in different colors so you can quickly differentiate your different drives. For storage at home, consider a couple Western Digital My Book 1TB External Hard Drives.
Post-Production – After taking all these wonderful images with your new equipment, you are going to need to organize, edit, and work on all your photos. And for that, of course you are going to need Adobe Photoshop CS4 and/ or Adobe Lightroom 3. You can start off with the trial versions that you can download from the Adobe site, but sooner or later you are going to have to get the real versions. Use that student discount if you can!
Also be sure to consider all the great photo books to help you learn to use your equipment, improve you images and compositions, and be inspired. I’ve put together a post of several of my favorites that you can read here. The most recent addition to the bookshelf is:
The Photographer’s Mind: How to See and Shoot Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman
Every time I read Freeman’s The Photographer’s Eye, I lament, usually aloud, “why doesn’t he have more books like this?” Well, my wishes appear to have been answered. His next book The Photographer’s Mind has just come out.
And don’t forget the eBooks I put together for setting up and learning to use you Canon dSLR:
Your World 60D – The Still Photographer’s Guide to Operation and Image Creation with the Canon 60D – an eBook user’s guide and tutorial I wrote to help get you up and running with the 60D, quickly and competently. You can learn more about it at this post here. In addition to the PDF version, which also looks great on the iPad, it is also available in a Kindle edition on Amazon.com here and a Nook verion on BarnesandNoble.com Plus, for the Rebel T2i / EOS 550D, I have written T2i Experience – a similar guide for Canon T2i / 550D users.
Purchasing: If you plan to purchase cameras, photo equipment, books, or anything else from Amazon.com I encourage you to do so through any of the Amazon referral links I’ve set up. Just click on the equipment name or book title within this post and you will be taken to that Amazon page. Or click here to go directly to Amazon or click on the Amazon.com logo below, and start shopping. Thanks, I appreciate your support!
If you are in the UK, you can click here for the UK Amazon referral link.
For those interested in purchasing through B+H Photo, I have set up an affiliate link with them as well – just click here to go to B+H, or click the B+H icon here:
Happy Holidays, and I hope you get everything on your list!
This weekend I followed my own advice, and rented a lens to try out before deciding whether or not to buy it. As I suggest in my post Why You Shouldn’t Buy the Kit Lens, if you are considering purchasing an expensive lens or want to compare a couple similar lenses to decide which one to go with, rent one or both of them for a day or a weekend, and see how you like using them. Check with camera stores near you, or look into online lens rental sites that mail the lens to you, like LensRentals.com. I went to Calumet to rent, since there is a store near me and it’s pretty cheap for the weekend rate.
(click on any product links in the text to view the lenses on Amazon.com)
I rented the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L since I’m curious how it compares to the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS. While they have a similar focal-length range and can each serve as a great walk-around lens for everyday use, they have some differences that make it difficult to choose between the two. The 24-70mm is larger, significantly heavier (2.1 lbs. vs. 1.48 lbs.) and extends externally as you zoom. The 24-105mm has an internal zoom mechanism, and also has image stabilization (IS). But a major difference is the maximum aperture: f/2.8 vs. f/4.
click here to view these images larger on Flickr - from the garden at the Longfellow House, Cambridge, MA
The wider maximum aperture of the 24-70mm makes it a “faster” lens, allowing it to be used in lower light, although the IS of the 24-105mm can make up for that shortcoming. Visually, the wider maximum aperture allows for shallower depth of field (dof) which provides more dramatically blurred backgrounds, or bokeh. While I have resisted using the term bokeh in my writing, I can’t really avoid it in this discussion because the difference between f/4 vs. f/2.8 is all in the bokeh. The above image demonstrates what that means. It refers to the “circles of confusion” of the out-of-focus areas of an image – their size, shape, edges, and quality. Both of the images are taken with the 24-70mm lens – at f/4 on the left, and f/2.8 on the right. You can see that while they both demonstrate dramatically shallow depth of field and background blurring, the image taken with the aperture set at f/2.8 shows a smoother blend of the background colors and contrasts. The images are from the garden of the Longfellow House in Cambridge, MA.
When I got my Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, I chose the f/4 version rather than the f/2.8 IS version because it was smaller and significantly lighter, and I knew I would not dread using it on a long day of shooting as I feared I would with the 3.24 pound f/2.8 IS version. Three and a quarter pounds! (According to the Canon website. I’m not sure if that is right – Amazon says it is 2.9 lbs.) Anyway, that kind of weight might be an important consideration for someone traveling with a lens or using it for consecutive full days of shooting. I know it is a consideration for me. So, even though I got the f/4, I’ve wondered what I have been missing image-wise by not being able to open up to f/2.8. So I took these two images with the 24-70mm to see the difference, and it is more considerable than I had thought it would be.
I was very pleased with the 24-70mm. I had been concerned that I would want more range on the telephoto end, and I did end up with a lot of images taken at the 70mm focal length, but I didn’t usually feel like I needed or wanted to zoom in any closer. It really is a great range for everyday use. It is a big lens, but other than the weight, it feels great and is comfortable to use. You can’t deny its image quality, the bokeh is wonderful, but the weight is still a consideration and may dissuade me in the end.
Here is a great site at The-Digital-Picture.com to compare lenses, side by side. You can compare test images taken at various focal lengths and apertures. I will leave all the pixel peeping and debating of the merits of the 24-70mm vs. the 24-105mm to the forums, and just share a few photos I took with the 24-70mm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the adjoining Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. All the images are hand-held, without flash, in very low lighting. The leaves and flowers in the images below are from the world renowned glass flower collection. Yes, they are made entirely of glass! Even those fall leaves. It is mind boggling, especially when viewing them in person.
If you are considering buying any of these lenses from Amazon.com, please use the links above, and I will get a little something for referring you. Or use this link to go directly to Amazon.com. I appreciate your support!
glass leaves above, glass flowers below. yes 100% made of glass!
This post is the second in an occasional series in which I describe the making of a photograph, from both a technical and artistic standpoint. I’ll go through the camera settings and why they were chosen, as well as the thought processes going through my head regarding composition and the creation of the image. These types of posts will be concrete examples of a previous post of mine called How Pros Photograph, which describes the various decisions that may be going through a photographer’s head as they work a scene and make photos. The first post in this series can be read here.
This one can be called the Shutter Speed Edition, as you will learn below. For those looking to learn about Depth of Field, please view Deconstructing the Shot post 3, the Aperture Edition rather than this post.
The Photo: The photo I’ve selected for this example is one I took in Pucallpa, Peru in July 2008. Pucallpa is a town located along the Ucayali River, a tributary of the Amazon. Though it is a relatively small town, it has a bustling (though undeveloped) port which receives food and goods from deeper in the Amazon region. The streets of Pucallpa buzz with the constant traffic of moto-taxis, the motorcycle rickshaws found in much of Peru and the developing world. I had a few days before hopping on a slow boat to Iquitos, so I roamed the town looking for photo opportunities. I’ve created some strips of photos to show a selection of images as I worked this particular scene:
The Process: I wanted to capture the ubiquitous motion and activity of the traffic in the streets of Pucallpa, which is dominated by the moto-taxis. The best way to do this, I decided, was to capture the blur of motion as the traffic sped by. I was using a Canon Rebel XT with a 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II lens. I selected a busy and interesting intersection and set the camera to Shutter Priority mode (Tv on Canon, S on Nikon). This is so I could control the shutter speed and set it to a slow shutter speed so that fast motion would become a blur. I initially chose a shutter speed of 1/50, but that wasn’t resulting in enough blur, so through quick experimentation, I settled on 1/20. This shutter speed, 1/20 of a second, is very slow for hand-holding. While the motion will blur, it is difficult at this shutter speed to hold it still enough (without a tripod) so that the background will remain sharp and not cause unwanted blur due to camera shake in the in-focus areas. I now actually recommend using 1/30 as a starting point for creating motion blur. But even with 1/30, you have to pay attention to holding the camera very still. I selected ISO 100 since it was a very bright, sunny afternoon, and because I atypically needed to work in a slow shutter speed range.
I initially took some images of the traffic crossing the intersection, trying to capture many vehicles at once to accentuate my idea of the busy traffic. However, I soon decided to face directly across the street and capture the moto-taxis as they crossed my field of view. I set the Drive Mode to continuous so that I could fire off a series of photos each time the light turned green and the traffic crossed my view. The Rebel XT has a slow maximum rate of 3 frames per second (fps) but many current cameras will allow a more useful and faster frame rate of 5 or 6, or even 8 fps. White Balance was set on Auto, though Sunny setting would have worked well too. Metering was set on Evaluative. However, since the lighting and the scene remained relatively consistent, it would not have been a mistake to determine the best exposure then switch the camera to Manual mode, M, and set that exposure for all the photos.
In Shutter Priority mode, you choose the shutter speed and the camera will choose the aperture, based on the ISO setting. The aperture setting for this photo wasn’t too important to me. Since the foreground was going to be a blur of motion, it was best that the background was relatively in focus. So a narrow aperture providing relatively deep depth of field, such as f/11 or f/16 would be fine. Based on the ISO and the amount of light, the camera was selecting apertures ranging from f/8 to f/22 for various images, with most of them somewhere in the middle of that range. Also, since the subject was going to be a blur of motion, there was no point in trying to focus on it. The motion would most likely confuse the auto-focus system anyway, so I switched the lens to MF, Manual Focus, and focused on the sign post directly across the street from me. Though I may have zoomed slightly in or out with the lens at first, I settled on a focal length of 50mm and left it there.
While the subject of this composition is the blur of the vehicles, the background also comes into play, and as with every image, can not be ignored. The street and trees beyond created a nice background, both showing the urban context of the scene and blocking out what could have been a large area of dull, light sky. The yellow sign post, where I focused, added a nice element of color. You can see that the yellow post and the curb of the far side of the street lie near the “rule of thirds” lines. This isn’t an accident, and they were consciously placed there to help create an interesting composition. This was done through squatting or kneeling in order to place myself at the desired point of view and still capture most of the vehicles from top to bottom.
I took a series of 59 images over a period of nearly 8 minutes, with 48 of the images being the straight-on images in a period of just 2 minutes. I used a horizontal composition since that worked best with the blur of motion of the traffic. I typically just held down the shutter button as the traffic started to go by, just after the stoplight changed. By doing that I captured a variety of interesting images, with the moto-taxis blurring by in all types of configurations. In a situation like this, luck and chance play a big part. The photographer must control all the elements they can through composition, framing, and camera settings, and then allow the scene to play out in front of them. So I would actually call this controlled chance. There were a few very nice results, and I settled on an frame from the middle of the series, IMG_3306, as my chosen image. In addition to showing the blur of the moto-taxi, it also captured some pedestrians across the street and fully showed the one-way sign, which I thought were nice additions to the image. With these added elements, it becomes more of an overall “portrait” of the city streets of Pucallpa rather than just an image about motion.
The Post Process: To create the final image, I adjusted the color and contrast in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and in Photoshop (PS). As you can see by the unprocessed images, the color and contrast is quite dull and lifeless straight out of the camera. The original file was a JPEG file, and the Picture Style was Standard (I hadn’t started using RAW yet). In ACR, the Blacks were increased to 10 to give it the nice deep blacks, which helps to make the bright colors pop even more. A Fill setting of 10 was used to lighten up the foreground moto-taxi a bit, and Clarity +15 and Vibrance +10 were used to give it some, well, clarity and vibrance. In Photoshop, the contrast was increased with Curves using a setting probably close to Medium Contrast. I typically don’t make the blacks so black and purposefully lose detail in the shadows, but I was experimenting with this look and it seemed to work well here. The image was sharpened using Unsharpen Mask, probably at Amount: 85 or 100, Radius: 1, and Threshold: 4. Now I would try being more aggressive with the Amount and Radius, but I am not sure the 8MP JPEG file from the Rebel XT would withstand much more without starting to degrade. Somewhere along the way, either in ACR or PS, the color temperature was also changed to warm it up a little, which is more in keeping with the afternoon sun of the Amazon region. I didn’t crop the image at all, as you can see. It is best to try to get the framing you want when you capture the photo, but I am somewhat surprised myself that I did it so well. I once had a photo teacher in college who complimented me on my ability to capture the frame and not need to crop. I just thought that was the way one was supposed to take a photo! Thankfully I still sometimes demonstrate that ability.
The Final Image:
Canon Rebel XT, 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II at 50mm, ISO 100, f/14, 1/20s
The Lesson: We should always learn from our photos, so that next time we are in a similar situation, we can create an even better image. Some improvements I could have made to this image include using a neutral density (ND) filter or a polarizing filter. This would have given me more control over the range of aperture settings that the camera selected and allowed for a wider-open aperture so that the far distance became more of a blur. A polarizing filter would have also helped to darken the bits of sky that appear. And as I mentioned above, a shutter speed of 1/30 would have still created the blur, but would have been slightly easier to hand-hold without creating unwanted blur in the background due to camera shake.
This image was chosen to be used on the cover of the programs for the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Nuevo Latino Festival in 2009. Incredibly, the near square crop of the image works really well too:
So hopefully you can see from this explanation and from my previous posts that photographs don’t necessarily just happen. They are created through a combination of thought processes, a series of decisions, and the application of camera settings based on these decisions and on the situation at hand – plus some controlled chance!
This post is the first in an occasional series in which I will describe the making of a photograph, from both a technical and artistic standpoint. I’ll go through the camera settings and why they were chosen, as well as the thought processes going through my head regarding composition and the creation of the image. These types of posts will be concrete examples of a previous post of mine called How Pros Photograph, which describes the various decisions that may be going through a photographer’s head as they work a scene and make photos.
The Photo: As the first example photo, I’ve chosen the full, original version of the current header image of this blog, a line of kids reading in the courtyard of Ventanas Abiertas, an after-school learning center in San Miguel Dueñas, Guatemala. I traveled to this NGO near Antigua in November of 2009 to photograph the center, its founder, teachers and students, and its work in the community. I created this strip of images showing select photos from the series as I worked towards finding and making this image:
The Process: As I roamed the center taking photos, I spotted the kids all lined up on a curb in the courtyard, reading. The linear composition and the striking yellow wall made for a pretty obvious opportunity. I had a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II lens on a Canon 7D, with a protective UV filter on the lens. I first took a shot from a standing position, lining the kids across the center of the frame. The focal length of the lens was at 23mm, a wide shot to capture the whole scene. That shot has a bit of a snapshot look, and didn’t take full advantage of the yellow wall, had far too much of the grey concrete patio, and created too static of a composition which did not make use of the opportunity to apply the rule of thirds for a more dynamic composition. I re-framed to move the line of kids to the bottom third of the frame, and still had the lens wide and was standing. To better fill the frame with just the kids and to create a better point of view, more on the level of the kids, I crouched down and zoomed in to 35mm. Although the 35mm focal length is a wide angle and thus prone to distortion, due to my camera to subject distance there is only a slight amount of distortion in the image. If I had moved closer to the subjects, more distortion would have been obvious. At this point I checked my settings and saw I was at ISO 400 from the previous shots in the shade, so I lowered it to ISO 200 since the late afternoon light was still pretty bright. The lowest ISO possible for the given situation will typically create a higher quality image file. For all the shots I was using Aperture Priority mode. I almost always use Av mode unless i am dealing with motion or blur that needs to be controlled (then I use Tv mode), or am using the flash in a controlled situation (and then I often use Manual, M mode). The aperture was set at f/5.0 to give me a relatively shallow depth of field, but enough so that the kids and the wall behind them were all in focus, but anything inside the doorway and window would be a bit blurry and thus less distracting. Unlike most of my images, the aperture setting wasn’t critical here, as the depth of the entire image is mostly all within a couple feet, from the kids’ toes to the wall behind them. So f/4.0 or f/8 would have given me virtually the same image. At ISO 200, the shutter speed was at 1/80 or 1/100, which was fast enough for handholding. A little faster would have been better to ensure there was no blurring if a child moved their head or hands during a shot, so leaving the camera set on ISO 400 would not have been a mistake.
As you can see in the first several photos, many of the kids were aware of me taking their photo, and were posing, goofing, or self conscious. I continued to take a few shots and waited for them to begin to ignore me. I liked the composition, and the window and the doorway to anchor the sides of the frame, so I continued to take the same shot, attempting to get the best moment of poses and facial expressions. I attempted to keep the image straight, aided by the lines visible in the viewfinder of the 7D. For all of the shots, I manually selected an auto-focus point, using a point below the central focus point which would line up on or near the face of one of the central kids. This would take advantage of the nice contrast between the dark hair and the lighter face to ensure proper auto-focus. By selecting an AF point exactly where I wanted to focus, I didn’t have to worry about focusing or have to re-frame each subsequent shot. The exposure metering was set on evaluative. The bright yellow wall could have easily messed with the metering, and I’m sure another camera like my 50D would have overexposed the wall, but the 7D performed nicely on this mode. I checked my histogram a couple times to make sure I wasn’t blowing out any highlights and thus needing to use exposure compensation to adjust for that.
The Final Image: Canon 7D, 16-35mm f.2.8L II at 35mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100s
I took a series of 19 images of this same scene, over 1 minute and 12 seconds. As you can see, it didn’t take long for the kids to begin to ignore my presence. My chosen shot was from the middle of this series, IMG_3068. It stood out among all the others in the poses, positions, groupings, and facial expressions of all the kids. Throughout the time of the series, a head appeared in the window, and people moved around inside the doorway. Luckily with my chosen shot, the head was in the window, as I like this subtle, almost hidden detail. I liked the bit of green from the plant on the left, but my chosen shot unfortunately doesn’t show much of it.
The Post-Process: To create the final image, I adjusted the color and contrast in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR). I had shot the image in RAW for maximum quality and processing latitude. Due to the available light of the scene and the proper exposure, it required little processing. I set the Temperature at 4600 and the Tint to 8. I adjusted Recovery to 5 to bring back some of the detail of the yellow wall which was very slightly blown out, Fill to 15 to lighten up the children’s clothes, Brightness stayed at the standard 50, I set Contrast to 20 with plans to increase it a bit more in Photoshop. Clarity 20, Vibrance 15, and Saturation 0. I like a bit of color saturation, vibrance, and contrast in my images, but I prefer not to overprocess or to make the adjustments obvious. While the yellow of these images is definitely vibrant, especially compared to the dull, neutral RAW images, it is a realistic representation of the actual color. Typically I straighten and maybe crop a bit in ACR, but miraculously this shot was very level, and also left no room for cropping. In Photoshop I used Curves to adjust the contrast somewhere between the Linear and Medium presets, and used Unsharpen Mask to sharpen. I don’t know what my exact settings were, but I had to use aggressive sharpening because the Canon 7D I used had a severe front-focusing problem. The settings were probably Amount: 175 or 200, Radius: 1.8, and Threshold: 4.
The Lesson: We should always learn from our photos, so that next time we are in a similar situation, we can create an even better image. Some improvements I could have made to this image include possibly crouching or sitting even lower to be more on level with the kids faces (although this would have caused keystoning of the vertical lines), eliminating the doorway at right by either re-framing or moving slightly to the left (which would cut out a child or two on the right) or moving to my right and shooting back towards them at a slight angle, but this would have affected the straight-on view which I feel is important to this composition. I would not have minded a little more of the green plant on the left in the frame. The image demonstrates the importance of keeping the camera level and the sensor parallel to the subject to avoid unwanted distortion. The best way to keep the horizontal and verticals straight while taking the photo is to make sure the camera is not tilted up or down and that the sensor is parallel to the wall. This involves moving yourself and the camera up or down to get the framing you desire. Also, in post-processing, I could have used the lens correction menus in ACR or Photoshop to perfectly straighten all the verticals and horizontals. Finally, although the color looks good, now I would have paid more attention to adjusting the Temperture and Tint, or adjusting the white balance using Curves in Photoshop because I have experimented and learned a bit more about these settings since then. Also, now that I see IMG_3074 again, (the last one in the strip above) I like it a lot, and should probably process that one and add it to my collection of final images.
So hopefully you can see from this explanation and from my previous post that photographs don’t necessarily just happen. They are created through a combination of thought processes, a series of decisions, and the application of camera settings based on these decisions and on the situation at hand.
I responded to a comment on one of my posts, and my response ended up being the size of a blog post, so I’m just going to turn it into one! Please note that the title of this post should actually, technically be “Fixed Maximum Aperture vs. Variable Maximum Aperture,” as I will explain in a second.
If you are getting into dSLR cameras and lenses, you may have noticed that some lenses have a fixed maximum aperture, while others have a variable maximum aperture. This is spelled out in the name of the lens. For example, the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens has a fixed maximum aperture of f/2.8 at all focal lengths, while the Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM has a variable maximum aperture which ranges from f/3.5 to f/5.6, depending on which focal length you are using. (the EF vs. EF-S means that EF lenses can be used on any Canon dSLR, while EF-S lenses are designed for, and can only be used on Canon dSLRs with 1.6x cropped sensors, including all Rebels, 50D, 60D, 7D, T2i/550D, but not the full frame 5D. IS means image stabilization. USM means ultrasonic motor, and means the lens has a high quality, rapid, and quiet motor for auto focusing.) The term fixed aperture usually does not mean that the lens only has one aperture setting you can use, but rather that is a common way of saying it has a fixed maximum aperture. So you can change the aperture of a “fixed aperture” lens and set it anywhere from its maximum aperture, possibly f/2.8, to its minimum aperture, perhaps f/32.
Barbes, Brooklyn, NY
With variable aperture lenses, the largest, maximum aperture you can choose when you zoom to the telephoto end will not be as wide open as the largest aperture you can choose at the wide angle end. For example with the 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6, with the lens set at the focal length of 28mm (the wide end), you can use the f/3.5 aperture setting. But with the lens zoomed to 135mm, the widest aperture you can use is f/5.6. This will slightly affect the amount of background blurring – or foreground blurring in the image above, and will decrease the amount of light entering the lens. Wider, larger apertures like f/2.8 or f/3.5 blur the background the most, which helps to create dramatic images. The reason not all lenses have fixed apertures is that they require more sophisticated internal parts and mechanisms, such as more lens elements, which thus makes them very expensive (and heavy), so variable aperture is a compromise in order to offer more reasonably priced lenses.
Barbes, Brooklyn, NY
Also, the wider apertures (f/2.8, f/4) are best for low light situations because they allow more light to enter the camera and thus allow you to select a fast shutter speed that won’t blur the image while hand-holding the camera. If you are typically working outside, this shouldn’t be too much of a concern, but if you work indoors or in low light, lenses with wide apertures like f/2.8 or f/1.4 are desirable.
Now, why is f/2.8 called a large aperture and f/22 a small aperture? 2.8 seems like a smaller number than 22, right? No, f/2.8 and f/22 are fractions. So if f were to equal 1, a slice of pie that is 1/2.8 of the pie is a bigger piece that a slice that is 1/22 of the pie, right?! So f/2.8 is a large aperture, which means a large opening, which lets in lots of light all at once, but which then causes objects not in the plane of focus, such as the background, to be blurry. f/22 is a small aperture, a small opening which lets in just a little light. But everything from near to far is in focus, like when you squint to see a street sign clearer! (The letter f in the fraction stands for the focal length of the lens.)
Please leave a comment, ask a question. Let me know what has been helpful, and what you’d like to read more about.
For additional posts about lenses see Best Lenses for Travel and Humanitarian Photography and Why You Shouldn’t Buy the Kit Lens.
If you plan to purchase any equipment, I encourage you to do so through the site I’ve set up with Amazon, Doug’s Picturing Change Digital Photography Equipment and Books. Or go directly to Amazon using this link to the Canon Lenses. Purchasing through my site or through that link will help support my work!
I am moving my blog from WordPress to my own website. This post about the Best Lenses for Travel Photography can be read here:
http://blog.dojoklo.com/2010/04/13/best-lenses-for-travel-and-humanitarian-photography/
Thanks for following me to my new blog home!
OK, I admit, the title of this post is purposely overly dramatic. The truth is, I don’t know if you should buy a digital SLR with the kit lens or not. That was partially a cheap ploy for attention and Google searches. But the reality is, Canon and Nikon don’t know what you are taking photos of and how you work, so just because they pair a lens up with the body you want, don’t assume it is the right lens for you and your work. You may save some money at first, but if you soon upgrade and replace the kit lens, and then toss it aside and rarely use it again, you’re really not saving any money. (It should tell you something that when you read forum posts from people discussing kit lenses, you discover the most common phrase is “I bought the kit lens, but…” typically followed by the words “soon replaced.”) You don’t need a “starter lens,” whatever that means. You need a lens that does what you want.
For additional posts about lenses, see Best Lenses for Travel and Humanitarian Photography and Fixed vs. Variable Aperture Lenses.
So I’d like to raise some issues that can help you make a better, more informed decision if you should get the kit lens or if you should buy just the camera body, and purchase a different lens. (A “kit lens” is a lens that is sold together with a dSLR camera body, as a package – as opposed to buying the camera body only and selecting your own lens.)
San Francisco, Peru – Shipibo Village
1/640, f/5, ISO 200, 105mm
If some of the digital photography terms in this post are new to you, check out this great glossary for assistance.
There are several routes to follow regarding buying lenses. One common path seems to be to start out with a single, all purpose zoom lens, like the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, that takes you all the way from wide angle to telephoto. Then when your experience and needs change and develop, you might get higher quality zooms with more limited range, such as a wide angle zoom, a standard zoom, and/ or a telephoto zoom. Somewhere along the way you may throw in a couple prime lenses, and then maybe upgrade the zoom lenses to the professional series, or get a super expensive, giant telephoto if your work requires that. There are a million sites that address everything about lenses, so I don’t wish to repeat it all here. But one thing is for sure: they can’t tell you which lens you need. You have to figure that out yourself, and hopefully this post will help you do that.
One thing to keep in mind with lenses is that you almost always get what you pay for. With more expensive lenses you often get features including:
- better sharpness throughout its full range of focal lengths and apertures
- better sharpness, color, contrast, and image quality across the image frame, from the center to the corners
- higher quality construction
- higher quality glass and coatings to prevent flare and internal reflections
- larger maximum apertures
- fixed maximum apertures (read about what this means in this other post)
- better durability
- Increased dust, water, and weather resistance
- image stabilization (designated IS on Canon lenses; VR on Nikon/Nikkor lenses)
- higher quality auto focus mechanisms
- quieter and faster auto focus
- full time manual focus (ability to override auto-focus for manually tweeking focus while remaining in AF)
- internal zoom mechanisms – meaning the lens does not extend when you zoom – which also allows for better weather sealing
- metal lens mounts (the part that screws onto the camera) for better durability, sealing, and electrical connections (cheaper kit lenses often have plastic mounts that wear and then the lens wobbles and loses electrical connection)
One notable exception to this rule of price=quality seems to be Canon’s 50mm f/1.8 II for under $100. From what I’ve repeatedly read, the quality is exceptional, although the build quality seems to be what suffers. Also, since higher quality lenses typically contain more internal lens elements, they are often heavier than equivalent cheaper lenses.
If you are new to learning about lenses, you may wonder why you shouldn’t just buy a relatively inexpensive lens that takes you from 18mm or 55mm all the way to 200mm or 300mm and covers all your needs. The general answer is that lenses typically can’t maintain high quality throughout a huge range like that. If you have a high quality camera, you are better off sacrificing some of that zoom range for better quality through a more limited range. And any dSLR with 15, 18, or 21 megapixels will show the shortcomings of cheaper lenses due to the high resolution of the sensor.
Ucayali River, Peru
1/400, f/6.3, ISO 100, 105mm
So, to choose the lens that is right for you, first look at what you plan to or typically take photos off. What range of zoom or individual prime lenses best fit these needs? If you have lots of recent photos, look at the EXIF data to see what focal lengths got the most use. (Make sure you take into account sensor sizes and crop factors though. A photo taken at 55mm focal length on your digital compact may be the equivalent of 55mm on a camera with a full frame sensor, like the Canon 5D, but will likely not be the equivalent of 55mm focal length on a 1.6x crop factor size sensor of a Canon Rebel, 60D, or 7D. You may have to do some research and some math and figure out what the equivalent focal length is to make sure you are comparing apples to apples.)
When I was initially upgrading from an all purpose zoom to higher quality but more limited range zooms, I put all my favorite and most successful recent photos in a folder and then opened that folder in Adobe Bridge. In the “Filter” panel, I expanded the “Focal Length” list, and saw the number of photos taken at each focal length. It quickly became apparent that I was always working at the extremes of my lens, either at 28mm or at 105mm, and then the next highest concentration of images was around 50mm and 85mm. What this metadata told me was that I needed a wide angle lens for those times I was working at 28mm, and also a telephoto lens that started around 80mm and went up to 105mm or greater. Knowing from experience that I often wished I could get much wider than 28mm, and seeing in the EXIF data that when going wide I rarely went above 30mm or 35mm, I chose a 16-35mm wide angle zoom lens. Also knowing from experience that I often wished I could zoom in much closer than I was able to with 105mm, a 70-200mm lens was a great solution. With these two lenses, I have the wide and telephoto ranges covered. But the EXIF data also showed a concentration of images from 50-65mm, so this tells me perhaps I should consider a 50mm prime lens. I can make up the difference of 50-65mm by “zooming with my feet,” as they say.
Cusco, Peru – Inti Raymi 2007
1/500, f/4.6, ISO 100, 21mm (digital compact)
If you don’t yet have enough experience or past images to know which range of lenses will best fit your subject matter, look at photographers who do similar work. Professionals usually list what gear they use on their website – look for the “equipment” or “gear” link. If you are into travel, look at what Bob Krist and Nevada Wier use. If you are into landscapes or birds or sports, look at your favorite pros in these areas (sorry, I don’t know too much about these areas). If you favor international humanitarian photojournalism (as I do), look to Karl Grobl and Ami Vitale, or any number of other working pros. If you can’t afford or are not ready to invest in the professional series lenses that they use, determine the closest equivalent in a less expensive lens. Or another approach is to look at the types of images that draw your attention, the types of images you wish to emulate. See if the focal length is listed under the image (this is often done in photo magazines and books), or with images on Flickr view the EXIF data. If it is not listed, just determine the focal length more generally. Are the images you admire and are attracted to close-ups, details, or faces with blurry backgrounds? These are typically made with telephoto lenses – lenses that range from 70mm to 200mm, 250mm, or 300mm. Or are they all encompassing wide shots, landscapes, or environmental portraits? These are usually taken with wide angle lenses or lenses that range anywhere from 10mm or 18mm up to 70mm or 85mm.
There may be 2 or 3 lenses that fit in your desired range, so the next step is to head to the photo store. Have them pull out the camera body you have or want, and then 2 of the similar lenses. Try them both out, and you may quickly see which one you favor. One may be much heavier than the other, or just feel more comfortable in your hands. There may be a significant difference in size. When I went to look at the 70-200mm, there were 4 to choose from: it came with or without image stabilization and with f/2.8 or f/4 aperture. I knew I wanted the IS, and even though it was significantly more expensive, I knew I wanted the f/2.8 since it is generally considered better for a variety of reasons. However, the moment the guy placed them side by side on the counter, I was relieved I had not ordered it sight unseen. The f/2.8 is gigantic. It is a cannon, (not just a Canon) and it weighs a ton. I knew I would not want to haul that thing around, have it around my neck or in my hands all day, and that I would probably begin to dread its weight very quickly. So I went with the f/4 (Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS), with its very similar optics and performance, and half the weight. I sacrificed a little “speed” and compositional possibilities (as well as bragging rights) with the f/4 aperture, but based on how I knew I would be using it, it was worth the trade off. However when comparing two similar wide angle zooms, side by side and in my hands, I chose the heavier one. Its shorter focal length at the wide end and its wider aperture, which would be beneficial in the low light situations I would be commonly using it, were more important to me that the weight.
Whichever lens you get, be sure to get the optional lens hood (they come with L-series lenses) and a high-quality coated or multi-coated UV filter (such a the B+W brand). The lens hood will help shade the lens to prevent unwanted lens flare (although lens flare can sometimes be used for a great effect when desired), help protect the lens from bumps and drops, and will make you look cooler and more professional! Have a look on my post about The Best Lenses for Travel Photography which specifies the applicable Canon lens hood and filter size for several lenses.
Lake Titicaca, Peru
1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 400, 105mm
If you still can’t decide, rent the camera and both lenses, or just the lens you are leaning towards, and try them out for a weekend. As far as all the other comparisons between lenses, do research on-line. Avoid forums that debate the pros and cons of various lenses but are subject to subjective judgments. Look for sites with actual side-by-side reviews and comparisons. I’ve listed a few links at the bottom.
Don’t rule out a prime lens as your first lens either. The 50mm used to be the “kit lens” back in the 35mm films days, and for a good reason. It is called a “normal” lens, meaning “the way it renders perspective closely matches that of the human eye.” (Gary Voth). Also, its large maximum aperture – often f/1.4 or f/1.8 – means it works great in low light situations, as well as creates dramatic background blurring. Gary Voth has written an excellent post about the 50mm, “The Forgotten Lens,” describing its numerous other benefits. He also addresses the issues of a 50mm with a full frame vs. cropped frame digital SLRs. The couple of photos on his post may be enough to convince you he is on to something.
On a final note, I’ve read of people being concerned about buying lenses that overlap, for example having a 24-105mm and a 70-200mm. These 2 would overlap, and thus potentially serve the same purpose, in the 70-105mm range. I don’t think this should be a concern at all, for a couple reasons. First, the lenses may not act exactly the same optically at the same focal length due to the lenses’ minimum apertures or their focusing “sweet spots.” More importantly, there are so many situations where you can’t or don’t want to change, or even carry around a variety of lenses, so consider each lens’ range independently of your other lenses. If you were walking about in a city taking photos, a 24-105mm would be great range, and more convenient than having to change lenses every time you wanted to zoom past 70mm. Of course if you have 2 bodies, you may have to reconsider this philosophy.
I go into further detail about the best lenses for travel and humanitarian photography in this post where I discuss specific lenses in the different zoom ranges of wide, standard, and telephoto, as well as choosing the best one lens for travel. That post will also benefit those looking for a general, all-around lens.
If you plan to purchase any equipment, I encourage you to do so through the referral links I’ve set up with Amazon. Use the product links throughout various posts, or just use this one and go directly to Amazon using this link to the Canon Lenses or this link to the Nikon lenses. Purchasing through my site or through that link will help support my blog – thanks! And for those of you across the pond, click here for my referral link to Amazon UK. If you are in another country, click on one of my Amazon links, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on your country for your local Amazon.
Great sites for lens reviews:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://photo.net/equipment/canon/
Please leave a comment, ask a question. Let me know what has been helpful, and what you’d like to read more about.
