Chris Nelson. Master Guide for Glamour Photography: Digital Techniques and Images. 2007

ever, use a sensor that is smaller than

that—meaning you’re not using the

full lens area that you are paying for.

As a result, all of your lenses become,

effectively, longer. Most cameras

with a smaller-than-35mm sensor

have a magnification factor of about

1.5. That means your normal 50mm

lens is effectively a 75mm. A com-

mon zoom lens like a 28–135mm is

effectively a 42–202mm. This is a

good thing if you want more tele-

photo out of your lens; it’s a bad

thing if you like wide angles. It’s a

good thing if you like a big depth of

field; it’s bad if you like it shallow.

Another thing that is not so ob-

vious is the fact that smaller-sensor

cameras do not use all the lens area.

The smaller sensors only use the cen-

ter of the lens. On the positive side,

this is the sharpest part of the image

formed by the lens, especially if you

are using a less expensive lens. If you

are using a good one, though, the

lens is designed to give you beautiful

fall-off of focus as you get toward the

edges of an image. With a smaller-

sensor camera, you’re not using this

natural vignetting. A quick glance at

Janilee’s portrait illustrates this effect

(facing page).

What really sets lenses apart is not

focal length, though, it’s speed. My

favorite lens for glamour work is the

Canon 70–200mm f/2.8 IS. It’ll set you back about $1600. A lens with a

similar focal length in an f/4 to f/5.6 will cost you only $300 to $400, but

you’re giving up two full stops, which could make the difference between

shooting at^1 / 60 second and^1 / 15 second. Those are two stops you’d really like

to have when it’s getting dark on your shoot. The image stabilization (IS)

gives you about another stop, maybe two, if you’re handholding the lens. So

you see how much more the faster lens lets you do.

You’ve already seen examples from my tire-factory session with Jennifer,

but an extreme example of the advantage of fast lenses comes from the

same shoot (next page). Shooting by street light only, I leaned on the bridge

DIGITAL TECHNIQUES AND ENHANCEMENTS 87

Angie’s image was taken as the sun was set-
ting. I was able to handhold the camera and
take the image f/2.8 at^1 / 40 second with the
camera set to ISO 100.