 BetterPhoto Member |
Focal Length for Shooting Groups What focal lens are suitable for full-body pictures? Groups of 10-25 people?
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Michael H. Cothran |
This is best determined by how far back you can get. I would avoid wide-angle lenses completely, since the poor individuals on the edges will be badly distorted. If you are photographing sports teams outdoors, you should have plenty of room to back up - at least to the point of being able to use a normal lens for whatever size camera you are using. Michael H. Cothran www.mhcphoto.net
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Christopher A. Vedros |
If you tell us what camera you are using, we can be more specific on actual lens focal lengths.
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Michelle Ross |
Okay, I just took sports pictures ... some were outdoors and some were indoors ... I was able to get far enough back, however ... I hate all of the foreground and background, and then the players look like little ants among the surroundings. LOL Is this just gonna be something I have to live with when you have a bunch on the team? Or are wide-angle lenses supposed to help with that, keeping in mind to leave room on the sides for less distortion. Or should I forget about WA altogether? I used my Tamron 28-75.
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Michael H. Cothran |
Michelle - I believe the problem is in your "composition." You simply need to arrange your team to better fit the format (2:3) of your camera. You've probably set them up either too squared, or too panoramic, which does not match your image format. It is crucial to set up the team proportionally to your format - presumably 35mm or digital. If you do this correctly, you will not have any excess "foreground," "background," or team members that look like "ants". Wide-angle lenses WILL distort those people nearest the edges, unless you leave a lot of space. And leaving a lot of space on the sides, and/or top/bottom is exactly what you are trying desperately to avoid. It's what gives you all that extra, unwanted foreground and background, while making your subjects look like ants. Why do that? It CAN be done right. Use your Tamron lens in the 50mm-75mm range. You may even be able to tweak down to 35mm, but I would not do it. Good luck. Michael H. Cothran www.mhcphoto.net
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Michelle Ross |
Okay Michael . . .thanks for responding . . that was what I was desperately needing/wanting to know before I dumped money into a WA lens. The football team had 39 + 3 coaches and they were already in 4 rows. . . how many rows can I go before I have problems with everyone being in focus . . . I was so far back my flash wasn't very effective however this one being outdoors it wasn't a HUGE Problem, but I couldn't set the aperature as small as I wanted because the sun was getting low . .. so if we had gone 5 rows it would have been better but just how many rows can one go. . . volleyball was pretty much the same and I did go with 4 rows for them but I Think 5 would have been better, but they were all on the same level so 4 was about all I could do without having some kind of riser for the back row.
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