Camera Lens Attachments
There are a variety of lens attachments available. These different lenses each have different properties and each is used to achieve a different result. A photograph isn’t always just about the subject, sometimes it’s about perspective.
These lenses will not go with any camera. You must have a camera that allows for interchanging lenses. These are generally more expensive, but if photography has become about more than just about capturing family moments to you, these cameras may be a good investment.
Zoom Lens
Zoom lenses are very commonly used and some automatic cameras come with them. These lenses allow a photographer to get closer to a far away subject without physically moving. The zoom will crop out the scenery as it moves in on a subject. These are useful for reaching subjects on a stage or remote location or to capture animals in wildlife that you normally could not just walk up to.
Wide Angle Lens
Wide angle lenses, in general, will give you more room in your photograph. In other words, you will be able to fit more of the scene in front of you into your photograph. These are great for landscape shots or photos meant to show a large area, such as a town or city block.
These are useful if you wish to photograph a single subject, whether it is a person or an item, close up without losing the detail of their surroundings. An example of this would be taking a shot of your child swinging the bat at home plate. The photo will be more interesting if you use this type of lens to capture the entire baseball field in the background. You can be close to your child for the shot without sacrificing the large background you want to include.
When using a wide angle, watch out for distortion. You will definitely want to experiment with this lens before you figure out exactly what you can use it for. If you get too close to your subject parts of your subject may become distorted.
Telephoto Lens
This type of lens allows you to stand back from your subject yet get them close within a shot. Don’t confuse this type with a zoom lens. A telephoto lens will capture the subject up close while allowing for a more precise shot, but will produce a different picture than you would get by using zoom.
These are great for shots in which you want to isolate your subject while leaving the background distant and out of focus. This type of lens can be extremely useful if you want to emphasize a quality of an item or to capture a tighter shot.
Macro Lens
Macro lenses allow a photographer to take very detailed and extremely close up shots of an item. They may be used to get a crystal clear shot of an item, such as a nail or a paperclip, that an ordinary lens would have trouble capturing clearly.
Fisheye Lens
Most photos you may see taken with a fisheye lens tend to have a comical appearance about them. Faces or scenes can be distorted into a rather silly appearance. These photos are mostly for novelty sake but you can take a more serious photo using the fish eye.
A great example of this is shooting an interior in which you want to capture the feeling of the entire room. This lens allows you to shoot the room while including both the ceiling and the floor. You may really have to experiment with this lens to use it properly but it can be a useful photographic tool.
Wrap Up
These lenses are each useful in photography to capture different moods and styles. If you know little to nothing about each lens, visit a qualified camera shop and ask someone to help you pick out the best lens for your needs. The change in perspective each of these lenses offer may be just what you are looking for in your quest to take more interesting pictures.
