Depending on your photographic interests, depth of field—the range of distances over which your lens will be sharp—can affect you in either propitious or problematic ways. If you’re trying to isolate one face in a group, a shallow depth of field is just what you need. If you’re hoping to capture the drama of a racehorse beating down the track in your direction, then shallow depth of field can turn much of the equine into a befuddling brown blur, no matter how high your shutter speed.
Imagine a camera you could plunk down in front of the Taj Mahal or anywhere else and snap photos that were indistinguishable from reality. A camera producing images that, when properly displayed, would be pictorially the same as being there.
Shooting color used to be simple: you just dialed in your white balance and fired away. Excepting the rare cases where the colors had to be spot on (such as in fashion photography), this straightforward approach was close enough for most types of photography.
It won’t surprise you, although it could make you uneasy. Most photos today aren’t shot with a camera—at least if you define “camera” as hardware solely used to record images. You know: something with a tripod socket.
The first time I came across a reference to bokeh in a lens review I found it a bit pretentious. Bokeh may sound like a Japanese dessert, but it’s actually the out-of-focus behavior of your lens. The term is said to come from the Japanese word “boke,” which translates as “blur” or, in some cases, “senility.” Confused? It’s understandable.
White balance sounds like one of those concerns that vaporized with the advent of digital photography. In the days when film was king, you had to think about the color quality of light at the drugstore photo counter, long before you made any pics. You could either plan on shooting in the Sun, using a so-called “daylight” emulsion, or snapping your photos indoors, with a “T” or “tungsten” film stock.
It wasn’t so long ago when every camera came with what’s called a normal lens. This, of course, didn’t refer to its mental health, but to the fact that it was the default lens that every photographer would find useful or, in the days before interchangeable lenses, would be stuck with.
Before you bought your last camera, did you weigh the pros and cons of the sensor’s aspect ratio? My guess is no—not in the face of more solemn considerations such as style, trim, and a boastful shoulder strap.
Among the most aesthetically satisfying features of a good lens is the lovely color of the front glass. Check out the ads trying to lure you to new optics, and you’ll see come-hither hues of blue, purple, or yellow—as tempting as a new car’s snazzy finish.