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Focal Length Matters
Once upon a time, photographer me was chatting with a non-photographer about making photos at an event.
She wanted me to use a zoom lens so I could “take photos of people further away.” My internal voice thought, “no, no, no.”
Why were my thoughts so contrary?
Well, because most non-photographers don’t actually know what focal length does. In this post I’ll go over a few key points that will leave you much happier with the photos you make.
Normal Lenses
I’ll start this discussion with normal lenses, because people often speak of photography as moments in real life.
Well, a normal lens is what can get us closest to this.
A normal lens is 50 mm for full frame cameras and 35 mm for cropped-frame cameras.
There is no type of distortion, and is a favorite among some street and documentary photographers. That’s what you often hear it called the nifty fifty.
Telephoto Lenses
Telephotos lenses may be the most misunderstood of this bunch. Beginner photographers often think they are good for making photos of something that’s further away.
But when they do this, they often don’t like their photos, and may not figure out why.
Telephoto lenses are anything longer than 50 mm for full-frame cameras and 35 mm for cropped-frame cameras.
They compress the length in a photo and make whatever is in the background seem much closer.
This can be used to manipulate what the viewers sees to make a not-so-crowded scene seem very crowded.
Portrait photographers often use a slight telephoto lens so that they don’t show as much of the background, and combined with selective focus, they can put the emphasis on the subject of the photo.
