Tag Archives: Telephoto

That long look

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As you all know, there are three ways to get “blurry backgrounds”:

  1. Large aperture (“low f-number”).
  2. Get close.
  3. Use a long lens focal length (“zoom in”).

The first one is the one everyone thinks about – but the last one has a very recognizable look. Like this, yesterday, at 190mm at f/8:

Compare that look and that background blur with this, taken at 70mm:

Both nice, but the first one (viewed full size) has that distinct “long look”, and the background is blurrier. Reason I like the 70-200mm lens for fashion shoots if I have enough space!

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Want to learn this? There are a couple of spots still open on my Oakville Photo walk, this coming Sunday from 1-5pm. Go to www.cameratraining.ca/Schedule.html and follow the BOOK link.

Nature close up

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Nature can be beautiful, as in the snap I made in downtown Toronto yesterday afternoon:

Bird, Fountain and Flowers (Toronto, 29 August) - photo by Michael Willems

Bird, Fountain and Flowers (Toronto, 29 August)

Sometimes, as in this example, nature is best seen close up; sometimes better using wide angles.

That is the kind of thing we will be going over in the upcoming full-day Nature Walk workshop, which, take note, has now been brought forward to 11 September. It is also one of the subjects I go through in the Henry’s “Creative Urban Photography” half day walkaround I do in Oakville.

Choosing the right angle is a very important part of making (not “taking”!) a photo, and it is one of many subjects covered.

Oh, the photo? A 70-200mm f/2.8L lens, set to f/4 (I wanted the bird to be sharp, and these birds never sit still for more than a moment). At 200 ISO, that gave me 1/250th second. I used the Canon 7D camera, because its 1/6 crop factor gave me a longer reach (the 200mm effectively became 320m).

Enlarging the moon

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One aspect of wide versus telephoto lenses is how large the background gets. As in “If you want a large moon, use a long lens”.

Huh? What do you mean, Michael?

I shall illustrate with a couple of shots I took of a student during a “Creative Urban Photography” outing the other day. One with a long lens, and one with a wide angle lens.

Ignore the light (I was using a flash with a warming gel on one camera, and no flash at all on the other), and look instead at the size of the blurred-out car in the background:

Here’s picture one:

Student during recent CUP outing, Oakville

Student during recent CUP outing, Oakville

Now look at picture two (where by moving my position I have kept the subject the same size):

Student during recent CUP outing, Oakville

Student during recent CUP outing, Oakville

See how that car magically grew much larger in the second picture?

Do I need to explain which picture was taken with a wide angle lens, and which one with a telephoto lens?

So now imagine the person is a tree and the car is the moon at night, or the setting sun. So what lens would I be most likely to use if I want a large moon or a large setting sun?

Wide or telephoto?

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I am going to repeat something I have mentioned many times before, but that never goes out of style: the difference between a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens.

Here is the same car shot recently with a telephoto lens from afar and then with a wide angle from close up:

Telephoto/far away:

A 1958 Dodge shot in Oakville by Michael Willems

A 1958 Dodge in Oakville (70-200)

Wide/close by:

A 1958 Dodge shot in Oakville by Michael Willems using a wide angle lens

A 1958 Dodge in Oakville (16-35)

You see the difference, yes? If ever the saying “a picture paints 1,000 words” is true, I imagine it is here.

Wide shows enhanced perspective/depth. Telephoto makes it look flat. This is not because of magic in the lens: it is simply because of the vantage point you take using each lens.

In addition,

  • Telephoto creates blurrier backgrounds more easily, while wide can easily have extensive depth of field
  • Wide is less susceptible to motion blur

Wide is better for situational portraits, low light shooting, and architecture, and much travel. Telephoto is better for flattering portraits.

Architecture tip

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When you shoot architecture and you want a straight photo, with no distortion, like this:

…then you need to do the following:

  1. Step back. Way back.
  2. Use a long telephoto lens.
  3. Do not aim up or down: keep the lens parallel to the ground.
  4. Consider using a tripod if the lens length is long.

You will now get an “undistorted” picture where the background is enlarged and drawn in to the subject.