Tag Archives: 50mm

Remembering the Summer

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You know what it is like when you’re getting towards the end of winter; day after day of gloom with no end in sight. Winter can seem so long. Spring is almost here now and the first flowers are making their tentative appearance. Its almost like they are putting their “toes” into the cold water, testing it before jumping in!

I’m constantly looking for anything that looks vaguely like a flower and so I do find them in the strangest places. That said the best place in the depth of winter is the botanical gardens or anywhere with a decent glasshouse. Failing that I go back over my archives, longingly gazing at flowers I’ve photographed in the past.

Here’s a lovely rose I came across from the end of last simmer. My botanical knowledge is pretty limited I usually refer to flowers by the their colour. In this case I like the yellow looking one!

This photo by the way was captured using the so-called “plastic” 50mm 1.8 lens from Canon. At the price it is a must have if you’re branching away from the kit lens that came with your new camera. Often people think they need a big zoom or longer reach lens but really the standard 50mm is so versatile its hard to beat. I’ve got the Canon 50mm 1.4 semi-permanently attached to my Canon 5D as a great walk-around lens.

Takes pretty good “yellow flower” photos too, it turns-out.

Yellow from the summer

See it full-size here.

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The Classic Reflector

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You can’t beat a simple reflector when it comes to controlling natural light. The one I used on this shot is a 5 in one type, large round reflector. The subject had her back towards the sun (it was low but not setting) and I had my assistant angle the gold side until it hit her face. Really that’s all there is too it. I exposed for the face but the reflector compresses the light in such a nice way that it makes that pretty easy too.

The only minor thing I did in Lightroom was to remove some of the gold light from her teeth. I thing to watch-out for! If you cant afford a reflector just use the a foil window shade (the type you get for a car). Of course they are normally silver so not as good as the gold in this case. My reflector also has a white side, which lets you filter direct light. I took a few shots with that as well but in the end the sea made a much nicer background.

MG 9322

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The Simple Portrait

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You can’t beat the classic 50mm lens when it comes to making an intimate portrait. This one was taken using the 50mm 1.4 EF lens from Canon. Its quite a jump in price from the “plastic fantastic” 50mm 1.8 but worth the jump if you can afford it. The 50mm 1.8 can be used to create some pretty sweet photos considering its price-point (around $100 USD). What you will find though is that the 1.4 has a much more pleasing bokeh; the increased number of blades in the lens is probably a factor there. Attached to a APS-C type camera (like the 7D used here) can mean that you lose a bit of that intimacy and certainly you will find it a bit cramped in a café type location. In that case the 35mm might be a better bet.

When all is said done you really do need to have some kind of 50mm lens in your kit. Start with the 1.8 (Nikon have a similarly priced one too) and then work your way up. My only negative with the 50mm 1.4 is that it’s not weather-sealed; you’ll have to go all the way up to the expensive Canon 50mm 1.2 model to get that.

For this photo I processed it using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 for the black and white conversion, then blending it out to bring back some colour. I’m not a huge fan of the selective colouring, which is to my mind often over used. I guess it’s just a matter of taste at the end of the day.

By the way I tried this exact portrait with the 50mm attached to a Canon 5D and preferred this one in the end!

 Boy portrait - closeup 

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When it all comes together

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Sometimes it just all comes together; the light, the expression and the colour.  This portrait is a great example of why it’s good to always carry your camera with you.  These close-up shots work really well with a 50mm fast lens; you can open the aperture wide-open, allowing you to use only natural light and get that nice bokeh around the face.  The main challenge I find in these cases is to make sure the depth of field is not too shallow; otherwise you can get the tip of the nose in focus and little else!

For me the main element in most portraits is the eyes.  Get the focus right and everything else will follow.  I use a single focus point on my Canon 7D, so I focus on the eye and then re-compose to position the centre wherever makes sense.

This lovely photo was basically perfect in camera and only a slight crop and RAW sharpening were required.

Woman red head beauty 067

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