WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS IN LOVE

GREENVILLE, SC & BEYOND

Lens Series Part 3: Creamy Dreamy

When we got started in photography, we read a lot of information from a lot of different people about what equipment to buy and when. We did some things right and we did some things wrong. And we want YOU to be able to learn from what we did so that you can do it better! Hopefully this will help you if you are just getting started or need a little bit of help wherever you are in your journey! We want to help! You can catch up on our lens series here:

Part 1: Getting Started
Part 2: Going Long
Part 3: Creamy Dreamy
Part 4: Little Details
Part 5: The Whole Picture
Bonus: Secret Weapon

When we first started this series, we told you that the first lens we ever had was our little 50mm 1.8. It’s essentially a little $100 piece of plastic with 2 pieces of glass. It was a great lens for us to learn on, but we moved on to bigger and better things. We moved on to lenses like our 24-70mm and our 70-200mm. But we never forgot our roots. We never forgot the advantages of the 50mm we had used for so long. And that’s why the next lens we had to have was our first lens’s much bigger and MUCH better sister, the Canon 50mm 1.2! This is Alyssa’s favorite lens by far. Just like Ryan’s 70-200mm, Alyssa uses this lens about 90% of the time!!!

Now at first glance you might be wondering what the big difference is between a 50mm 1.8 and a 50mm 1.2. On paper, it looks like the differences might be subtle. But in practice? Boy, they are anything BUT subtle! Here’s why. A lens works much like your eye. Your eye is MUCH more complicated and sophisticated, but in concept a lens works the same way. Your eye determines the amount of light available and the iris opens and closes to let the exact right amount of light in. Lenses use what are called f-stops. They are set intervals at which a photographer sets the aperture of the lens to open and close based on the light available. So a wider aperture lets in more light. The f-stop number is inversely related to the size of the aperture. In other words, small f-stop numbers (i.e. 1.2) actually mean wider apertures. SO, going back to the lens comparison. The 50mm 1.2 is better because the aperture is able to open wider and let in more light. This means we can shoot in darker places more easily like getting ready rooms. Or dark receptions. The other HUGE advantage to this lens is that as the aperture widens (smaller f-stop numbers) the backgrounds get more and more out of focus. This is a BIG deal for us, because one of the huge aspects of our style is that our backgrounds are creamy, dreamy, and out of focus so that our subjects stand out. Again, HUGE!

Like we mentioned, Alyssa uses this lens ALMOST ALL the time. It’s perfect for her. Alyssa does most of the posing of our couples. She’s basically a posing ninja. That’s a thing. So having a 50mm allows her to be pretty close to our couples most of the time and make quick posing adjustments to make them look their best and capture those intimate moments up-close. She uses this for ALL engagement sessions. The only time we don’t use it is for ring shots, which we will talk about next week. She uses it for all wedding day portraits of the bride and groom, wedding party individual photos, and smaller family photos. She also uses it during the getting portions of the day while Ryan uses the 24-70mm. This lens is also good for details like reception table setup details. Actually, it’s pretty much good for everything!

Truly, the most important thing about this lens is the creamy backgrounds it can create at those wider apertures. It’s a perfect fit for our style. Ryan’s 70-200mm does that as well by compressing the image and the background, so the 50mm is a great complimenting lens. They can both do different things while accomplishing the same goal, and that’s why those 2 lenses are used the most. Here are some images taken by our 50mm 1.2 and some of Alyssa in action!

greenville-wedding-photographers_0480 greenville-wedding-photography_0478 greenville-wedding-photography_0479greenville-wedding-photography_0057

This is maybe the most-used lens in our bag. We even use it when we go on vacations as well! So if you’re trying to decide what to purchase next (or even first), this would definitely be one to consider. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth every penny!

In the next installment we will be talking about a specialty lens that we use on every engagement session and every wedding. It gets probably the least time spent on our camera bodies, but the job it does is arguably one of the most important! Come back and check it out!

See What We Are Doing Today

On Instagram!

Follow along!