What lens for wedding photography?
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Choosing the right lenses to use for wedding photography is crucial in producing the perfect documentation of the couple's special day. There is no single lens type that can be considered "perfect" for every kind of wedding shot. Choosing the most versatile lenses to capture spontaneous moments, close-ups, medium-range or panoramic shots of the wedding allows you to depict the occasion's varying locations and emotions.
Telephoto Lenses for Portraits
A wedding photographer needs a good portrait lens to shoot the couple together in various backgrounds and settings. Whether inside a photo studio or in a natural backdrop, look for lenses that capture clear, intimate shots. A good rule of thumb is to use a short- to medium-range telephoto lens measuring from 85mm to 200mm- shoot the couple from a distance of about 10 to 15 feet away. The lenses can also use softening filters to enhance facial features. Wide lenses are not ideal when shooting portraits as the focus of portraits are human subjects, not the background or setting.
Wide Lenses for Panoramic Shots
A wide-angle lens is the preferred lens for documenting the wedding location and shooting panoramic scenes. For weddings, such wide shots typically include a picturesque sunset, a mountain backdrop, the church exterior and the reception venue, complete with the wedding guests and the newly married couple. This type of lens can also best capture a subject's background, even when shooting at a very short distance.
Telephoto and Macro Lenses for Close-up Shots
A telephoto lens allows you to shoot subjects from a considerable distance, but still render them as close-up shots. The distance depends on the focal length of the lens and the camera's ISO setting, aperture and shutter speed, which are crucial to the exposure, optical quality and framing of the image produced. As a general guide, a 200mm lens can shoot a tight shot of the bride even if the photographer is on the second floor of the church, while a 500mm lens can already take a good close-up shot of birds soaring in the sky.
A telephoto lens is ideal when focusing on emotional moments of the couple during the wedding or the reactions of their family members and friends without intrusion by the photographer. Meanwhile, a macro lens allows you to shoot small subjects and still capture them large enough to complete a full frame in the photo. This is advantageous when shooting wedding rings, invitations and other accessories of the bride, groom and wedding party.
Special Lenses for Creative Shots
Aside from long lenses, producing distinctive shots beyond what regular lenses typically offer can be achieved through the use of special or creative lenses. There are many kinds of creative lenses such as the Lensbaby, which is used to capture images through the lens' "sweet spot," or area of sharp focus. The contrast with the blurred surrounding area lends a special quality to the shot. Another creative lens that can be used is the fisheye lens, which allows you to capture a large area of a scene without having to go too far from the subject. In addition, there are many types of perspective control lenses, also known as "tilt" or "shift" lenses, which allow the correction of linear distortion resulting from high- or low-angle shots.
Special lenses help push the boundaries in shooting techniques, as they intentionally make photos look dynamic or distorted. Some also use special filters placed over regular lenses, such as polarizers, gradation and ND filters.
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