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f/1.8 lens, stopped down, shot with f/1.4 lens, open

I have many times recommended 50mm f/1.8 lenses, and I’ll try to inspire you once more to go out and get one right now. Most manufacturers have a cheap lens like this: As you will have heard me say...

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Do I need a fast lens?

When students ask me “should I really buy a fast lens?” (For beginners, that’s a lens with a low “F-number”, like f/2.8), my answer is “it depends.” What are you shooting? Landscapes (no need for a...

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Eye

Portraits? Then use a 50mm f/1.8 lens (affordable, fast, sharp) and shoot in Aperture (A/Av) mode with it wide open (preferably by window light). Look at this recent available-light shot of a student:...

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Snap

Photography is about composition/subject + moment + light. I reckon I got several of these right here: From earlier this year. Using a 35mm lens on a 1.3 crop camera (meaning it’s 50mm), set to f/2.8...

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Misc

Backgrounds and sharpness and white balance: oh my! I thought I would chat about some of the things that go through my mind when doing a portrait, like this one last night: Questions like: What camera...

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That look over the shoulder

One common sexy model look is the “look over the shoulder”. Like here, in this shot of Nemo, a somewhat Rubenesque but nevertheless pretty model: In an “over the shoulder” pose women can look over...

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Again, why "fast" lenses?

A tip for newcomers to SLR photography. I often hear: “Why do I need so-called “fast” lenses – like the 50mm f/1.8 lens Michael keeps talking about? Surely my 18-55 lens also covers 50mm?” Well yes it...

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Portrait using two flashes

Here’s an impromptu portrait I took on Tuesday, of a lovely student who kindly volunteered to be the subject, in the Flash for Pros course: And here’s how I did this: Camera: The camera was a Canon 7D...

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Nifty Fifty

Everyone should own a fast 50mm lens, I keep saying. “Fast” meaning a prime, large aperture lens (like a 50mm f/1.8, or even a 50mm f/1.4, like this one:) 50mm fast lens, by Michael Willems One student...

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Not too shallow

I hear people say sometimes that “you cannot shoot portraits at wide open apertures”. So then how this available light portrait, shot on a full frame camera with a 50mm lens at f/1.2 (yes, f/1.2!)?...

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A very hard softbox.

Try this next time you want a person lit by a softbox and you have no softbox: Use a computer monitor. Display a white background (e.g. open a word document) and hey presto: a big and efficient...

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Black and white…

..is underrated, I think; especially for portraits. Or else why don’t we do it more? A good black and white photo can full of character; moody, even. Especially in portraits, where the absence of...

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Nifty Fifty

One lens that should be in everyone’s kit bag, however cheap your camera or however little you want to spend on equipment, is the 50mm lens. A lens they used to call the “nifty fifty”. I have mentioned...

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Dawkins

I photographed Richard Dawkins tonight. In the sold-out Bader theatre in Toronto, where he introduced his new book to an enthusiastic crowd: Usually, theatre lighting is quite simple – if you get to...

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