Ask away Wednesday is back. It never went anywhere. I was really sick with a bad cold and then a month of busy weddings hit and I haven’t had an available moment to sit down and think about this. I now have a moment and a question from Deb Peluso came in at the perfect time when I was wanting to blog AAW again. Awesome how stuff works out perfectly sometimes. So, expect Ask away Wednesday to return weekly starting up again. And I know its 1:05am on Thursday the 15th but I was traveling north all day and I still consider it Wednesday and you should too. Woohoo.
What lens do I use the most? Well, in my shootsac that goes on every shoot with me, I carry my sigma lenses which are 50 1.4, 15-30 3.5 and 70-200 2.5. It’s hard for me to decide what my “favorite” lens is. I love all my lenses and I feel that in the current situation that I enter, whatever lens would bring out the best image becomes my favorite lens. I will admit though, when Scarlett & I shoot together (which is almost all the time now) she is usually shooting tighter with her 50 1.2 or 70-200 and I am favoring my 15-30 3.5 which is very similar to the Canon 17-40 or 16-35 and I love using that lens in an area that has a lot of texture, colors or even when it tells a deeper story inside of the image.
50 1.4 is my favorite portrait lens and is mostly used on an engagement session (most of the time). Great lens when shooting reception details.
15-30 3.5 is used a lot. I favor this lens most of the time. I love wide images. I only use this lens when I know it will look great in the end. I try to pre-visualize the shot before I take it. I examine the location, inspect the light and what direction I want to shoot and if I know it would be a better dramatic shot then this lens comes out. I also use this lens during the wedding when the bride & dad are walking down the isle and when they are exiting after the first kiss. It really shows more of the moment than a tighter shot but if I use that lens in that moment then I know my other shooter has a tighter shot.
70-200 2.5 When I’m shooting a bride & groom or engagement session, I love giving the couple some alone time where they can talk about anything and relax and I can capture their true emotions from far away.
Fisheye If you want awesome reception images during the dancing. Get a fisheye and shoot manual flash 1/4 power with the light 4 clicks above where direct flash would be. Really fun.
50 2.5 Macro Great for ring shots & smaller details.
So, at least for me… my choice of what lens I love most really depends on what I’m doing at that moment. When I first started out I used my 35 1.4 almost way too much and it worked great but I wanted to experiment with more lenses and I had to force myself to focus on my other lenses. It’s easy to “favor” a lens but allow your mind to run free and know what lens is good at what time and you’ll capture more of a variety of images that will work well for you and your clients.
Just my thoughts. Hope this helps.
