Choosing the Right Focal Length for Your Photography

10/27/2024 ISO 1200 Magazine 0 Comments

Selecting the right focal length for photography can significantly impact the story, depth, and feel of your images. This guide summarizes focal lengths from 14 mm to 1800 mm and explores their ideal applications in different photography styles.

1. Wide-Angle Lenses (11-20 mm)

Wide-angle lenses are excellent for capturing vast scenes. They’re especially popular in:

Landscape Photography: Allows photographers to capture large landscapes without losing important details.
Astrophotography: Wide angles, paired with a low aperture, allow more light into the lens, capturing stars while balancing landscape elements.
Architecture and Interior Photography: Expands a room’s perceived space, fitting large structures into a single frame.
Vlogging: Commonly used between 14-20 mm, wide angles capture the subject and environment, offering viewers a contextual story.

2. Standard Wide-Angle (24 mm)

The 24 mm focal length is slightly less exaggerated than shorter focal lengths but retains some wide-angle versatility. Key uses include:

Wedding Photography: Captures the subject along with background elements, essential for telling a full story in one image.
Street and Travel Photography: Balances background and subject, giving a sense of place and culture.
Cinematic Videography: Often used for smoother footage with reduced camera shake.

3. 35 mm: The Versatile Focal Length

The 35 mm focal length combines the best of wide-angle and tighter focal lengths. It’s particularly popular for:

Environmental Portraits: Captures the subject within the environment, providing depth without losing background context.
Lifestyle and Documentary Photography: Perfect for events and daily life, giving a close, intimate feel to the viewer.
Food Photography: Adds a natural sense of space around the subject, highlighting the presentation and context.

4. 50 mm: The “Nifty Fifty”

The 50 mm is close to the human eye’s perspective, creating natural, balanced images. It’s suitable for:

Everyday Photography: Versatile and user-friendly, it can cover a range of styles from portraits to landscapes.
Portrait Photography: Captures a moderate amount of background while focusing on the subject.
Fashion and Full-Body Shots: Allows for full-body shots with clear subject-background separation.

5. 85 mm: The Classic Portrait Lens

An 85 mm lens offers beautiful subject isolation with pleasing background blur (bokeh), making it a favorite for:

Portraits: Known for its "dreamy" background compression, enhancing the subject’s details.
Weddings: Ideal for close-ups of moments without invading the subject’s space.
Landscape and Detail Shots: Captures specific elements in a scene, focusing on details without capturing the entire environment.

6. Telephoto Lenses (135 mm and Beyond)

Longer focal lengths, such as 135 mm, 200 mm, and even higher, serve distinct purposes, particularly when distance is necessary:

Sports Photography: Telephoto lenses allow photographers to capture close-ups without entering the field of play.
Wildlife Photography: Essential for maintaining distance without disturbing animals.
Landscape Compression: Adds drama by "compressing" the scene, isolating features, and providing a unique perspective.

1800 mm for Extreme Reach

For photographers focused on distant or minute details (e.g., the moon or wildlife from afar), extremely long focal lengths, such as 1800 mm, create remarkable images, albeit with specific setup requirements.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the correct focal length transforms your ability to tell a story through photography. From capturing immersive landscapes to isolated wildlife, each lens has unique characteristics that influence framing, background separation, and focus. Explore and test different focal lengths to find the ones that best suit your style and objectives.

Image and video via Julia Trotti