If you don't have a good lense can your pictures still look amazing.

[ILoveChildren]

I have asked a girl about what lense she uses for her photos because clearly I was amazed, and the answer I got is that she does not use a good lense at all. How can her photos look so amazing and proffessional without a good lense?

She allowed me to post one of her pictures. I am a big fan of her photos.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2rm06lv.jpg

[Karl Johnston]

Its an often debated topic but its a combination of being able to improvise and work with good light, then the lens, then the camera. I wouldnt say its nothing to do with the gear, more so just how you use it.

The entire workflow is important, not just taking the pictures. Many pros, and non pros fail to realize that the photograph is born within the mind, at the concept. Whatever you use is irrelevant to pull that concept out and put it into motion.

A lot of the time designers sketch or draw out their ideas before getting to work on the design project. Same goes for photographers. I know a photographer who writes everything down, and a home builder who does drafts in 3D before actually getting down to doing anything.

[S P]

Great photo! Which lens was it? Looks like a prime of some sort?

[egordon99]

I have asked a girl about what lense she uses for her photos because clearly I was amazed, and the answer I got is that she does not use a good lense at all. How can her photos look so amazing and proffessional without a good lense?



Lighting Lighting Lighting

[ILoveChildren]

Great photo! Which lens was it? Looks like a prime of some sort?
She woudn't say. She just quoted that her lense is not really good. That in fact is her sister. She is usually used as a model for her pictures. She is very pretty. Yes the lighting is the main magic for beautiful photos.

[RaZe42]

Lighting, composition and (at least in the example shot) post processing is much more important than absolute sharpness.

[S P]

She woudn't say. She just quoted that her lense is not really good. That in fact is her sister. She is usually used as a model for her pictures. She is very pretty. Yes the lighting is the main magic for beautiful photos.Actually, now that I take a closer look at it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was taken with something as simple as the 18-55mm kit lenses. I've seen similar shots taken with the (Nikon) 18-55 kit lens. 55mm and f/5.6 and a portrait shot at that range will produce about that depth of field. She burned the corners and possibly dodged the face a little. The kit lenses are perfectly capable of taking a whole ton of great photos. Even the crappiest kit lenses today are reasonably sharp at maximum aperture, and the rest is up to the person standing behind the camera. ;)

[Octowl]

that picture is heavily PP'd, thats all it takes to have a 90$ lens look like a 500$ lens if you dont pixel peep.

[BlindGuyTakingPictures]

If you can master using lighting to your advantage you can produce better images than expected.
I have a very good lens but still having lighting issues and know my pictures aren't as good as they should be.

[bobbyz]

I would still get a good lens. If AF is slow, aperture not fast enough you will waste valuable time and you can't pp everything. For example try to get those nice out of focus backgrounds with cheap slow (kit lens) glass.

Doesn't mean you need to spend too much to get the best. You need to decide based on your budget and type of photography you do. For example, 35L is $1300, for now I am quite happy with sigma 30mm f1.4 on my 1dmk2. But if i was shooting FF and needed 35mm, no other lens is going to give me that nice smooth bg like 35L. Same thing with 85L, 135mm f2. You just can't do something in pp.

A good lens will make you spend less time in front of your PC/MAC to edit those images. Lighting and shooting skills are still important.