Photography Foundations: Lenses

- With digital cameras, it's easy to get hung up on the idea that megapixels equals image quality. And sure, you need a certain pixel count to get a reasonable amount of detail. But on today's cameras with their huge quantities of pixels, the caliber of the lens you have has as much to do with image quality as the number of pixels that you have. The lens you chose determines everything, from the field of view and magnification in your shot, to how sharply focused it can be, to how fast a shutter speed you can use, and how shallow your depth of field can be.

In other words, understanding your lens is critical to taking good photos. And that's why we've dedicated an entire course to lenses. Our study begins with focal length, wherein you will see that while your zoom lens may be a great convenience, it's also an easy way to dramatically alter an image without even realizing it. From there, we'll move on to choosing a lens. We'll study some advanced auto-focus concepts. We'll explore the vagaries of telephoto and wide-angle lenses. Look at filters, or we'll look through filters. And finally, we'll talk about maintenance.

Again, while this may seem like a gear-centric course, remember that photography is an inherently technical medium. To achieve your artistic ends, you have to understand your gear, and the craft that is required to use it well. We'll be studying both the art and craft of photography throughout this course.