1. Exploring Lenses
Photojournalism

2. 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

3. 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.

4. Lens length: 15 mm
Bryant High School Publications

5. Lens length: 20 mm
Whitney High Student Media

6. 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.

7. Standard zoom lens: 280 mm
Bryant High School Publications

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

9. 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.

10. Specialty zoom lens: 160 mm
Bryant High School Publications

11. Specialty zoom lens: 70 mm
Blue Valley Southwest High School

12. 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.

13. Lens: Fisheye
Hannah Kunz, Westlake High School

14. Lens: Fisheye
Bryant High School Publications