Lenses to Use for Photographing Your Family
85/1.2, Only one lens gives this look.
Good ‘Glass’
It’s a cliché saying, but it’s true:
“We date our cameras but marry our lenses.”
Building up a collection in one system (e.g., Canon) requires investment and some thought about what you want to do in the future. Don’t worry about the camera when starting, but buy the best lens(es) you can afford. Ten-year-old cameras will make excellent photos, but the issue with older cameras is that they often come as a matched set with a cheap old kit zoom lens. Get rid of it and, buy a 50mm for $125, and you’ll have a functional, setup that you might find perfect and use for years.
Primes
Primes are fixed focal length lenses. (i.e., they don't zoom) Many photographers, myself included, prefer prime lenses; they are often smaller, lighter, cheaper, and sharper than the big zooms. Using one or two primes, you will instinctively learn to judge the distances between you and your subject. You ‘zoom with your’ feet without thinking. As always, the less you have in your bag, the quicker you can decide what is required for the scene in front of you. You can buy primes from 8mm to 1200mm, but the most common focal lengths for portraiture are:
• 24mm - The widest I normally use for kids’ photography.
• 35mm - Slightly wider than the eye sees.
• 85mm - Flattering focal length for headshot portraits.
• 135mm - Good for compressing backgrounds.
85/1.2 @ 1.2
Zooms
While many of us love to use primes, there is much to be said for getting one or two good quality zoom lenses and being done with thinking about lenses for good; a quality zoom can live on your camera for years. Roughly speaking, there are three zoom ranges: 16-35mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm. The drawbacks are that zooms tend to be heavier, more expensive, and ‘slower’ than prime lenses.
If you buy a zoom, get an f2.8, even if you have to buy second-hand.
If your kids are involved in sports, budget for a 70-200mm. That’s the sports lens, and it will last you forever; you’ll be the parent who somehow gets all the freakishly amazing action shots. Otherwise, get a 24-70mm, which will be of use in most situations. Zooms are perfect for shooting in dust, or rain when you can’t safely change lenses.
Below are two photos from the same spot with a 24-70mm zoom.
Taken with 70mm end of 24-70mm.
Same spot at 24mm
To give an idea of size, here is a comparison of the three options: Manual Focus (MF), Autofocus Primes, and Zooms.
From left to right:
• 21mm f2.8 MF
• 35mm f2 MF
• 35mm f1.4
• 135/f2
• 135/f1.8
• 24-70mm f2.8 II
• 70-200 f2.8 IS
Think about how much you want to spend, and how much you want to lug around.
2 x MF, 3 x AF Prime, 2 x AF Zoom (Left to right)
24mm
35mm, my personal favourite!
And Remember!
The most critical skill in getting sharp portraits with out-of-focus backgrounds is to control the Depth of Field (DOF), usually by utilizing Aperture Priority mode. To get this look, you need to have a low aperture number (e.g., f2.8) and a high shutter speed (e.g., 1/500th). This results in that classic separation between the subject and the background. (The overused term is ‘bokeh.’) Some people call it an overdone cliche, but you see it everywhere for a reason. It draws attention to the subject as the focus is only on the eyes. I know "the eyes are the window to the soul" and all that, but it's true. All you need to have in focus are the eyes. Or at the very least, the closest eye.
For terminology, this is what you have to know:
The smaller the aperture of a lens, the 'faster' the lens.
The larger the aperture of a lens, the 'slower' the lens.
So a 35mm/f1.4 prime lens is 'fast', a 17-40mm/f4 zoom is 'slow'.
