Project 52: Week 10 - Isolation: Use a Longer Lens

Last week's lesson was about isolating our subjects using one of three methods. This week, our task was specifically use a longer lens, 200 mm, and pay attention to three things:

• How tight is the angle of view? What are you able to exclude from the frame?

• How do foreground and background elements appear compressed?

• How does the combination of a long lens and a shallow depth of field allow you to isolate elements in ways you couldn't do with a wide or standard lens?

Using my 70 - 200 mm lens zoomed all the way out, I stood a few feet in front of Izzy and focused on her eye. The use of the longer lens meant I could focus more on her face and exclude distracting elements behind her. Which in this case were a shed and a set of agility weave poles. I used a larger aperture thus throwing the grass around Izzy out of focus, creating a nice blurred green background. Doing so helps the viewer focus more Izzy's face, or eye in this case, which was my intention.

When you to isolate subject or even part of a subject, using a longer lens is an excellent way to do so. Now, go see how everyone else isolated their subjects with a longer lens. Start with Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area and keep clicking on the links until you get back here. Have a great weekend!