Frederik Bøving – Page 15

What is a prime lens? And why use it?

Fixed focal length

A prime lens is simply a lens with a fixed focal length. You cannot zoom in or out – you only got one length to work with. It can seem strange to limit yourself to one focal length when zoom lenses that offer an interval of focal ranges have been around for a long time. But there are benefits of a prime that still today makes primes a preferred tool amongst photographers.

The Nikon 50mm prime lens 1.8G – a general purpose focal length.

First and foremost, a prime lens is a much simpler construction than a zoom. In a zoom lens there is glass moving as you zoom in and out. None of that in a prime, and that brings us to the first benefit of a prime: it is typically much lighter and more compact than a zoom. If you want to travel light, then a few well chosen primes can be a much more backpack friendly solution than a prime.

Secondly, as the zoom lens has more moving parts that need to align perfectly and move at the same time, some say that primes are sharper than zooms. I think this argument was right in the early days of the zoom lenses, but this day and age they are very close, and if you notice the lenses photo journalists uses, you will see that zooms are the preferred lens type. That would not be the case if zooms had sharpness issues. So for vintage lenses this argument is probably true, for modern lenses less so.

Two primes at 180mm – old version to the left, newer AF version to the right.

Thirds, as the primes have a more simple construction they are also cheaper to produce, and hence the price is lower. Of course, if you need to buy several primes to have the same access to focal ranges as a zoom offers, then the price difference of course diminishes as you dig into more and more primes. However, a portrait photographer may actually only need a 85mm prime and that’s it and then buying a 70-200mm zoom may not be relevant at all.

A classic portrait focal length is the 85mm, although the 105mm and 135mm is also popular for this line of work

Fourth, and maybe the most overlooked argument of them all, is that primes can let in a lot more light. Most fast zooms can “only” go to f/2.8 in the wide end, whereas a prime often can go to f/1.8 without breaking the bank, and if you are willing to break the bank, then f/1.4 is often seen. The fastest lens I got is my portfolio is the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2, but there are primes that will go even faster, actually below f/1.0!!

If you need the lens to take in a lot of light, for example because you shoot in low light or fast moving subjects, then a prime will enable you to capture much more ambient light than a zoom. And every time you go one stop faster, you double the amount of light, so in some situations with very little light and no options for adding light (flash etc), primes may be the only workable option.

One of my favorite lenses: The 135mm DC from Nikkor. Also comes in a 105mm version,

Finally, some say that if you shoot with primes, you volunteeringly limit yourself. In this way, you stress your own way of working and step a bit out of your comfort zone. This is probably more related to developing as a photographer than a heads to head compare of primes versus zooms, but you really force yourself to think differently or position yourself differently relative to the subject, in order to get the result you are after. I assure you, it can be super frustrating when you are used to the comfort of a zoom lens, but give it a try and see what happens. You may find you like your new way of shooting.

What is angle of view in photography?

Angle of view

One of the best ways to see how different lenses gives different angles of view is to head over to Nikons homepage and spend 2 minutes with their lens simulator. You can find the link right here (credit: Nikon).

Lenses comes with a focal length expressed in millimeters. A very wide lens that takes in a lot of the scene (e.g. 150 degrees) is typically very short, say 12mm. A long lens that takes in a very small part of the scene is much longer, say 500mm. The benefits of a long lens is that you can get your subject really close in the frame despite it being far away in the real world, so naturally bird and wildlife photographers love long lenses as they can observe and photograph wildlife from afar. But the down side is a bit like a horse with blinders: you can’t really see all that much to the left and right – only straight ahead!

There is a direct correlation between the lens focal length and the angle of view: longer lenses yields more narrow angle of view. Actually, the angle of view with a long lens can be just a few degrees, and you will notice this when you try to hold a camera with a long lens in your hands: you really have to hold the lens still in order not to make you feel seasick! The slightest movement of the lens will make what you see in the viewfinder jump a lot! So wildlife photographers often have their long lenses on a tripod, not only because the lens is heavy, but also because there is a strong incentive to hold the lens still!

Now, instead of being bugged down by all this, I suggest you head over to Nikons lens simulator. You can find the link right here (credit: Nikon).

Here you can select a lens and a camera body, and see how it works on a given scene. In the example below, I have chosen a zoom lens that ranges from 24-70 mm and gone all the way to 24mm by pulling the slider all the way to the left. In the middle of the slider, the yellow part of the half circle shows that the angle of view here is approximately 84 degrees.

When I pull the slider all the way to the right, the simulator shows what happens at 70mm: the angle of view is now reduced to 34 degrees (notice how much more narrow the yellow part of the half circle is). And the lighthouse has now moved much closer.

If you look carefully, you will see that the bright part of the beach just to the right of the dark stones, is gone when zoomed in. This is a consequence of using a longer focal length: the angle of view is narrowed and parts of what used to be visible in the edges of the frame is now cut away when zooming in.

Some say that it would be much more useful if we instead of talking about lenses in terms of their focal lengths, rather talked about their angle of view. But it has become a standard now, so I guess we have to live accept it. And as if this was not sufficient confusion, hear this: the size of the sensor changes the focal length of the lens! A lens that on a full frame camera is 50mm is on a cropped sensor (APS-C) the equivalent of a 75mm lens. You can also test this in the lens simulator from Nikon.

Can you zoom with your feet in photography?

Zooming by walking

If you have brought a prime lens that is not long enough, you often hear the argument that you should zoom with your feet instead, i.e. walk closer to the subject to get the effect that you want. But does it actually work zooming with your feet? Both yes and no.

When you walk closer to your subject, you can make the subject take up more space in the frame as if you had zoomed in. So in that regard, you can zoom with your feet.

However, when you zoom in, two things happen: One is that the subject takes up relatively more space in your frame, but at the same time the angle of view is reduced as you zoom in. As you zoom in, you more and more become a like a horse with blinders: you can see less and less to the sides. This effect you cannot recreate when you zoom with your feet. A prime lens has a fixed angle of view.

Let me illustrate.

The first image below is shot at 70mm:

In the next image here, I have zoomed in at 200mm, but not moved an inch. All the change you see between the image above and the image below is due to zooming from 70mm to 200mm. I promise you, I did not move an inch, nor a centimeter. Notice how the field of view is significantly reduced, i.e. you cannot see as wide in the image below as you can above.

So, finally, I zoomed back out to 70mm and walked closer to the subject. I was here exercising the advice to zoom with my feet. I am not to praise myself, but if you compare the green leaves above and below, I did a fair job of getting the subject to (roughly) take up the same size in the frame. So I zoomed with my feet.

But notice how much of the woods you can see to the left and the right here in the third image, and compare that with the image in the middle above. When you walk close to the subject maintaining the focal length, you also maintain the angle of view, and even though the subject takes up more space in the frame, you get a lot of the background as well.

So zooming with a zoom lens is smart if you really want to focus on your subject and not have too many distracting elements, whereas zooming with your feet works best if you also want to include the surroundings or the scene the subject is located in.

What is balance in photography?

Visual balance

Balance in photography is about how you as a photographer choose to position elements in your frame, to either create harmony (balance) or the opposite (tension). If you want images that are pleasing to look at, obviously you should strive for visual balance in your images.

Symmetry is the classic way of achieving visual balance. It can be a reflection in water or a building that is symmetrical. You will find that many governmental buildings are symmetrical, as it signals power and being in control.

In the example below I have positioned the moon very much in the center to create an image that is symmetrical if you split it vertically. Not perfect of course, as the treed have different shapes going left to right, but close enough to create a good balance.

In the image below from Louisiana north of Copenhagen in Denmark, the shapes are not in visual balance. The dark shape to the right dominates and is not balanced out entirely by the bright parts to the right, but it is not too bad either, as the visual weight of the shape to the left is reduced as we tend to be drawn towards subjects that are bright, sharp, colorful and recognizable. Instead, you probably see the dark shape as framing the rest of the image. And what is left is the red shape, the green grass, blue ocean and white clouds. These elements are well balanced in terms of colors, which is another dimension in which you can seek balance.

The size of the objects in the frame, other than color, sharpness and brightness, is hence an important aspect of creating balance. The three flying birds below are very small relative to the frame and the clouds. So there is obviously no visual balance here, and the imbalance tells a story of being small in a big universe, and how you cling on to travel companions. In terms of tonal values, the image is however well balanced as you have everything from pitch black (the birds) to bright areas (the area just in front of the birds) and most values in between.

The three Giacometti ladies below take up much more space in the frame than the birds above. The lady in the middle holds most visual weight as she is in focus and sharp, whereas the other two are less so. I was careful to position them so they got each a window frame, but clearly broke the rule that people should not look out of the frame but into the frame. But, as some say, you are remembered for the rules you break, not the ones you comply to.

The tree tops in the image below are sharp and in stark contrast to the bright background, and hence your eyes are lead in that direction. But there is a bit of visual tension in the dark and dominating clouds above, that take 2/3rds of the frame and almost seems like a threatening pillow of darkness working its way to the trees. So the image is an odd blend of symmetry (left to right) and lack of symmetry top to bottom. I could have cropped the image so the dark clouds were much less dominating – that would have yielded a very different balance and probably a more positively biased mood.

A final example to illustrate visual balance is the light from the lighthouse below. I shot this image long after sunset and hence in almost pure darkness. The only light is from the lighthouse to the right, hidden behind the silhouette of the building. The silhouette of the tree to the left is balanced against the eery green light from the lighthouse in terms of brightness, and the dark triangle in the bottom of the frame is balanced against the heavy top of the tree. So despite the gloomy nature of the image below, I find that the visual balance is established.

I hope the above examples illustrated the idea of visual balance in photography. The point is that if you become aware of the visual balance in your images and start using them as part of your work with composition, then you will produce better images. There is no right or wrong here; it is all a matter of what works and what does not work, relative to what pictures you want to create.

What is manual focus in photography?

Manual focus

Most modern cameras, including smartphones, have auto focus systems, whereby the camera in various ways automatically selects the focus of the image. It can be a face or a point in the frame selected by the photographer. Manual focus is when you as a photographer bypass the options for automation of the focus and manually choose to focus the lens yourself. The benefits is more control and more freedom to decide the outcome, but it also introduces potential for errors in the shape of out of focus images that were not intended to be out of focus.

In the image above (the Nikon 70-200) there is a switch on the lens that allows you to choose between manual focus (the rightmost option M) and two different flavors of auto focus. When in manual focus, you as a photographer have to turn the focus ring (the rubberized ring top left in the image) to obtain focus.

The Nikon D700 has a switch on the camera body to engage and disengage the auto focus motor sitting on the camera body.

In other cases, typically for older lenses without a focus motor built into the lens and hence dependent on a motor in the camera body, the switch to engage or disengage the auto focus sits on the camera body. I the image above you can switch between continuous auto focus (C), single auto focus (S) and manual focus (M).

When you focus manually, you move the focal plane closer to and further from the camera by turning the focus ring on the lens. You can think of this as a big vertical plate that you push back and forth as you turn the focus ring. All the things the plate “touches” will be in focus. Things just before and just after the focal plane will appear to be in focus as well, subject to the depth of field.

When you focus manually, the camera will typically give you some help to determine if you have the focus that you want. The classic way of doing this is with a small indicator that has to arrows and a focus confirmation dot:

With mirrorless systems you also have so called focus peaking highlights, that based on contrast shows you which parts of the frame that are in focus. It does so with a color you can select; in the example below the color is red (notice: there is nothing naturally red in the frame as such – all red is added to the image by the camera as part of helping you obtain focus):

The focus point is the red box in the top of the frame a little to the right of the middle. You can move this point around, typically using either a command wheel or a joystick on the camera. The image above is from the rear LCD of the camera, but the focus point is also visible in the viewfinder, both for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

If you look very carefully, bottom left in the LCS, just to the right of the battery indicator, there is an arrow pointing to the right. This tells you that the focal plane needs to be pushed a bit further away to obtain focus in the selected focus point.

In the image above, the focal plane has been pushed a bit further away, and you now see that the focus indicator to the right of the battery indicator shows the round dot that is the signal for focus + the focus point top right in the frame has turned green – another way of showing that this point is in focus.

All of the above may sound a bit overwhelming, but I assure you that it is much simpler when you try it out in real life and see how the moving parts work together.

The benefits of manual focus is control. You’re the boss. Often automated systems do not do exactly as you want them to, although it constantly gets better and better with face recognition and other forms of intelligence in the cameras. However, there still are situations where manual focus for some is the preferred way to go, and I recommend that you try it out to see what it can do for you, to decide if it should be part of your photography “arsenal” or you instead want to go for relying on the cameras automatic systems.

What is focus stacking in photography?

Focus stacking

Focus stacking is a post processing technique where several images of the same subject and scene is combined in post processing, to make all of the image sharp rather than having the sharpness defined by the depth of field.

Focus stacking is especially useful for macro photographers, because the depth of field becomes very very shallow when the lens focuses extremely close to the subject, but also landscape photographers and architecture photographers can benefit from focus stacking.

Example

Look at the silly picture below, taken in my office. In the foreground and in focus you have the mad cow and in the background and out of focus, my glasses, a computer screen and a lamp with a bright light.

Below a picture of exactly the same scene. Nothing has changed, other than the focus has been moved from the foreground, the cow, to the background, my glasses. Notice how blurred the cow in the foreground is.

The trick is now to combine the two so that you pick the parts that are sharp and use these in a combined picture. You can do this in post processing software like Photoshop. I open the two images as layers in photoshop.

First step is to make sure the pictures sit right on top of each other, and Photoshop has a function to secure this (edit, auto-align layers).

Second step is to ask Photoshop to create masks to combine the two images into one (edit, auto-blend layers, stack images). You can see in the two images below how the top one selects the cow, whereas the bottom one selects large parts of the background including the glasses. What is white is included and what is black is masked out.

The resulting image is shown below. As you can see, both the cow and the glasses are now sharp, which is exactly what focus stacking can do for you: it makes it possible to have both objects very close to you and objects very far away appear sharp in the image.

If you study the image carefully, you will notice that the lamp looks a bit funny. It is as if the edge between the light and the dark part suddenly has a half circle to the left – just above the head of the cow. This is due to focus breathing – the lens used here suffers from slight focus breathing, meaning that the angle of view changes ever so slightly when the focus changes. This error makes it impossible for Photoshop to combine the images properly as the size of the lamp varies between the two images. So it is important that there is absolutely no focus breathing for lenses used for focus stacking!

What is dual exposure in photography?

Dual exposure

Back in the days of film, dual exposure was when you shot two images but without advancing the film between the two shots. The film would then be exposed two times and the resulting image was a combination of the two exposures.

These days most digital cameras offers dual (or several) exposures as an option available via the menu system in the camera. My Nikon Z50 for example has “multiple exposure” as an option in the photo shooting menu, just to give an example. In the image below I have shot the little toy cow two times moving the camera a bit downwards between the two shots. Not exactly a price winning image, but I think it works to illustrate how double exposure works:

With advanced post processing software like Photoshop, it is possible to combine the images long after they are shot, and this gives even more options for creative use of combining two or several images into one.

Only your creativity sets a limit for what you can use dual exposure for. It often creates images that clearly depicts a scene or a subject that you would not find in the real world. So the result can be e.g. dreamlike, surreal or just strange. In the example below I have put the cow from above into a glass bottle by shooting the cow first and the bottle afterwards.

I hope this gave you an appetite for trying out double exposure yourself. Only your imagination and creativity is the limit! Best of luck!

What is visual weight in photography?

Visual weight

Visual weight has nothing to do with the weight or the density of a given subject in your frame, rather it is an informal scale that tells how well elements in your frame manages to pull the attention of the viewer. So it is a different way of getting attention than say leading lines.

Some of the dimension often quoted in relation to visual weight are:

High contrast
Good sharpness
Bright areas
Saturated colors
Visual size
Recognizable (vs abstract)

So a subject in your frame that is sharp, filled with contrast, bright and colorful will simply draw more attention than out of focus areas with no contrast and desaturated colors. It is obviously a simplification, but I think you get the gist of it.

Best to look at a few examples. Brightness. In the image below, my guess is that you immediately notice the sunrays coming through the treetops as it clearly is the brightest areas in the frame. The rays hold a lot of visual weight relative to the subtle nature of the rest of the frame.Sharpness. The blackbird below is actually the only that is sharp in the entire frame. The out-of-focus stems are used to frame the bird, but they do not draw attention despite their size, as they are not in focus.

Color. The chest of the little fellow below stands out and draws attention, relative to the rather de-saturated background and the branch that is not exactly colorful! Also notice that eyes have great visual weight, as we tend to seek eye contact, irrespective if the subject is a person or an animal.

Contrast and brightness. You may notice the bright sun to the right as the first in the frame below (brightness), but my guess is that right after that you notice the backlit straws. The straws have a strong contrast to the dark background hence stand out with very strong contrast. Silhouette photography has the same ability.

Another example with brightness below. Again the strong sun in the top holds a lot of visual weight and it takes some time before you notice the leaves in focus and their structure. You could consider to crop the image so that only the leaves are there – I leave it to you to decide if that would yield a better image.

Finally, one of my favorite examples of visual weight below. Although both small and not especially bright, the moon draws attention being the only bright element in the frame, with good contrast to the blue sky.

Further work

The above was only intended to be an appetizer for visual weight. Once you start to notice, I think you will start to see images slightly different and hopefully also start using visual weight as a tool in your photography.

Thank you for reading this far! Comments and questions more than welcome!

What is the rule of odds in photography?

Rule of odds

The rule of odds applies to repetition and rhythm in a frame. We seem to like repetition and rhythm in a frame, just like we do when it is about music.

The rule, which is more a guideline or a rule of thumb, simply says that you should try to have an odd number of objects repeating, rather than an even one. Simple, right? So simple that you can question if the rule works at all! I’ll let you be the judge of that, but it is always good to be more aware of the composition of what you put in your frame, and the rule of odds is just one more to build into you set of tools and skills you use as a photographer.

Take a look at the pillars in the image below. There are 5 of them, not a coincidence at all. Some say that our eyes like to rest on the middle one, as this gives balance to both sides.

Some say that we have a tendency to group objects that are close to each other into one, to give us a better overview and simplify things. Therefore simple counting of objects may not always be the way forward. Take a look at the image below. Here the worn down wood pillars could be counted as 8 pieces, but you will have a tendency to group the 2 pillars to the right as one, and the 3 pillars in the middle as one as well, giving a total of 5 “pillars” rather than 8 as you would get counting them individually.

Another example below with the same point, that the 5 thinner stems to the left of the middle visually count as one. Notice also how the lack of rhythm in the spacing of the stems makes this a rather messy image to look at, even though the subject as such is simple.

Finally we notice what is closer to us more than what is in the distance, so in the final example below, you probably notice the 3 parasols in the foreground sooner than the 8 ones in the background, although the reflections in the pool itself is worth an extra look.

What is the golden ratio in photography?

The golden ratio

Rule of thirds illustrated by the blue lines dividing the frame.

You have probably heard of the rule of 3rds in photography, in which you position the subjects or areas of interest according to lines that divide the frame into a grid of 3×3 = 9 equally large blocks. You can see the example above, where the eye of the duck is positioned in the intersection between the rightmost vertical and topmost horizontal line. The distance between the lines and from a line to the edge of the frame is exactly the same. It is a very simple rule and many cameras have an option to make such grid available in the viewfinder. No one really knows why it is better to position your subject a bit off center, but most people agree that it makes your image more interesting to watch, and that is the point with the rule of 3rds: to create more interesting pictures.

If you want to use the golden ratio instead, the lines are positioned a bit differently, so that the distance between say the leftmost vertical line relative to the edges of the frame is not 1:2, but 1:1.68 instead. So the line moves a bit closer to the center of the frame. The relationship 1:1.68 is known as the golden ratio (there is a lot of theory that follows this ratio, but I will save you the details as it is less important as long as you use the ratio). The example below shows an “updated” version of the image.

As you can see, the bottom horizontal line has a distance of 1,618 to the top of the frame relative to the distance to the bottom of the frame – this is the ratio in use. The effect is that the lines move closer to the center of the frame, but still gives a grid that positions your subjects off center, of you use them. You can see that the ducks eye should move a bit closer to the center in order to follow the golden ratio.

Which one is best? Golden ratio or rule of 3rds? Let me start by saying that these rules are first and foremost for photographers with plenty of time like landscape, architecture, product and portrait shooters. I doubt that street photographers or wildlife photographers on the fly have time to think about these compositional rules, although I do think they care a lot about the composition, but my guess is that they work more on an intuitive basis and maybe fix a few things in post. Second, the rules are only a guidance or an attempt to help – it is not meant to be a straightjacket or a limiting factor. You can break any compositional rule and still have an amazing image.

Take a look at the two images below. They follow the rule of 3rds and the golden ratio respectively. Which one do you like the best? See, that is where personal preference comes into play – there is no right or wrong. Whatever you like and find to be the best image, is the answer!

Another rule says that if your subject is moving in the frame, you should let them have space in front of them so the viewer can see where they are going. Having a subject running out of the frame creates tension that you probably don’t want. As you can see – I have broken this rule with the duck. Today I would probably have positioned the duck more to the left in the frame, but the point is that you can break the compositional rules and still have images that are ok.

The point with this post was just to illustrate the golden ratio. You can use it in many different ways – say as a size ratio between two subjects in your frame or in the way you use framing in your image.

Author: Frederik Bøving

What is a prime lens? And why use it?

Fixed focal length

Related reading

What is angle of view in photography?

Angle of view

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Can you zoom with your feet in photography?

Zooming by walking

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What is balance in photography?

Visual balance

Related reading

What is manual focus in photography?

Manual focus

Further reading

What is focus stacking in photography?

Focus stacking

Example

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What is dual exposure in photography?

Dual exposure

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What is visual weight in photography?

Visual weight

Further work

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What is the rule of odds in photography?

Rule of odds

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What is the golden ratio in photography?

The golden ratio

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