7 Best tips for using a 50mm lens

Consider choosing a general-purpose lens. Beginners usually choose a 50mm lens. But few people really understand what it can do. Whether you’re a novice photographer or a professional photographer,

This article will come in handy: 7 Best tips for using a 50mm lens.

7 Best tips for using a 50mm lens

1. Get ideal lighting conditions

Most novice photographers trying to understand how to use a 50mm lens to shoot portraits generally agree that this lens works best in well-lit situations. However, this is not the case. When you take a picture in the middle of the day, the light is harsh and creates too strong a shadow. More experienced photographers follow the rules of prime-time photography. This is usually a few hours after sunrise and before sunset. Choose the most convenient time for you.

2. Focus on your depth of field

Even in F2.8, you’ll find the depth of field is shallow, so be careful. If you are taking a picture of a person and their eyes are not facing you at the same time and in the same plane, you will find that the eye closest to the camera is very sharp, but the eye behind it is very soft, even though it is only a centimeter or two in the same focal plane.

To bring your eyes into focus, either adjust the aperture to a higher setting, position your subject so that your eyes are the same distance from the camera, or move yourself to a different position. Similarly, when shooting multiple people, use a high F-stop number to avoid having one person in sharp focus and then all blurry!

3. Find the perfect background

Your background is just as important to your composition as your subject. Even Bokeh cannot save an image from a distracting background. If you are shooting outdoors, identify visual elements to eliminate from the background, such as bright objects, people, trash cans, etc. For people and cars, wait for them to move out of your frame.

Even when blurred, characters in the background can distract the viewer from the main theme. If you can move the object out of the frame, do so. You may need some time to explore multiple angles to exclude unwanted objects from the background, but this is usually much easier than removing them in post-processing.

4. Know your maximum and minimum apertures

It is always helpful to know the maximum and minimum aperture of a lens. The lens’s maximum aperture will determine how shallow you can make the depth of field and how well the lens performs in low-light conditions. Although the minimum aperture of your lens will determine how deep of field you can make, and how well your lens performs in bright conditions.

5. Create with flash

50mm lens has a very strong shooting force, good use can even play comparable to the effect of the higher-order camera lens. When used with a flash, you will get sharper and clearer images because of the specular highlight effect. For beginners, the clever use of specular highlights to create, so that the picture details are more clearly presented, shot high-resolution works, even the human pores can be seen. In addition to the flash, shed lights can also produce good results.

6. Be aware of your position

Usually, only high-end cameras are full frame, remember the view through the camera means everything will look closer than it really is. The solution is as simple as standing further back in the scene than the naked eye can see.

Also, remember that 50mm lenses are fixed lenses, so you’ll have to zoom with your feet! If you’re used to using zoom lenses, it can take a while to get used to putting yourself in the right place in the first place. Due to the distance between you and your subject, the short 50mm focal length is an excellent portrait lens, and you can get a pleasing background blur effect!

7. Choose the right aperture

Your choice of aperture is never right. However, depending on your theme and desired effect, some apertures will be more successful than others. For example, in portrait photography, you might want to use a wide aperture to focus strictly on the eyes. Using f/stop at 2.8 will keep the eye sharp while leaving the rest of the image somewhat blurry.

On the other hand, landscapes and architecture often benefit from a wider aperture. While vast landscapes are not the strong suit of 50mm lenses, you can use them effectively to capture beautiful scenes. Remember to use a narrow aperture to capture landscapes with clear detail.

The 50mm focal length Angle of view is the closest to the human eye on a full-frame digital SLR. After you learn a lot about how to use a 50mm lens, you need to be more connected. You can force yourself to take only a 50mm lens on a trip and try to shoot everything with it. I believe that after many times of practice, you can take pictures that satisfy you.