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Thread: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

  1. #21

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    Quote Originally Posted by Noah A View Post
    Or you could just photograph the general crap! The problem is if you shoot with a 75mm lens, the crap in the foreground looks much bigger than the crap in the background.

    I think that extreme focal lengths in either direction tend to make things easier for the photographer. Wides tend to provide instant drama, long lenses can isolate the subject and make it easier to make things 'perfect' as Frank said. Of course this is a gross and unfair generalization. There are times when both types of lenses are necessary.

    Personally I like the lenses just on either side of normal. My favorite is the 115/120 focal length. It can fit a lot into the frame without overly exaggerating the size relationships of elements within the frame. Likewise a 210 is a bit longer than normal and can work when you just can't get close enough to shoot with the wider lens, but it's not so long that it drastically compresses elements within a scene, and it still can include a lot of context.

    The more I shoot 4x5, the more I lean towards selling off all of my extra junk and just sticking to the 115/210 combo.
    I like the notion of the 115-210 combo just like a 28/35 and 50 in 35mm are a good combo. Or streamline even more and go with one lens, a 135 or 150 (about like a 40 in 35mm).

    I really dislike the distortion of space that the extreme lenses have, both long and wide. Especially ultra-wide. I think it looks a lot better to do two or three shots with the normal lens and stitch if you really want to describe a landscape or scene. The wides always foreshorten everything too much and usually the furthest away subject is the most interesting - but the wide makes it smaller.

    The longer lenses flatten the subjects too much I think. It makes it easier to get depth of field related separation but you lose the sense of roundness and mass. I know that sounds like art bullshit but it's what I see.

    So the closer to normal lenses feel more like the focal length and field of our eyes, the pictures have a sense of reality. But maybe if you packed 20 miles up a mountain trail to capture an alpine lake you want to distort it with a 75mm so you can get everything in the shot, and that's cool too, I understand.

  2. #22

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Petronio View Post
    I like the notion of the 115-210 combo just like a 28/35 and 50 in 35mm are a good combo. Or streamline even more and go with one lens, a 135 or 150 (about like a 40 in 35mm). ...
    The nice thing about this combo is that both lenses have all the image circle you will likely ever need for 4x5. I love the 135mm focal length and it would be my favorite, but none of the modern offerings in that focal length have enough coverage for my needs.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Petronio View Post
    ... The wides always foreshorten everything too much and usually the furthest away subject is the most interesting - but the wide makes it smaller....
    I agree. Even the 90mm does this. I was recently shooting some hillside informal settlements in Mexico City. I wanted to capture the size of the settlements, but the shots with the 90mm really emphasized the homes in the foreground which was distracting. The 115, from the same spot, did much better even though it didn't technically include as much of the scene. And I was shooting from an elevated position which should have helped the situation.

  3. #23
    Daniel Stone's Avatar
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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    Quote Originally Posted by vinny View Post
    Everyone here is elderly. Except me and two other guys.
    Well I'm 24(just), so I guess I must be the toddler here . And I'm self-proclaimed "not an old guy" #3 thus far. I'm sure there's more people here under the age of 30...

    -Dan

  4. #24

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    well, now that myself an the two other guys are accounted for..........

  5. #25

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    Yeah but mentally you're old for your years ;-p

  6. #26

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    Doesn't it change with what you want to photograph? When I see that I am repeating myself I change the tools so I have to try to change my vision. I've been doing wide going wider and wider and now I'm going back to longer lenses ...

    Adrian

    P.S. I'm not one of the youngsters but there were cars when I grew up

  7. #27
    austin granger's Avatar
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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    As I get older, I find myself using wide angles less as well. Actually, both my wide angles and my long lenses seem to be migrating toward the middle 'normal.' My lens ratio is all wrong-ha! Anyway, I think that this does have to do with isolating the subject, but also reflects a general desire to make myself more 'translucent,' if that makes any sense. I want to try and get out of the way of the subject. I mean, I do work on my pictures a lot, but I don't want this work to draw attention to itself. Though this is obviously a gross generalization, sometimes I think very wide angles (or over filtration, over saturation, texture screens, Holgas, etc) can end up turning "Look at this!" into "Look at me!" which is kind of insulting to the subject, if you think about it.

    On a separate note, I was pretty young when I started frequenting the forum, but now, at forty-one, I'm not. It happens in a moment kids!

  8. #28

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    I'm old. The only thing getting wider on me is my middle, but lenses; I love all flavors!

  9. #29
    jp's Avatar
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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    The other aspect of using longer lenses instead of wide angle is that when the sun is out, you can more easily avoid getting your own shadow in the photo.

  10. #30

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    Re: Elderly Photographer using longer focal lengths as I age

    I find myself alternating between the 240/250mm lenses and the 19" on the 8x10. The wider lenses for up close and the longer for distance.
    Of course I'm not even 60 (yet!)
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

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