Totally newbie! Come and share if you won't vomit blood :D
- Thread starter Csboi
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With a telelens, you are focusing from further away. What it does, is reduce flaws. e.g. Up close, the tip of your nose looks like it's a metre away from your face (exaggerated).. from 5 metres away, it looks like a cute button nose. The same applies to skin imperfections.. and it makes the person's appearance more appealing as well.. Especially if you wanna do a close up of the person's face, you should probably use a minimum of 85mm..
Just a technique i like to use..
yes this i know.. it is about the distortion of the lens.. tele lens distort so little.. but i am not sure about it rendering skin smooth... nvm i go google on it..
rhino123
Senior Member
Er... from what I know, it was not the case, a good telelens can actually took down pretty much details of your subject, even pimples and other blemishes. What telelens actually do was to isolate your subject better... which was very much what people would like for portraiture work.
I used a 28mm in one of my street photography, being a wide lens, it actually took in the entire scene easy. However it is very difficult to isolate particular subject from the rest of the background. However when I use my 100mm f2.8 macro (note that both my 28mm f2.8 and my 100mm f2.8 are all opened to their widest aperture) I can isolate my subject much better, meaning the rest of the background being blurred out enough to make my subject stood out more prominently.
pic taken using the 28mm f2.8 (at f2.8)
pic taken using 100mm f2.8 (at f2.8)
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Your entire example is just based on a fixed focal length and the subject standing further away. I can get just as much detail, just as many flaws, at 400mm as I can at 24mm if I fill the frame the same way using either lens.
Tele does NOT mean smoother skin.
rhino123
Senior Member
Sorry2.. my bad.. wrong way to say this.. I was trying to imply that blemishes are less "pronounced" (for lack of a better word)... I get better shots with my 85 than my 50. but I do use my 50 if I want detailed shot. or even a macro.. it's not "skin smoothening"..
Actually, I am not sure why your 85mm is not giving you more detail shots as compared to your 50mm. But the main thing about focal lenght is not just that the blemishes get less pronounced by using a longer lens. I used my bro's 85mm f1.4G and it was amazingly sharp and detailed... basically I got all the flaws on the faces as I am using a 50mm f1.8.
The main thing about 85mm as compared to a 50mm is the subject's isolation as I have pointed out in my previous posts and not about less pronounce flaws.
Actually this site provide pretty good comparism and explanation too (better than my crappy photos)
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030&message=38745128
And this site too,
http://photoinf.com/General/Klaus_Schroiff/Perspective.htm
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ZerocoolAstra
Senior Member
If I stand close to subject and use 35mm (for example), then move further away and use 85mm such that subject occupies same amount of the image, the amount of facial detail captured should be about the same (ignoring the difference in perspective from standing closer/further). A bit confused about this skin smoothening concept you mentioned. Can elaborate?
gohjialong
New Member
This month's Digital Camera Magazine includes a free A-Z SLR tips book.
I found that the tips provided in the book to be very helpful and I did learn quite a bit from it (I'm also new to photography).
Maybe you can check it out as well, it retails at 14.90 at Kinokuniya
really have ah? i see those 7-11 shops they don have free gift leh.. or is it only kinokuniya got free gift?
ZerocoolAstra
Senior Member
Hmm... I think I have really screwed up my explanation.. LOL... I'm not good at teaching these techniques.. Cos i'm not taking plain face shots.. I'm talking more full body portraiture.. ermm... please learn from the pros.. hehe
hehehe ok ok
Sorry2.. my bad.. wrong way to say this.. I was trying to imply that blemishes are less "pronounced" (for lack of a better word)... I get better shots with my 85 than my 50. but I do use my 50 if I want detailed shot. or even a macro.. it's not "skin smoothening"..
Sorry, I disagree... When I use my 135mm, the skin flaws are *far* more pronounced than when I use my 50mm. Why? Simple: My 135mm is a very sharp lens.
If your 85 is giving you less detail than a 50, then you have a problem with your 85.
tsumetiv
New Member
Haha... Sorry I was at work earlier so couldn't check my magazine. And it turns out that it was the June 2011 issue of Digital Camera World that gives the free A-Z SLR tips book. And I believe it is the UK edition since the price is in pounds. Personally I found the magazine as well as the free tips book to be a very interesting read. If not wrong, should still be on sale at Kinokuniya since I was there yesterday and I saw it.
Cheers!
luckyorange
Senior Member
welcome to cs =)
gohjialong
New Member
tsumetiv said:
Ok better head down to kino fast. Interested to know what it provides us with.
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