Exploring Lenses Photojournalism

Types of lenses Different types of lenses have a different purposes Prime/Macro: doesn’t zoom; has a short focal length useful for close-up images, such as portraits Zoom: allows a photojournalist to “get close” to a subject without being physically close useful for sports and news events Wide angle: doesn’t zoom, takes photos of 180+ degrees useful for capturing a large scene or giving an “up close and personal” feel for more intimate shots Fisheye: common specialty lens; shoots wide angle but doesn’t correct distortion useful for artistic images, but visually it distorts reality

For portrait photography, it’s often helpful to use a prime lens, which means a lens with a fixed focal length (a non-zooming lens). If you don’t have a prime lens, a zoom lens with a short focal length (15-70 mm) can also work.

Lens length: 15 mm Bryant High School Publications

Lens length: 20 mm Whitney High Student Media

However, when shooting sports or other events, most photojournalists can’t get close enough to the action, so a lens with a zoom is necessary.

Standard zoom lens: 280 mm Bryant High School Publications

Standard zoom lens: 185 mm Maya Lee, Shawnee Mission Northwest High School

Sometimes, though, a more specialty lens is required. For instance, if you want your sports photo to show depth of field (where parts are out of focus), you will need a more expensive zoom lens.

Specialty zoom lens: 160 mm Bryant High School Publications

Specialty zoom lens: 70 mm Blue Valley Southwest High School

This technique can be overused by beginning photojournalists, though. At times, you may want an image that showcases distortion to create an intentional visual effect by using a fisheye lens. This technique can be overused by beginning photojournalists, though.

Lens: Fisheye Hannah Kunz, Westlake High School

Lens: Fisheye Bryant High School Publications