Elegant South Florida Weddings
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For Photographers: Lenses for Portraits and Engagements

We’ve been asked many times through Instagram, emails, and messages for tips and advice on different aspects of photography and how we do things. And this got us thinking about how we can better help those around us who have all these questions. So we’ve decided to create a blog series especially for photographers to answer your questions regarding anything photography related! We took to Instagram and Facebook and asked what YOU all wanted to hear from us and what areas of need you as photographers have. We got tons of responses and have so many things we will be sharing over the next few months to answer your questions and help in whatever way we can! You can catch up on previous For Photographer posts here:

What’s in Our Bag?

Lenses for Wedding Day Details

Today’s post is all about photography lenses for portraits and engagement sessions! Whether it be a portrait session, bride and groom portraits on a wedding day, or and engagement session, we’re breaking down what lenses we use, how we use them, and why!

Before we break down each lens and how we use it, we have to start off by saying that we personally love shooting with prime lenses. There are many photographers that will use a 24-70 mm or a 70-200 mm for portrait and engagement sessions and that’s totally a personal preference. We like to stick to prime lenses because of the ability to go down to a low aperture and get that bokeh (creamy background) we love so much in our images. We’ve said it in previous posts but the beauty of photography is that it is an art and each photographer has their own way of doing things! None of us are right or wrong in the way we decide to capture an image! With that being said, anytime we are getting ready to do portraits (whether it be for a session or on a wedding day) we always have these lenses on hand: 50 mm, 85 mm, and 35 mm.

Taken with the 85 mm

We will start our sessions with Vic having his 50 mm on his camera and I’ll have the 85 mm on mine, with the 35 mm in either of our camera bags and, if it’s an engagement session, we have the macro 105 mm for ring shots. The truth is that the majority of our images are shot with either the 50 or 85 mm. The 50 mm is the most versatile lens we own because it is not too wide or too tight and it is by far our most used lens. It allows us to capture the scenery without being too far away from our clients and still being able to guide them when it comes to posing.

Taken with the 50 mm

We use the 85 mm for tighter shots and just love the creaminess it gives the background (it definitely has more bokeh than the 50 mm) We also like to step back and take wider shots with the 85 mm once in a while to get a different look in the image. Many of the images taken with our 85 mm are those snuggly shots, as we like to call them, where we’re closer to the couple and capture them nice and close. We will also use it to take tight pictures of the ring while still on the brides finger or any other detail shots where you may not see the couples faces.

Taken with the 85 mm

And last but not least, our 35 mm and macro 105 mm are the lenses that, although they don’t spend the entire session on our cameras like the 50 and 85 mm, they give us diversity and are still just as important. We use the 35 mm for those wide shots where you see more scenery and landscape in the background but we also love the depth of field it gives when we get closer to the clients. Because this lens is so wide, when we want to get a close shot of our couple, we usually warn them that we’re about to invade their personal space ;) And the Macro 105 mm is strictly used for pictures of the brides ring when we do an engagement session. If it’s a regular portrait session or bride and groom portraits on a wedding day, we sick to the other 3 lenses mentioned.

Taken with the 35 mm

Taken with the Macro 105 mm

We hope this post was a helpful insight into how we shoot and the photography lenses for portraits and engagements! We will be sharing more about the other lenses we use throughout other parts of a wedding day or sessions in upcoming posts! And as always, if you have any questions feel free to comment on this post or contact us here!

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Elegant South Florida & Destination Wedding Photography

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