As we headed out for New Years Eve, Lynne asked if I was taking my camera or going naked (or something like that). Yes, I’m taking my camera. Oh, not your little one (i.e. the S90). No, but I’m going light. No flash, and I’m taking just my little 50mm lens.
Way back when I started playing with SLR cameras, the kit lens was a fixed-focal-length, normal lens. Zoom lenses are compromises, more so than fixed-length lenses. In the ’70s, affordable zooms were not particularly great. There were no $100 kit zooms like we have today, so most folks who had one lens, had the normal lens, usually a 50mm f/1.8. I think the proliferation of those lenses helped make the design pretty decent and the cost low. Those lenses remain inexpensive today.
The term normal denotes a lens with a focal length approximately the same size as the diameter of the image it produces at its focal point. It produces a look that’s similar, more or less, to what we see. For a 35mm camera, that would be about 43mm, so a 50mm is certainly in that range. (The other designations would be wide for a shorter lens and telephoto for a longer lens.)
My 50mm lens is Canon’s f/1.4 version. It’s a nice lens, a bit brighter and better constructed than the f/1.8 lens, and hugely cheaper than the f/1.2. The latter is one of their L series lenses and you pay a lot for that extra f-stop.
The 50mm lens some very nice qualities. It’s pretty small and quite light. And, at an f/1.4 maximum aperture, it’s a full three stops faster than my 24-105 zoom. This produces the fabulous shallow depth of field to pull a subject out of the background, and it lets me shoot in pretty low light at a reasonable shutter speed.
It doesn’t have the flexibility of a zoom, but that flexibility is sometimes a distraction and often a crutch. With a fixed-length lens, you zoom with your feet. You concentrate on composition, on depth of field, on other aspects of picture-taking. It’s really a good exercise. And it takes me back to that earlier time in my photographic journey when 50mm was the only lens I owned.
As I’ve upgraded my digital cameras over the years, each new one performs better in low light. It’s actually been hard to trust that an ISO of 1600 or 3200 will produce useful images. But the 5D MkII does this well. Since DLWS in Kauai in 2009 and trying to absorb what Joe McNally had to offer, I’ve become rather hooked on having a ton of control over light. Using a flash or a reflector, I can put the light where I want, blend it with the ambient light, and produce the shot I want. Going flash-free (and reflector-free), that’s not the case.
But photographing is about seeing and working with light whether it’s light you’re producing or light that’s just there. Using ambient light can be easier – one less thing to worry about – or just as challenging. Looking at the light sources around you, deciding where to be, how to use that light in the best way.
On New Years day, we attended Marann’s birthday bash. I had fun the night before with the simple set-up, so I grabbed the camera and lens again as we headed out the door. This party included a live band with some small stage lights providing a lot of the illumination. Those lights helped especially at the nearby tables.
A common problem with ambient light photos of people is “raccoon eyes” – the eyes surrounded by the dark shadows of the brow ridge. But with the right angle and the light cooperating a bit, a shot like this is possible. A fast, bright lens and high ISO helps. It also helps having a pair of subjects that pretty much light up the camera regardless of the lighting.
The stage lights were reasonably bright, but much of the room was fairly dark. I was using a bit slower shutter speed than I’d like to, but when you take plenty of shots, there will be keepers. If one or two of those capture expressions like Melissa’s, you smile and enjoy your success.
But, I was there for the party and to help Marann celebrate an extraordinary 50 years on the planet. If I could capture one or two moments that help us – and her – remember the evening, that’s just icing on the birthday cake.
