Shooting portraits with a telephoto lens can be a very good idea. Long lenses help you isolate a subject by providing attractive compression while producing beautiful background blur, aka bokeh. But how long is too long of a lens to shoot a portrait with?
We like it when photographers have fun with their gear and try out new things, especially when it relates to the creative use of lenses. In the below video, the gang on Mango Street break out a 400mm Canon lens for a portrait shoot.
Lens comparison shootouts are always a lot of fun especially when they're primes and it's a portrait session. In the below video, photographer Jessica Kobeissi pits a 50mm F/1.2 lens against an 85mm F/1.4 lens while photographing a model using the same settings and the same locations.
It's not what most photographers would consider essential glass, but in mid-2017, when I heard it was available, I knew the 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye Nikkor was a lens I'd like a lot. What I didn't realize was how much "a lot" was going to be. It turned out that I liked to have it with me whenever I was photographing.
I always thought the weirdest mirror lens ever was a Vivitar Series 1 600–900mm zoom I shot with briefly back in the ‘80s. Until now, that is. Check out the following video review of a Soviet era 1,100mm f/10.5 mirror lens known as the MTO 1000A.
You’ve probably heard the term “lens diffraction” to describe how image sharpness suffers as you use smaller and smaller aperture settings. While depth of field increases as you stop down a lens, the amount of fine detail a lens can resolve decreases at smaller f/stops.
A couple days ago we shared the views of a Dutch pro, insisting that a telephoto lens is often a better choice for landscape photography than a wide-angle lens. Today we’re going to dig a bit deeper, with the following tutorial on how to choose the best focal length when photographing the great outdoors.
If you’re like most Shutterbug readers, with a full arsenal of lenses, you know that every lens performs differently in terms of color rendition, sharpness, depth-of-field, bokeh, and contrast. In the video below, you’ll see how one pro determines the “sweet spot” of every lens he owns.
Mathieu Stern always has great ideas on weird and inexpensive lenses and his latest project is one of his best yet. In the below video, Stern shows how you can get a 50mm F/1.2 lens for only $20.
A good wide-angle lens is an indispensable tool for anyone serious about nature photography. But owning the right glass is only half the battle: If you want to make epic landscape photos, you have to know how to use the lens properly.
Weird Lens Guru Mattieu Stern is at it again with this DIY project explaining how to make a Lenbaby style tilt-shift lens for a mere $30. All you need is a cheap vintage Soviet Helios lens, a rubber tube, and you’re good to go.
Travel photographer Pierre T. Lambert shares a lot of photography videos on his YouTube channel but it’s the tutorials he does on how to capture sharp images that get the most feedback. Since there seems to be an insatiable appetite from photographers on how to make their images sharper, Lambert has created another video with sharpness tips.
Here’s a quick lens tip, which, if you don’t know it already, might just blow your mind. In the below video, photographer Peter McKinnon shows you how to turn any lens into a macro lens.
Why would anyone want to hang a manual focus vintage lens on a modern digital camera? Well, for starters, you can find used legacy lenses on eBay and elsewhere, and if you know what you’re looking for you’ll save big bucks in the process.
Last fall during Photokina we ran a report on the weirdest lens we’ve ever seen, the Laowa 24mm f/14 2X Macro from Venus optics. And now, although there is still no information on availability or price, the Chinese company has released three short videos illustrating the capabilities of the lens.