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We recommend you start at the beginning, I know it sounds obvious but the temptation is often
to skip forward then suddenly realise you don’t know what’s being spoken about. I do it all the
time, so I guess that’s why I’m advising you not to!

Some pages have exercises for you to do. Please do them before moving on and refer back to
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mately, they become almost subconscious, just like breathing or walking. And the only way to
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2
 © Mike Browne

Lenses – one of photography’s greatest tools

When I first got into photography I thought wide lenses were for ‘getting
more in’ and long lenses were for ‘making far off things come closer’. I was
right, they are, but they do a whole lot more besides. By knowing what
your lens can do, you can exploit it. You can make a small room look big-
ger, bring far off things closer and you can even control your environment
as well.

Lenses are one of photography's greatest and in my opinion, most over-

looked tools. And it’s a pretty important tool to overlook – after all you can’t
actually take a picture without a lens! What I mean is, most people don’t
realise just how much you can influence your final image, just by your
choice of lens and what you do with it.

In the following pages you’re about to be enlightened because ultimately

it’s not the camera that controls the pictures you take - it’s the lens . . .

3
Participant or observer?

By using different lenses you can achieve a completely different feel or mood. Take a look at
these two pictures. Both have something going on, life’s happening, laughter, fun and people
having a great time. Yet in the top picture, you, the viewer, are a part of what’s going on. It’s as
if you’re right there in the conversation with everyone else.

In the picture of the girls below, you’re an observer. The feel is more one of sitting back and
watching everyone enjoy themselves.

So how’s it done?

All images this page © Mike Browne 4

Lens basics
Before we get going with the creativity part, I want to explain the controls and concepts of a
lens so everyone knows what I’m talking about later. Now you may already think you know this
bit, if you do, please bear with me for a moment and scan through it because there may be the
odd thing that hasn’t occurred to you.

Basically lenses have two functions that control the effect you can achieve with them. One is
the focal length, and the other is the aperture. Understanding the different combinations of
aperture and focal length, and how to use them creatively, is the domain of serious profes-
sional photography and the key to you being in control - rather than the camera doing it all.

© iStockphoto
Focal length: Is described on Wikipedia like this, “The focal length of an optical system is a
measure of how strongly it converges (focuses) or diverges (diffuses) light.” There, so now you
know! If it’s any consolation I don’t know what that means in the real world either, so here’s my
own version!

The focal length is the amount of zoom or ‘power’ a lens has and it’s expressed in mm
(millimetres). Anything up to around 35mm has a short focal length and is often described as
being ‘wide’ This is your ‘low power’ lens. All that means is, it’s best for looking at things closer
to you. So for example, if you tried to photograph something that’s a long way off, your subject
would appear really tiny in the picture. This is because the lens simply doesn’t have the power
to magnify over that distance. In fact short lenses exaggerate distance, far away objects seem
really far away, and close objects appear really close to you. This type of exaggeration is
called ‘stretching perspective’ – more on this later.

35mm to about 75mm is ‘medium’, so medium power/distance. This is roughly how we see the
world with our own eyes (very little distortion of reality). 75mm and upwards is moving into
‘long’. These are your ‘high power’ lenses, with lots of magnification. These are used for photo-
graphing something a long way off and are the kind favoured by the paparazzi when they can’t
get up close to whichever poor celebrity they’re currently hunting! The more mm, the bigger the
magnification.

Tip
Just in case you’re used to film, and you’re surprised to hear 35mm described as the start of
medium length, you may find your non digital lenses seem ‘longer’ once you use them on a
digital camera. So your lovely wide lens may not seem so wide after all. You may or may not
notice it, it depends on your camera. It’s all a bit technical and you don’t need to know the de-
tails, but it’s because of the differing sizes of sensors in different makes of DSLR cameras.

5
 © iStockphoto

Aperture: The aperture is the ‘hole’ in the lens that light comes through. It’s controlled on the
camera body by either your right thumb or forefinger. As we mentioned before, focal length is
measured in mm, but apertures are measured in a seemingly random system called ‘f ‘ num-
bers. Although the range may vary from lens to lens, you’ll pretty much always see f4.5, f5.6,
f8, f11, f16 and f22. To add to the complication, a low f number (like f4.5) means the aperture
is bigger and a high f number (like f22) means it’s smaller.

So why do you care? Well it is actually pretty important, (and as you’ll see later, pretty useful
too). A smaller hole means less light comes through, which, if you do nothing else, will give you
a low exposure and a dark picture, a bigger hole lets more light in which might give you an
over-exposed picture and a nasty burnt out image.

Doesn’t sound that useful so far does it? Well the key lies in that phrase ‘if you do nothing
else’. Generally speaking if you’re using an auto mode such as aperture priority (that’s the ‘A’
setting on the programme dial), you won’t have to worry about this because the camera will
work out the exposure for you and make adjustments accordingly. But if you want to learn full
control of your camera, then you’ll need to switch to manual and read the next bit.

So, if you don’t want pictures that are too dark or too bright, you have to do something, and
that something is, change your shutter speed. The shutter is the other way that light gets into
the camera. So if you have a small aperture, you can slow your shutter speed down to get
more light in instead. And if you want to use a larger aperture, you use a faster shutter speed
to limit the light and stop over-exposure. This way you can choose the aperture you want and
by adjusting shutter speed, still maintain the correct exposure.

So look at this way:

Small aperture + slow shutter speed = big aperture + fast shutter speed.

You have to fiddle around a bit with the numbers to make this work exactly but that’s the basic
principle.

6
Tip
If you decrease aperture by one click (make the f number bigger), you must increase the shut-
ter speed by one click as well to maintain the same exposure. So, if your camera told you the
correct exposure for a particular picture was 1/500 at f5.6, to maintain exactly the same expo-
sure, you could change your shutter speed to 1/250, and change your aperture to f8. or any
combination below. They’re the same because it’s the same amount of light reaching the sen-
sor.

f4.5 f5.6 f8 f11 f16 f22

1/1000 1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30

Whatever you do to the top row, you must do to the bottom row to maintain the same expo-
sure. By the way, each ‘click’ of aperture or shutter speed is known as a ‘stop’.

= etc...

So how do you know which to go for – fast or slow shutter speed, big or little aperture? Well
they have different effects, which we’ll go into more later on. The main thing to remember here
is this little rule.

The smaller the f number the bigger the aperture - the bigger the f number
the smaller the aperture

It’s just one of those “back-to-front-isms”, that photography is full of.

On some cameras you can see the aperture change through the viewfinder by using the
‘Depth of field (DOF) preview’ button. Have a look in your handbook to see if your camera has
one, if so, try the following because it’ll help you get your head round this.

Exercise
1. Stand indoors, facing a window with your camera and switch it on
2. Set it to manual mode and select the aperture with the highest f number (ie f22 or f36)
3. Holding the camera about twelve inches away from your face, turn it round the wrong way
so you’re looking straight into the front of the lens with the viewfinder towards the window.
4. You should be able to see a small bright circle in the middle of the lens. If you don’t, make
sure nothing’s obstructing the viewfinder
5. Press the ‘depth of field pre-view’ button (see your camera’s hand book if you’re unsure)

Notice how the small bright circle becomes a tiny dot? That’s the camera closing the aperture
down to whatever f number you set. The aperture only gets closed down when you a) press
the shutter or b) press the depth of field preview button. If you set the lowest f number like f4.5
(big hole) and do it again the aperture won’t change because it’s already wide open.
All images this page © Mike Browne 7
 © iStockphoto
Macro close-up lenses open up a world of possibilities

Lens types
Let’s take a quick look at the three main types of lens.

Prime lenses: Have a fixed focal length and don’t

‘zoom’. They’re optically the best quality, because they
are perfectly designed for that exact focal length. But,
in these days of digital, they have a downside. Every
time you change your lens, a few particles of dust and
dirt enter your camera. Many of them will land on the
sensor causing little spots on your images. It’s for this
reason manufacturers are concentrating on digital
zooms, though there are still specialist prime lenses
available for sports, close-up (Macro) and extreme
wide angle. 10.5 mm wide angle

Macro Lenses: Specialist prime lenses for close-up

photography. If you’ve ever been frustrated because
you want to fill the frame with a tiny subject, like dew-
drops on a spider’s web, but the camera just won’t fo-
cus, this is the lens for you. Because Macro lenses
can focus much closer than ordinary lenses they open
a whole new world of creative possibilities. And you
will get some surprising results. It’s amazing how dif- 106 mm Macro close-up lens
ferent something ordinary like bottle cork, or a tea
strainer will look when you get in really close.

Zoom Lenses: On a zoom lens (also called ‘telephoto’)

you can lengthen or shorten the focal length by rotating,
or sliding in and out the zoom ring. The numbers written
around the edge of this ring or along the barrel of the
lens, as you slide it in and out, display the focal length
in mm. Some zooms have a ‘Macro’ setting which can
be useful, if you haven’t got a dedicated Macro lens for
your close-ups.
18 - 200 mm Zoom (telephoto) lens
8
Lens Hoods
It’s pretty rare you’ll see a pro photographer without a
lens hood. Here’s why. Light falling directly onto the lens
can cause pictures to become washed out, colours to

© Mike Browne
de-saturate and those coloured ringlets to form across
the image, it’s known as lens flare. Used carefully, lens
flare ringlets can add excitement to a picture, but for now
we don’t want it. A lens hood keeps the glass in shade
and protects us from milky washed out ringletty pictures!

It also protects the glass from brushing or bashing

against things and getting scratched, droplets of rain,
greasy fingers etc. I strongly recommend you use one
always always always!

What to buy
When shopping for a lens, go for quality every time. It’s completely false economy to buy a dis-
count brand you’ve never heard of because it’ll let you down in the end. I recommend you buy
lenses from the same manufacturer as your camera. If you use Nikon buy Nikon, Canon buy
Canon, Pentax buy Pentax etc.

There are one or two well known after market brands out there which come a close second
place. The only non Nikon lenses I’ve ever used are Sigma and I have to say the two I’ve
owned have been excellent. The only word of caution on after market lenses comes from my
repairer who tells me it can be difficult to get parts if you happen to break one, whereas the big
names are always repairable.

35mm Film Camera Lenses

For the most part stick to digital lenses for digital cameras, but if you have a bag of ‘left overs’
from your 35mm film camera which will fit, then try them. I recently dropped one of my digital
lenses and whilst it was being mended I used one of my own 35mm ‘left overs’ to get me by.
Whilst the focusing was rather slow and it often missed shots in low light because it was strug-
gling to focus, when it did work, overall image quality was actually better than with the newer
digital lens. As I mentioned before, don’t be surprised though if their focal length seems differ-
ent on your digital camera.

A note on focus
On all DSLRs focusing can be done manually by setting the switch at the base of the lens to
manual then rotating the focus ring on the lens itself, or semi-automatically by setting the same
switch to ‘auto’, lining up the gun sight in the viewfinder on the area you want to focus on, and
half pressing the shutter button. You don’t really need to know this, but in case you’re inter-
ested, the distance between you and the point you’re focusing on is displayed in feet and me-
tres on the lens. (Handy tip - if you haven’t got a tape measure, you can use this function to
measure stuff. Like the width of your drive for example. Just push a stick into the ground on
one side and have the camera on the other. Focus on the stick and read off the distance dis-
played on the lens!)

Beyond a certain distance in front of the lens everything will always be in focus, so you’ll stop
seeing the measurements and the figure-of-eight-on-its-side infinity symbol is displayed in-
stead.

9
 © Mike Browne
Depth of field (DOF) - also called ‘depth of focus’
Now, remember earlier, when we said that being able to
vary the size of your aperture was pretty useful. Well
here’s why. Not only are apertures an exposure control, soft
they also do something much more interesting. They
control ‘depth of field’ ( DOF).
DOF
Meaning: The distance in front of and behind a subject
you’ve focused on that’s still sharp.
soft

In fact there are three things that affect your DOF

Focus on the tomatoes

1. The size of your aperture
2. The distance you are away from your subject
3. Length of lens

Check out the picture at the top. The tomatoes are pin-
sharp but everything in front and behind them is soft.
The DOF is the bit that’s sharp and in focus. In this
case DOF is only as wide as the bowl of tomatoes and
is what’s called a ‘narrow’ depth of field. It’s easiest to
see this effect if you have foreground and background.
You basically divide the image into three ‘plains’,

1. Foreground - whatever is in front of your subject - in

this case, the red cabbage
2. Subject, the tomatoes
3. Background - whatever is behind your subject - the
lettuce salad
To create a narrow DOF like this you need a small f number. The opposite applies if you’d like
a wide DOF, simply use a high f number. As you go step by step from f4.5 through to f32 your
DOF increases, ie more and more of your picture comes into focus. So now you can choose
exactly which area of the image you want in focus and use the f numbers to achieve it. How
cool is that?
10
 Change the aperture - change
DOF
Zoom in on these images and see how
DOF has expanded as I’ve increased the f
number.

Each time I’ve focused on the ‘c’ of coffee

in all images and the only change I’ve
made is to increase the f number and
that’s all.

f 5.6
Exercise
1. Set up a row of cups or tea, coffee
and sugar jars like these
2. Looking along the row, focus on a
point about one third of the way down
and take a picture with your long lens
at the lowest f number. (These were
shot at 210mm)
3. Without altering the focus, repeat with
a middle aperture eg f11, and then
finally a high f number
4. To be sure which setting you used,
write it on a bit of paper and put it in
f 11
the shot along with the jars / cups...
5. Compare your results!

Warning
Remember when we said at the begin-
ning, changing the size of your aperture
has to be compensated for by changing
your shutter speed?

Well if you’ve started to practice this, you

may notice that if you’re down to a slow
shutter speed to allow for a small aper-
ture, you’re getting blurry pictures. This is
because of camera shake – so be sure to
keep the camera as still as possible by
f 45 using a tripod.

(If you need to know more on camera

shake and how to eliminate it, we go into
this in a lot more detail in Digital Photog-
raphy Exposed).

All images this page © Mike Browne 11

 © iStockphoto
Distance you are from your subject affects DOF

Now let’s look at how near or far away you are from your subject. Here’s another back-to-front-
ism rule for you

DOF shrinks as you get closer - and expands as you move back

This image of a map pin was shot on a 60mm macro lens. But because it was a macro lens,
the camera had to be very close to the pin. Now, the aperture was set to f11 – a reasonable
middle aperture. But even at f11 the DOF is little more than a centimetre wide. Now skip back
to the tomatoes on the page before last, it was shot at f8.5 which is so close to f11 it makes
almost no difference, yet DOF in that image is the width of the dish, that’s probably fifty times
greater than with the map pin above. Why?

For the tomato shot I was using 190mm lens and was about four metres away from the point of
focus. Because the lens was further away the DOF was greater. The pin above was photo-
graphed with a 60mm lens so the camera was only about 12 cm away, therefore DOF shrank
because the lens was closer to the point of focus.

See the next page for an example of DOF changing according to how close you are...

12
 70mm @ f4.5 - from 1/2 metre away

Nice daffodils! For this this first shot of spring time daffodils I used a 70mm lens at f4.5 and
was only 1/2 metre away from the point of focus, so as you’d expect from a low f number, the
background’s blurred.

70mm @ f4.5 - from 2 metres away

Same daffodils, same 70mm @ f4.5 but this time I’m almost 2 metres away and the DOF has
expanded massively! (Obviously by moving back and not changing the focal length your com-
position will change and you’ll get more in. To be sure I was focusing on the same flower
heads as before I put my sunglasses on the wall behind them).

These rules are tricky to get firmly lodged into your mind so print out these pages, go out and
try all these things for yourself, otherwise you’ll never remember them. At least that’s what I
found. I could read this stuff over and over but until I went out to the street or garden and did it
for myself it didn’t go in. If you really want to take control you’ve got to get into action because
no one can do it for you.

13
Power of lens and depth of focus
We’ve already talked about how the size of aperture, and being physically further away or
nearer to your subject affects DOF. But the power of your lens has a similar effect too. Here’s
another ‘back-to-front-ism’ for you.

The longer the focal length of your lens, the narrower the DOF will be.

With a short lens, DOF stretches from just a couple of metres in front of the lens all the way to
infinity. So, even if you try to use your aperture to affect the depth of focus, after you’re focus-
ing more than two metres away, changing aperture makes no difference to DOF. Use a me-
dium length lens and the effect is, well, medium! It’s when you put on a long lens that you can
really begin to play with your apertures and DOF and get creative

If you haven’t met her before,

meet Lorna who lives next door
and has been our long suffering
model and assistant both here
and in Digital Photography Ex-
posed. These two portraits of
her were both shot using an
aperture of f5.6.

But the one on the left has a

‘long’ focal length of 165mm and
the one on the right is on a
‘short’ one - 25mm. Same aper-
ture in both images but chang-

© Mike Browne
ing the length of the lens has
made a big difference to DOF,
in the 25mm image it extends
almost right across the field
165 mm @ f5.6 25 mm @ f5.6

(You might also have noticed a change in the background as well. Lorna hasn’t moved at all
but those bushes behind her look as though they’ve suddenly been moved 100 metres back!
More on this in a few pages time.)

Tip
Remember the DOF preview button? Use it to check DOF before taking the picture. It makes
the image go dark in the viewfinder when pressed, but it allows you to see the DOF in advance
so you’ll be sure to select the aperture appropriate to what you want to achieve. Repeat the
shot using an aperture either side of the one you’ve chosen to make sure you get exactly the
image you want.

Exercise
Now, just make sure you’ve got this last piece of the puzzle in your head, grab someone, go to
the park and do exactly what I did with Lorna. Keep aperture the same, keep your subject the
same size in the frame, but change your lens length. Make a note of which shots were taken,
on which lens, and look at the difference, the DOF should become shallower as your lens gets
longer, but as above, you will also notice your composition will change - we’ll tell you why later.
14
Depth of Focus doesn’t work evenly
Now, just when you thought you’d got this DOF all worked out nicely, there’s one last thing to
mention. Depth of focus does not extend evenly in both directions.

Here’s a rule for you.

DOF extends one third in front and two thirds behind the point of focus

But you know what? I’ve always known this rule but never actually tried to demonstrate it. So I
spent almost an hour trying different angles, apertures and focal lengths. The number 6 on this
ruler is the point of focus and the aperture is f11. If you look really closely there’s a slight bias
towards the 7 but it’s debatable!

DOF does extend 1/3rd in front of and 2/3rds behind the point of focus, but generally all you
need to do is focus on the bit you want to be in the middle of the sharpness. As you move fur-
ther away from your subject it’ll become slightly more noticeable so if DOF is critical or the
purist in you wants to focus a ‘tad’ in front just to be sure then it’s worth remembering.

So, is your brain hurting yet? If the answer’s ‘yes’ then good - it just means you’re learning new
things that’ll catapult your photography to a completely new level!

All images this page © Mike Browne 15

 © Mike Browne

So back to our pictures...

We looked at these right at the beginning where we promised to tell you how it was done, and
why they looked that way.

The first picture was shot using a short 12 mm lens and a middle aperture of f8 to maximise
DOF making sure everything would be in focus. (Remember, DOF is much deeper ie lots of
stuff is in focus, on a short lens) Shooting with a lens that short meant I had to be close to the
action or they’d look too far away and really small in the picture, so I was standing right there
shoulder to shoulder with them and joining in myself.

Wide lenses used in close give a feeling of intimacy. The image feels close and intimate, not
only because you are being close and intimate with your subject, but because short lenses ex-
aggerate the closeness by stretching close things and pulling them closer to you.

The shot of the girls having their picture taken was done with a long 300mm lens and a wide
aperture of f 5.6. for a shallow DOF to blur the background and make them stand out. It kind of
isolates them and has a voyeuristic effect.

So now you know

long lenses = observing at a distance

short lenses = in amongst the action

You can choose which lens to use de-

pending on the mood you’re after.

© Mike Browne

16
So let’s start to create a new reality
They say the camera never lies, but to be honest, the camera very rarely sees things the way
we do with our own eyes. You can manipulate everything just by knowing which lens does
what! The best way to demonstrate this is to check out these pictures of Lorna below.

© Mike Browne
50mm lens 70mm lens 100mm lens 300mm lens

I want to begin with roughly how we see the world with our own eyes so let’s start with 50mm.

I’ve kept Lorna pretty much the same size in each frame by moving myself further away from
her each time I increase the focal length of the lens, but look what’s happened to her environ-
ment. By moving further away from her myself and using a longer lens I can draw those trees
on the other side of the field up behind her as a background. And that’s all I’m doing. The aper-
ture is a constant f5.6 in each picture and Lorna hasn’t moved an inch.

This drawing-in of backgrounds is called compressing perspective and is an extremely useful

tool. Remember, you don’t need to move your subject or fiddle with anything at all - just in-
crease the focal length of your lens and move further away from her yourself.

Short lenses have the opposite effect and we’ll take a look at that later.

Exercise
It’s all very well just reading about it but I recommend you take someone out with you and try
this for yourself. If you’ve already exhausted the patience of everyone around you, practice
with an inanimate object like a statue in a garden. The important thing is to keep trying and get
used to doing it. Then when you go out on a shoot with someone you’ll be ready and know
what to do.

Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse for the person you’re photographing to be hanging around
for ages whilst you ’faff’ about trying to remember something you read three weeks ago!

17
Good times to use a long lens
Ever had trouble with a messy background?
Most of us have at some stage. But how do you separate out your subject from all that messy
clutter? Another neat thing about long lenses is that because of their inherent narrow DOF they
can clean up a mess for you (because it goes out of focus). Here’s how.

Use a lens that’s at least 200mm, set your camera to aperture priority and select the lowest f
number. You can do it manually if you prefer and set the shutter speed recommended by the
camera yourself. Focus on your subject, press the shutter and you’re done.

© Mike Browne
f 36 f 4.8

Tip
Zooming in a bit tighter will help lose even more mess.

Isolate a face in a crowd

Set a low f number (f5.6 or less for a narrow DOF) and use a long lens (this example was
300mm). In this shot there are 3 ‘plains’, the foreground, the subject and the background. Be-
cause the DOF is narrow, it affects both the foreground and the background, leaving the sub-
ject nice and sharp. This has the effect of highlighting your subject as the point of focus.
© Mike Browne

18
 © Mike Browne
Stacking up
Remember how we pulled the trees up as though they were right behind Lorna? If you have
anything from a row of sauce jugs to a range of mountains, a long lens will give the effect of
things stacking up one behind the other. This works particularly well with similar objects, like a
row of buses, or flower heads.

Shoot great portraits with a long lens

When you bring all the elements of a long lens together
they’re brilliant for portraiture. You can blur the background by
using a small f number and isolate your subject in their sur-
roundings.

This portrait of Lorna was taken using a focal length of 250

mm and an aperture of f5.6. Standing her in front of a dark
background with the sun behind her as well, has made sure
her face is in flat even light, and also put a soft halo of light all
around her.

Tip
You should be using a lens hood at all times to protect your
lens as we said before, but it’s essential if you’re backlighting.
If you don’t use one you’ll get lens flare which will make the
image lose contrast and colour. You may get a load of ringlety
blue dots across it as well.
© Mike Browne

19
 Shoot great candid portraits with a long lens

Because long lenses isolate things and can be used to

blur backgrounds, they’re perfect for shooting ‘candids’.

I find the best way to do this is to watch out for people

who aren’t paying attention to me because they’re
deeply engaged in conversation or away with the fairies,
day-dreaming.

Use aperture priority set to a low f number, focus up on

them and either wait for them to laugh, cry or whatever,
or grab that day-dreamy moment before they wake up
and see you.

Tip
Most pro portrait photographers reckon a 105mm lens is
the perfect length for portraiture because it’s half way
between being a ‘normal’ view of the world and being
isolated or compressed.
© Mike Browne

Shoot great detail images with a long lens

Once again, it’s isolation that makes long lenses great for capturing details. When photograph-
ing weddings I’m always on the look out for high impact simple images like these glasses of
champagne with the sunshine coming through the bubbles.

Use a long lens with a low f number for a narrow DOF to make the background blurry. Be care-
ful not to put the point of focus smack in the middle of a glass because the whole image may
look soft. Focus on the top rim and you’ll have a nice sharp point of focus.

© Mike Browne

20
Good times to use a short or ‘wide’ lens
Expand perspective
Short lenses do the opposite of long ones, they open up perspective and expand it. Here’s
Lorna again patiently showing us what happens when I do the same shots as before.

Once again Lorna isn’t moving, she’s still standing on exactly the same spot as before. This
time I’m moving closer to her each time I shorten the focal length. Let’s start at 50mm again.

© Mike Browne
50mm lens 24mm lens 12mm lens

Each time the lens is shortened, perspective expands which makes the trees seem to move
away from her. So if you want to hide the trees, now you know how to do it!! If you’re photo-
graphing people with a short lens watch out for distortion. Look how Lorna’s hands have got
bigger and her head’s started to get narrower in the 12mm shot. Remember a couple of pages
back we talked about short lenses making close things closer as well distant things more dis-
tant? Lorna’s hands have got big and her head slightly stretched because she’s now very close
to the lens.

Here’s a little extra bit of information for you…

This technique is often used in the movies to great effect. When a character is suddenly em-
barrassed or feels as though everyone’s looking at them, the director has the lens zoom in on
the actor whilst the camera’s rolled away from them at the same time. It makes the walls close
in and the background rush up from behind.

It’s often done the opposite way as well. The lens is zoomed out from the actor as the cam-
era’s moved closer. Watch out for it next time you go to the movies and impress your friends
with your ‘lensy’ expertise!

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 © Mike Browne
Add drama

Short lenses are inherently dramatic. People pictures are up close and intimate, buildings
tower above you and open spaces are all encompassing and BIG. Subjects that are close to
the camera are really close.

By shooting the bouquet in the picture above in close with a wide lens it’s had the opposite ef-
fect to the long lens shot of the champagne glasses a couple of pages back. Instead of isolat-
ing the detail, this time it’s being shown in it’s environment, and has that lovely dramatic up
close and intimate feel as well. You can almost smell the flowers in this picture!

Get out and about in the city for those dramatic ’big building towering over’ shots.

Tip
To exaggerate this tall and towering effect get as low down as possible and tilt the camera to
look up. If you want to minimise it, then read the next section.
© Mike Browne

22
‘Towering’ and how it works
This ‘towering over you’ effect is caused by what’s called ‘convergence’. The verticals in an
image converge on one another, and the more the camera is tilted up or down in relation to the
image the more pronounced it becomes. Convergence happens in all normal everyday lenses
but is most noticeable in short ones. It’s not actually down to the lens itself, it’s caused by the
camera’s sensor not being parallel (at right angles) to the upright or vertical plain you’re photo-
graphing. The exact maths and physics of it you don’t need, but you do need a basic under-
standing of how it works, because then you’ll have some control over it.

front of building camera’s sensor

© Mike Browne

So here in this first picture the building towers above you dramatically. Look at the diagram on
the right. The blue line is the front of the building going straight up in the air, and the green line
represents the camera’s sensor plain which in this case is leaning backwards so the camera
can look up at the building and get in some sky. Tilting the camera back is what makes the ver-
ticals converge. The closer you are and the more you look up, the stronger the effect becomes.

front of building camera’s sensor

© Mike Browne

In this second image the camera’s not tilted backwards, it’s pointing almost straight on at the
building and has much more of the cobbled street in the picture. Notice how the verticals don’t
converge anything like as much as they do in the top picture. If you want them to be com-
pletely straight you’ll need to get up a bit higher and make sure the sensor plain (green line)
and the front of the building are parallel. (For taller buildings when you can’t get parallel use
software such as Adobe Photoshop’s ’perspective’ control - I’m not going into it here because
Photoshop’s another story and this is about how to minimise convergence with your lens).

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 © Mike Browne
Spice up the ordinary

So now you know how to control convergence you can get really unusual shots of everyday
scenes simply by laying on the ground (I’m always doing this) and looking up at them. You can
also lose a lot of messy backgrounds by looking up at the sky as well. There’s all sorts behind
the hut! Watch out for overhead power wires and vapour trails from aircraft though.

The ‘Tardis’ effect

© Mike Browne

Short lenses make small spaces appear bigger than they really are.
Ever been to view a flat or house you’ve seen at an estate agent’s
and been disappointed that it’s smaller than it looked? Well shoot-
ing wide is how they do it.

This spacious and desirable phone box was shot using a 12mm
lens and you know what? I’m thinking of moving in!

Tip
Remember to keep an eye on your verticals when shooting interi-
ors. Both these and the restaurant on the last page were all taken
© Mike Browne

with my 12mm lens. The uprights don’t converge because I was

extremely careful to make sure the ’sensor’ plain was straight up
and down running parallel to the walls.
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 © Mike Browne
People and wide lenses

You’ve got to be a bit careful with people and short lenses because of the distortion, but when
acclaimed sales strategist and author Gary May said he wanted a picture for his latest book
that said “I can see right into your mind” - the only option was a short 12mm lens. To really
over emphasise the ‘intimacy’, Gary’s fingertips were almost touching the lens hood.

Because of wide lens’s inherent exaggeration and opening of perspective, his face is stretched
and his hands look bigger. Though it has a kind of wacky look, it does feel as though Gary is
inside your personal space. (Type ‘Gary May’ into Amazon to get his book by the way)

At the other end of ‘short focal lengths’ and approaching the world pretty much as our own
eyes see it, this shot of Jayne and Dominic was shot at 30mm. Short enough for me to be
close and able to interact with them, and get a sense of intimacy, but not so short as to distort
their faces so the picture has a happy, natural feel to it.
© Mike Browne

25
Lenses in the landscape

© Mike Browne
There’s a popular misconception (in my opinion) that short lenses are for landscapes and long
lenses are not! Lenses are tools and nothing more. To say one genre of lens is for one type of
photography is like saying a fork’s for eating pasta but not peas!

In the film ‘The Blues Brothers’ is the immortal line, “If the sh*t fits - wear it!” It doesn’t matter if
you’re shooting a boat rounding a headland (how could you possible get a useable image of
the above with a wide lens from where I was standing?) or getting your bum wet crouching in
the surf, choose the lens to get the image you want to get. When you have great shots in the
bag, who cares what you’re ‘supposed’ to do. © Mike Browne

26
A real ‘lensy’ photoshoot
To demonstrate how using different lenses to achieve interesting images, here are some shots
from a real life photo shoot with Angel and Albert. Zoom in and have a good look - I’ll be asking
questions in a minute.

27mm

12mm 14mm

65mm 80mm

300mm

130mm 210mm
All images this page © Mike Browne 27
Some basic rules of thumb

Short: lenses up to 35mm are great if you want to…

1. Hide things behind your subject because they expand perspective
2. Make small (and large) spaces look bigger than they are
3. Create drama and excitement
4. Create intimacy or ’wackiness’
5. Give the impression you’re there in the picture yourself

Medium: 35mm - 75mm lenses are great if you want to...

1. Shoot natural looking pictures the way we see them with our eyes
2. Begin to subtly draw the background up behind a subject (60mm +)

Long: 75mm + lenses are great if you want to…

1. Control DOF
2. Draw the background up behind your subject
3. Blur a messy background
4. Compress perspective and stack things one behind the other
5. Isolate faces and details
6. Shoot candid portraits

All you have to do is become familiar with the ebb and flow of all these characteristics, how
they interact with, and affect each other, so you’re in control. Because once you gain control -
you’ll get the images that you want to get...

Exercise
Why do you think I used the focal lengths I did for the shots on the previous page? For some of
the images there may be more than one answer.

For example: In the second picture (14mm) I used a short lens at 14mm for the ’Tardis’ effect
to make the space seem bigger than it was so I could frame Angel with the window struts for
maximum impact.

There, I’ve given you one answer all ready. Grab a pen and paper and write why you think I
used the lengths I did for each shot.

12mm
14mm
27mm
65mm
80mm
130mm
210mm
300mm

The answers are on the next page - and you may need to print them out before reading them -
no cheating now.

28
29
Answers
I used…
12mm
To open up the space and get in the top of the gate whilst being low and close to Angel and
Albert. The stretched perspective has made them look tall and the shot dramatic.
14mm
You should know this one already!
27mm
I wanted the shot to look as close to our normal vision as possible and still get in the curved
structure of the pod to frame A and A. I couldn’t get any further away from A and A because
there’s not a whole lot of space in the London Eye pods, 27mm looked good through the view-
finder so I shot it.
65mm
Similar to the last one. We were still above the ground on the London Eye and I wanted a natu-
ral look, but also wanted to pull Big Ben up behind A and A. (let’s face it, there can’t be many
people who’ve got a portrait of themselves with Big Ben from this angle) As I zoomed the lens
to find the composition I wanted, 65mm was just long enough to do the job.
80mm
Because I wanted to draw a bit of the spectacular façade of Buckingham Palace up behind A
and A as a back drop, but didn’t want to get it so close up behind them you couldn’t see the
details.
130mm
I wanted a nice tight portrait with a blurry background. 105mm is reckoned to be the optimum
portrait lens so I was looking to shoot around that length, but again, as I zoomed to find my
composition this just worked.
210mm
I wanted to draw the avenue up behind A and A a bit and make it a bit blurry, but not too close.
As with the last shot it wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision “I must use 210mm”! It was just
that as I moved back and forth to find the composition I was looking for, 210mm just worked.
300mm
Now this is the opposite of the last shot. I knew I wanted to maximise the way long lenses com-
press perspective because I wanted to isolate A and A in their own little world oblivious to the
passers by. So I used the longest lens I had and went as far away from them as I needed to
get them and their surroundings in the shot.
And finally

If you haven’t looked at Angel and Albert’s pictures and done the
exercise on the page before last

DON’T GO ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU HAVE

Go back now and do the exercise before you read the next bit!

I’ll wait here for you!

© Mike Browne
Great - you’re back! Well you know what? It doesn’t really matter if your answers matched my
reasons or not!

What? Why would I make you go back and study images, answer questions, print a page of
answers that were upside down, and then tell you it doesn’t really matter what you answered?
Well the thing is I wanted you to take a long hard look at the pictures for yourself and really
think about the lens I used for each shot.

If your answers matched my reasons for using the lens I did then that’s fantastic, but the point
is that photography is not objective, it’s subjective. Your reason for using a particular lens may
well vary from mine. As you master these most brilliant of photographic tools you may come to
think some of the shots would look better taken with a lens other than the one I chose. And you
may well be right!

That’s what photography is all about. Learn what your tools can do, then go out into the world
and see what you can make with them!

Happy shooting...

Mike and Jayne

30
Digital Photography Exposed £38.99
Always using you camera in ‘auto’ mode is like driving a Ferrari and never
leaving 1st gear! For beginners and intermediate level photographers,
Digital Photography Exposed will guide you page by page from picking up
your camera through to printing stunning professional standard images.

• Avoid little known pitfalls when buying camera equipment

• Know the controls and have them become second nature
• Know why moving just inches can turn ‘dull’ into ‘drama’
• Be able to put your subjects at ease so they’re looking their best
• Be confident as a photographer

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lenses. Lenses are a tool in themselves. Once you master them, you can
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Exposed and you’ll be able to…

• Know how to change a scene by changing a lens

• Use wide lenses’ distortion to your advantage
• Add intimacy to your pictures
• Use ‘convergence’ creatively
• Control selective focusing

1:1 Photography Training Days with Mike £250

(includes lunch and refreshments - bring a friend + £75)

It’s just you and me all day so we’ll work on the subjects you
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1:1 days provide invaluable practical experience which will really

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(1:1 days are the perfect follow up to Digital Photography Exposed and Lenses Exposed)

31
Photography Consultancy for Business £450 per day
Photographic equipment + untrained staff = wasted time, money and poor images

If a picture paints a thousand words, make sure you’re clear about what you’re saying to your
customers. Mediocre images for your products, PR and ser-
vices can cost you a fortune in lost sales.

• Professional cameras do not mean professional looking

images. I’ll assess your needs and advise you what to
buy, often saving you hundreds of pounds.
• Specialist training for the type of images you need.
• Ongoing support until you’re confident you can go it alone.

Film Making
Jayne has been producing, directing, filming and editing television for all the UK’s major broad-
casters for over fifteen years, and has a Royal Television Society Award for her work on BBC
City Hospital which ran for eleven series.

• Rich media for web

• Training films
• Corporate events
• Broadcast TV
• Weddings and family gatherings

Stills Photography
Mike has been a full time professional stills photographer since 1993 and since then he’s won
many awards. His work has been sponsored by FujiFilm, exhibited by the Royal Photographic
Society, Master Photographers’ Association and The Romanian Ambassador in London.

• Commercial
• PR
• Documentary
• Illustrative
• Weddings and family gatherings

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