Lens Choice is a Key Concept to improving your photos. More so if you have a specialty.
One of my EASYDSLR Members, Julie, has a specialty – she takes Band photos. Her unique challenge is dealing with poorly lit venues. You could put on a decent flash and get crisp images but you lose a lot of the atmosphere.
In my Buyer’s Guide I recommend Cameras and go a little into Lenses but my Photography Course gives you a lot more on using the right lens to suit the situation.
Julie says: “A major point I have learnt from your course is to use the lens to suit the situation, and you will see in the attached photo that I did everything WRONG!
This photo was taken inside a dark pub, and at that stage I still had my Canon 350D. The lens I chose was my often preferred (for outdoor festivals etc.) Tamron 18-270mm zoom. I set the shutter speed much too low, at 1/60sec and the camera chose the Av at F6.3. The ISO was 400 and I took the Ev metre up +1. The metering was also set to Pattern, and I used the flash – definite no-no! Hence the shadows.
Since watching your tutorials I have now learnt that I should have used my Canon 50mm F1.4 lens, and maybe cropped later for a close-up, or moved closer to the subject. Also the shutter speed should have been set to at least 200 with an ISO of around 800 minimum. And definitely NO FLASH.
And another important module I found invaluable, your explanation of the three metering settings; Pattern, Spot and Centre Weighted. I now use Centre Weighted for all my band photos, unless I want to zoom in and focus on the tuning pegs, pick, slide on their fingers, or some other small object, then I set it to Spot.
Thanks again for all your help Ken”
When you put your DSLR kit together think about what kind of Photography are you into. That will determine what lenses you want to add. If, like Julie, you are into low light situations then consider getting a decent Prime lens like a Canon 50mm f/1.4 or NIkon 50mm f/1.4.
P.S. If you want a beginners tour of accessories and techniques to better photos in a short space of time check out my EASYDSLR Digital Photography Course.
