Joe Hendricks 10/17/14 Joe Hendricks 10/17/14

Zoom vs Prime Lenses at Weddings - Part 1

I'm a zoom guy. I love my zooms at weddings, but I've gotten the itch to drop some weight from my camera bag and try a prime lens. That's why this blog is called "part 1". I currently shoot with a Nikon D4. My lenses at every wedding are the 14-24 2.8, 24-70 2.8, and 70-200 2.8 VRII. I also use a 105 macro (prime) for ring shots. I walk around with a lens bag on my shoulder all day and I change lenses all the time.

Here's why I love my zooms! I can get 2-3 shots immediately by standing in one place. With a prime, you have to be a human zoom. Trust me, there's no one else that can be more of a human zoom than me, but I'm already running so much, that it's nice to stay in one place and get a few shots. Here's a couple examples from a recent wedding with the lens distance in the caption.

The first shot is when the Bride and Groom first saw each other. This is always an amazing moment to watch and I try to stay out of the way as much as possible. My 70-200 2.8 VRII allows me to get close enough to show some emotion in the picture.

Staying in the same place, I was able to zoom out, do some cool composition with the top of the trees and get a great shot of them together!

If I was shooting a prime, I would have had to walk way back quite a ways to get that same shot. Next, I went back in to get that close up again. It's kind of similar to the first shot, just showing a little more interaction between them.

So here I am, making the decision to be close on them, just to capture the emotion of the scene, when all of the sudden, the Groom decides to spin his Bride. It happened so fast and all I had to do to capture it, was zoom out. Here's the shot I got.

It's nothing to write home about, but it's beautiful scene of him twirling her. If I had a prime, once again I would have been way to close to get this shot. If I tried to change lenses, it would have been over by then.

Photographers, ask me how I'm able to capture the emotion I do in my pictures and I tell them that I work really fast. I know exactly where I want to be before I take a shot and if I'm off by a few yards, I just zoom in or out. Zooms give you so much flexibility and if you are someone who composes your shots in camera, then zooms are your best friend! 95% of the time... the shot you see from me was exactly how I composed it in my camera. When bridesmaids are walking down the aisle, I compose them to the right of my camera so they have room to walk into. With my 70-200 2.8 VRII, I slightly zoom out as they walk, to make sure my composition stays the same.

Here's an example of me zooming out as someone walks down the aisle.

200mm - at the back of the aisle, completely zoomed in

140mm - The same couple, half way up the aisle.

As you can see, I'm slowly zooming out so that my composition stay the same. Both of those shots were only adjusted for my "natural tilt".

I love this last example! The Bride and Groom decided to skip on their way out! It was a little unexpected, but because I was shooting with a zoom lens, I was able to follow them out the entire way. These are all composed in camera with my focus point on the bride all the way out.

If you're wondering about my focus point on the Bride, I actually move it as I'm shooting. Nikons are really good at doing this!

Zooms are my best friend. You really have to know what you want with a zoom, because sometimes they can give you to many options. There are times where an amazing shot is unfolding in front of me and I am zooming in and out, left and right, up and down trying to find the right shot, because sometimes you don't see it until it presents itself to you in camera.

I'm definitely not bashing primes, I've used them for years in the past and love them. I've never used them at a wedding and that's what I'm curious to find out about now. All I can tell you is my experiences with what I use. Maybe it helps you to see zoom lenses in a different light.

This weekend, I am traveling to San Francisco for an engagement session and I'm taking a 35mm with me instead of my 24-70 zoom. I can't wait to see how it challenges me to think differently when I've been zooming for so long! I completely understand how creativity is spawned when you embrace your limitations. I look forward to writing another post next week on how the 35mm prime changed my thinking.

What did you think? Are you a prime of a zoom shooter at wedding? Have you ever thought about switching? Let me know in the comments below.

Joe

Joe Hendricks 10/15/14 Joe Hendricks 10/15/14

Encouraging Each Other To Be Better

When you first go through bootcamp in the NAVY, you have to run 1.5 miles as fast as you can. I started out running it in 15 minutes.... pretty slow. In fact, I was at the end of the first couple of races we ran. There was another guy struggling along with me and we decided early on to become buddies and practice running together. He pushed me to work harder every race and I did the same for him. For 5 weeks we ran side by side, pushing each other to get faster. By the end of bootcamp, we were 2 of the fastest runners in bootcamp running our 1.5 miles at an average time of 7:55.

I tell this story, because you have to start somewhere in whatever you do. Photography is an amazing job where you can be as creative as you dream. The sky is the limits when you first pick up that camera and start shooting the things you love, but you have to be able to push yourself further or you're gonna end up shooting the same things over and over. There are some people out there that can push themselves, but most of us need someone to help us along whatever journey we are on.

That's why I believe in creative competition so much. If you've ever heard me speak before, it's one of the things I'm most passionate about! I believe in it, because I've seen it work, but you have to have a good attitude about what you're doing in order for it to be effective. Competition amongst Photographers can get a little bitter sometimes, but it doesn't have to be that way. If you see someone posting an image or a thought that you don't agree with, don't tear it apart. Instead, try to look for the good in it! On the flip side, if you see an image you love, don't shoot the exact same thing. Put your own little twist on it and make it your own!

Here's an example to hopefully explain what I'm talking about. My friend Jeremy Cowart does some amazing Pinterest boards that I'll check out from time to time. A couple days before a wedding last year, I came across this picture that he had pinned.

I thought to myself, if I could ever get a Bride to do something like that, it would be awesome! A few weeks later I shot a wedding with a willing Bride and Groom! Here is the picture I ended up capturing.

Creative shot of Bride and Groom running away

I don't know if I ever would have thought about this shot on my own. You can clearly see how it's similar, but it's also completely different at the same time.

Creative competition should push you to be better at whatever it is you're doing! It usually works best when two or three people are intentional at pushing the limits of what's possible, but if you're willing to push yourself, you can find your inspiration in everything around you.

If you love what you're doing, but you're just not growing at your craft, try to find someone to enjoy the ride with! You may be in last place right now, but when you have someone running next to you, you're going to get faster and better at whatever it is you love doing!

Just make sure you're growing in the right direction, because the more you grow, the deeper and stronger your roots get, making it harder every day to go in the direction you're meant to go ;)