Focus on Lenses

Posted by jesuslewis on August 4th, 2017

Just about anyone with a camera can and does journey out into nature to photograph "things." So how do we nature photographers see these "things" differently than the countless others when we are photographing the very same subject (s)? Well, what we want to convey with our camera and lens may or may not be what we actually see. This is where knowledge of the camera lens is very valuable information. What we see at the scene is not going to be what goes down on the film. It's the old saying of, "what you see is not what you get" and this applies to photography as well.

So what we are going to do is start to learn how to see more like the lens does? Why do we need to start learning this? Because, if we know what the lens will do to the scene (good or bad), we can make the right lens choice. This will put us in a place of control. We can then employ the lens which will communicate our interpretation of this scene or any scene. Now I am not saying this is a easy thing to do - to see like the lens. And, my little method for learning to see like your lenses see isn't scientific, but it works. It has worked for many photographers who have enrolled in my nature photography workshops.

We have a little exercise you can do if you would like to improve your photographic craft, the part that deals with seeing like your lens.

There are many photographers in history that used successfully only one focal length lens. They were able to do this because of their knowledge of how the particular lens they were using portrayed the subject. Some of these photographers, I’m sure, were limited as to the available funds for equipment, and therefore, due to financial hardship needed to understand their single lens (don't we all). Today, this is a totally different scenario. There are a wide variety of lenses on the market for photographers to use in photography. The different focal lengths available in 35mm alone is more than staggering.

What we will concentrate on are the most widely used and popular lenses. These focal length lenses are the primary choices for landscape photography. Our purpose is to understand how the lens will see our subject so we may use this knowledge when selecting the lens for each image made. The lens you choose is dependent on your knowledge of its use. Do not put one lens on your camera for the day! You will lose so much creativity when doing such a thing, unless of course, you only have the one lens. 

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