Fast Glass Kit for Fashion
Last week we chatted about cameras, and now that is out of the way, let's talk lenses.
This is where the rubber meets the road, but I'm talking about lenses with large apertures to drive your shutter speed higher for stop motion power.
The lenses make the image, in the sense it's responsible for the focus, clarity, sharpness, contrast and even controlling the depth of field through the aperture.
As in so many aspects of photography, the selection of lenses is a simliar to a painter choosing a particular brush for a canvas. Each lens has a unique character and you can choose to gravitate towards one of the other because of style. Let's keep it simple and I ask you try them all out to experiences the differences for yourself.
The most basic decision about lenses would be to zoom or not to zoom. It's a huge debate everywhere and really shouldn't be. I've never had a client request a session shot with one or the other lens type. I use both zooms and prime lenses in my daily work and choose the right tool for the right job... for my style.
For my personal work and fashion work, I prefer to work with prime lenses, but not for the reasons you think. Many believe that prime lenses are sharper, but with the technology available today, every manufacturer has a great lineup of zooms. Just so we are on the same page, let's talk about the differences of each type and I think it will be clear why I love primes for much of my work.
Zoom lenses are able to "zoom" in or out, changing the magnification of the image projected onto the film or sensor. You can push/pull to crop your image without moving your body. Notice I said "crop". Using a zoom lens is like cropping in the field. It's helpful if you are not able to move around and the subject to moving closer and further to the camera. Or maybe you like the ability to shoot a 3/4 portrait and then zoom into a small detail of a dress, again, without moving.
Prime lenses are a fixed focal length or magnification and you must move your body to "crop" the image. Here is the difference. Have you ever moved a few inches one way or the other to see a different angle? Maybe a better angle? For me the prime lenses forces me to be more diligent in my angle selection and if I move, the perspective changes. You will not be able to quickly pick off two or three images with different crops since you will be changing lenses to change your magnification. Prime lenses are great to train your brain to see a scene at a certain focal length. On the plus side, primes normally come in a larger aperture version than the zoom counterparts and can be less expensive.
So lets get to the real reason you are here. Which lenses should I buy? I'm a bit on the old school thinking of lens selection. You need a wide, normal and telephoto. Back in the day, in a distant galaxy, photographers focused their buying power on a 28mm and a 135mm lens. What about the normal lens? It came with the camera when you purchased it! Yes... you got a 50mm kit lens included with the camera. The more professional cameras came with a f1.4 and the more semi pro cameras had a 50mm f2.8 attached. Your average kit was a camera body, 28mm f2.8, 50mm f2.8 and a 135mm f2.8.
I want to change it up a little and minimize any optical distortions with your fashion work. Certainly, any camera lens can that capture the shot you need, at the moment you need it, will work just fine. So don't go searching for the holy grail lens that will do everything. I haven't found it yet.
If you are just starting in fashion / editorial photography, I will recommend a 35mm f2, 50mm f1.8 and an 85mm f1.8. All three can be had for less than $1k in just about any camera brand or a third party manufacturer. While it doesn't seem like a large coverage, like a 24-70mm f2.8 and a 70-200mm f2.8 zooms, I imagine it will serve you very well and give you some extra money for maintenance, other gear or even styling your first shoot. Let's discuss the choices a little more so you can understand the why of this kit.
The 35mm on a full frame camera is probably the widest lens I would choose before some optical distortion like "dog nose" effect, gets in the way of a great image. In fact, this is my daily carry lens and I love this focal length. On a crop sensor camera, like the Fujifilm X-Pro3, it's a 23mm f2. Great for full length and even a 3/4 view of a tall model. I love using it to show some of the environment the talent is working in to help sell the style of the image. This focal length is often perfect for street photography, so it fits right in with editorial styling.
The normal lens can never be underestimated. The nifty 50 comes in several flavors, and when possible (or financially), opt for the 50mm f1.4. The extra stop will be helpful for controlling your DOF, shooting longer in low light and the big bonus... more accurate autofocus. The faster lenses will allow more light in enter the little black box, will help the autofocus system work better, even you are shooting in studio at f8. This focal length is amazing for 3/4 shots and closer beauty images. You already can preview the image since it's close to the normal magnification and perspective you see now. If you are shooting a cropped camera, then look for a 35mm f2.
Last in the lineup is the all time star of so many shooters, the beautiful 85mm f1.8. All three versions of the 85mm focal length are popular, depending on your financial status, the f1.8, f1.4 and the super sexy f1.2. The slight compression of this longer than normal lens really added a separation pop from the background and is very pleasing and flattering to the talent. You can still shoot a full length with this lens, but you are going to need to step back quite a ways, but then you will get another perspective to choose for shooting.
There it is, your basic fashion kit of lenses to get you going. I'm not discounting the use of any other lenses, and if you already have them... great! Just take a look through these little glass gems and let me know what you think. Hit me up with your experiences with either style of lenses and tell me the one piece of glass you can't live without. Mine is the Fujinon 23mm f2, but I'm thinking of picking up the f1.4 version soon.
Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro3 with Fujinon 35mm f1.4 (ISO 160, 1/250sec, f3.6) Light by Westcott FJ400 with Rapid Box Switch 2x3
Styling by Christion Betancourt | Model is Aalaa Ubeidat