Hands down, no doubt about it, my most commonly asked question… “What’s your favorite lens?”

So, here it is… a blog entry dedicated to my favorite lenses!

disclaimer: I’m far from the authority on lenses, I’m simply sharing things I’ve learned along the way.

I’m going to focus this entry on portraits only (as opposed to photojournalistic images).

I use only prime (or fixed focal length) lenses…. for those who aren’t photographers, that means the lens doesn’t zoom. When I tell our subjects that I zoom with my feet I can almost always see their brain thinking, “HUH?! My $200 point and shoot camera can zoom… why the hell can’t that big ol’ thing zoom?!” 😉 To read more about that, click here.

My “go to” lenses: 35mm 1.4L, 50mm 1.2L and the 85mm 1.2L.  For portrait sessions, my assistant’s “go to” is the 70-200mm 2.8L… as it gives them the most versatility as a “second shooter.” After all, working around my big ol’ red head isn’t the easiest!  On occasion, they’ll use the 135mm 2.0L as their main lens…. mmmmm….. butter!

You’re about to find out that all of my lenses have nick names. You might make fun of me for it, but whatever… I’m a weirdo and don’t care. 😉

Soooo, here we go!

Starting off with our personal favorite….

35mm 1.4L (AKA, “In it to Win it”)

I call it that because to shoot the way that I love to shoot with it, I’m usually sitting/laying/standing very close to my subject…. Sometimes being that close is a little dangerous… so naturally, “in it to win it” came about when I was photographing two people swinging…. and I nearly died 😉 (I’m also a weeee bit dramatic….).

I LOVE everything about that focal length. For me, it feels like the equivalent to how our eyes see. It feels intimate.

I rarely photograph just one person with it, but every once in a while it feels right. Oh, and another reason I love this lens is because I like being close to my subjects so that it doesn’t feel so impersonal.I especially love it for families. For family sessions, it’s my most used lens. 🙂It’s great for the groomsmen photo. I love symmetry… shooting with a wide lens helps with that. I love how this lens, when shooting really close, shows so much, yet feels like there’s nothing else in the image but what really matters. In the image below, I’m probably sitting a foot away from him…For me, it wasn’t the easiest lens to figure out…. I have to be really careful not to put my subject compositionally too close to the left or right edges as the lens has a bit of a pull. I especially have to watch for arms… put an arm too close to the left or right edge and boom, distorted chubby arms!
I rarely shoot with the 35 vertically. Though I’ve seen many photographers shoot it that way beautifully! Just not something I’ve mastered yet. 😉Did I mention that I love how intimate it feels? 😉 OH how I love this image!

Next up…

50mm 1.2L (AKA, “Goldilocks”)

This is probably one of the most popular lenses in the world of today’s portrait photographers (at least in my observations). Many of my favorite images were taken with this lens. Though, of my three “go to” lenses… it’s my least used.  Weird, huh? I’ve never really thought about that until I wrote this entry…. hmmmm….

I use the 50mm when the 35mm feels too wide or when the 85mm feels too tight. You know… like Goldilocks and her too hot/too cold porridge. It’s often jusssst right! Get it now? 🙂 You’re judging me now, aren’t you? 😉

Photographers often ask us what their first lens purchase should be…. my answer is always the 50mm as, in my opinion, the focal length is OH SO versatile!  Not the mention the 1.8 version is super inexpensive ($120).I remember originally taking this image with the 35mm…. but it stretched Jason’s head, so I switched over to the 50….badaboom, badabing, perfecto! See what I mean? Goldilocks!Gorgeous!

And the last of my go to lenses…

85mm 1.2L (AKA “guaranteed money”)

Why “guaranteed money”? I use that term, “money” not to describe something as being rich or expensive, but instead to describe something as being awesome. If you’ve never heard it used that way, watch the movie “Swingers.” Or, I found a good definition on Urban Dictionary. 😀

This focal length takes amazing images… whenever, wherever!

The 85mm is a traditional portrait lens…. as opposed to say the 35mm which, traditionally, is used more as a photojournalistic lens.
If I’m on a major time constraint, and need guaranteed timeless images… it’s the 85mm lens on my camera!  And for that reason, it’s my most used lens for portrait time on a wedding day.I shoot almost all of my bridesmaid images with the 85mm.  As I mentioned before… I don’t love the distortion on the edges of the 35mm and what it does to arms (the 50mm has a bit of distortion, too). However, the 85 has zilcho distortion!Oh?! And the bokeh! DONE AND DONE! It’s a timeless focal length… and well… it’s guaranteed money!”

And two bonus lenses:

135mm 2.0L (AKA “butter”)

This lens I call “butter” because the images are just so creamy and well…. buttery!

And finally…

24mm 1.4L (AKA, the “Jesh” lens)

Jesh deRox uses this lens (last I knew) almost exclusively… and he creates magic with it every time!  I have a friend who isn’t a photographer but knows a lot about various photographers… he’d see an image we’d take and would say, “is that with the Jesh lens?” 😉 Said friend was almost always right 😀

Sometimes the 35mm just can’t squeeze everything I want it to squeeze into my frame… or I can’t back up any more (as was the case with the image below)… that’s when I go for the 24mm.

I often shoot the “big sky, little people” with this lens. I also love shooting this lens symmetrically (just like with the 35mm).

Okay… that’s it from me…. for now anyway… 😉

Much love friends!

~bobbi ❗

After posting Mike’s extreme close up, our friend Justin noticed that Mike had “Central Heterochromia” in his eyes. NOOOOO!!!?! My husband has what?!!?!  Will he make it out alive?!!?!?  I quickly Googled it in a panic!

Whew… what a relief when I found that Mike was going to live through it!

Here’s what Wikipedia told me, “Central heterochromia is an eye condition where there are two colors in the same iris; the central (pupillary) zone of the iris is a different color than the mid-peripheral (ciliary) zone.”

It seems that it’s just a fancy term for the inside of your iris being a different color than the outside of your iris.

Whatever, I’d already committed myself to blogging about it… I was in too deep to back out now!

In prepping for this captivating blog entry, I took a photo of his eye. 🙂

WHOA!!!!! What a cool little project this was for me! Eyes are wild I tell you!

It’s like his pupil is on fire and his iris is trying to put the fire out! Too abstract of a visual? Maybe. Whatever… I like it! Anyway… look at the pattern and texture… so damn cool! Oh, and let it be known… the color in this image has not been enhanced.

I’m obsessed with Mike (as though you didn’t know) and knew he had bi-colored eyes… but I had NO idea that his eyes were this awesome. Oh man he’s pretty! 😀

Side note: auto focusing a macro lens on a pupil is damn near impossible… take it from me, switch over to manual focus and save yourself a lot of headache! (it kept focusing on my reflection… argh!)

After  being shock and awed while looking at his eyeball on the back of the camera, I handed the camera to him… “Here, take one of my eye!”

WHOA! What are those things?! It’s like there are little squiggly blue-ish streams popping out from my pupil… That’s CRAZY! Furthermore, what are those peach patches?! I had NO idea that my eye looked like that! Now, it’s no secret that I don’t wear makeup… so I don’t look super closely at myself in the mirror like most women do (unless my unibrow is making an appearance… but that’s for a whole different, equally captivating blog entry 😉 ).

EDITED TO ADD :: My eyes change color in the winter to a gray color… in the summer they’re blue. Maybe I’ll re-take it in June! K, that’s all ::

In conclusion… it seems that Mike isn’t quite as special as I thought he was with his super rare Heterochromia. Though, let’s be real… in the cool eye color department… he wins… hands down!

I’m going to make it my mission to photograph all of my loved ones eyes with a macro lens! So friends and family, you’ve been warned. 😉

Much love friends…

~bobbi ❗

[br] [br]

 

 

You guys already know about my obsession with Instagram… 🙂 (I mentioned it on this post).

For those of you who don’t know what it is yet, let me tell you!

I pulled this from their website FAQ’s…

Instagram is a fun & quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your iPhone, then choose a filter to transform the look and feel of the shot into a memory to keep around forever. We’re building the platform to allow you to experience moments in your friends’ lives through pictures as they happen. We imagine a world more connected through images of what happens around them – whether through friends or people across the world.

What I really appreciate about Instagram is it’s simplicity (for the same reason I prefer Twitter to Facebook). Instagram is a visual timeline… no reading (though, you can add a caption if you choose), no clicking… instead just scrolling, looking, double tapping to “like” an image or you can choose to leave a comment.

Bottom line, it’s not a huge time vacuum like Facebook is (which, as many of you know… I have a love/hate relationship with).

Also, like Twitter, you have complete control of your feed.

The drawback? It’s only available on the iPhone. 🙁 Though, from what I’ve been reading… they’re in the process of developing it for Android.

[br] Start reading here if you already know how amazing Instagram is… 

Because I love it so much… I thought it might be fun to have a monthly insta-challenge (well, if the first one goes well 😉 ). Each challenge will have a theme… and at the end of the challenge, I’ll post thumbnails of all of those who’ve entered and announce the winner.  The winner will receive a $20 iTunes gift card. Fun huh? I’ll answer that for you…. Yes! It is!

Here’s how you play.

Take a photo with the theme in mind… then post the image to Instagram with the hashtag #bbmk (that way I can see everyone who’s entered).

We will then announce the winner a week later. BOOOOOOOOM!

This month’s theme: “EXTREME closeup self portrait”

Here are ours…

[br] [br] Contest ends one week from today at midnight EST. (Monday the 12th).

I’ll announce the winner on March 14th. 😀

Don’t forget about the #bbmk hashtag!

Can’t wait to see your EXTREME closeups!

Love to you my friends.

~bobbi ❗

[br] [br] PS. yes, Mike’s eyelashes are ridiculously long. I often Imagine how difficult it was to have those eyelashes like those in science class with the microscope… You guys know what I’m talking about, right?! Mine are average length and they were out of control with the damn microscope!   [br]

 

::EDITED TO ADD::

A couple of things I’m noticing as the entries come in…

1. It has to be a self portrait… photos of your adorable kids don’t count. 😉
2. It has to be an EXTREME closeup.
3. No Twitter account needed. Just add the hashtag to your Instagram post. 😀 #bbmk
4. If your Instagram feed is set to private… even with the hashtag, I won’t be able to view your photo. 🙁
5. The image has to be taken with your camera phone… and it can’t be a photo of a photo. 😀