Lense Recommendation

Glimmerman

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I have a Nikon D80, and I have been asked to do an outdoor engagement session for some friends. I am a newb so I need some help!

What mm lense(s) would be good for this? I assume they will want some full body pictures, as well as head shots of the two of them.

I have a 17-70 3.5-4.5 and a 50mm 1.8

I am thinking between these two lenses, and especially with the 50mm prime, I should have it covered. But is there anything else that would be really handy? A different prime maybe? I want a 100mm macro lense, would it come in handy for this or not? Should I get a telephoto zoom/prime?

Remember, my camera is digital so it has the crop factor to consider.
 
I am quite certain that those two lenses will more then cover the majority of shots you are generally looking for. As long as you avoid anything wider then around 30mm, (could cause some pretty different distortion) you should be all good. I would personally start out with the 50mm and then cover the rest of the 'missed' shots with the zoom lens.

I have used a 100mm and on a camera with a smaller sensor, I found that even to get upper body shots, I was having to walk over 15 feet away from my subject! Then again, it is a lovely lens for covering the details such as the engagement bands, clasped hands, kiss, without feeling too intrusive.
Hopefully that helps some :)
 
It depends on the type of shots you want. When you go with a longer focal length then you have less background. For engagement type portraits you want to shoot in tight or crop in tight later. Me personally, I never shoot any portrait with less than a 70mm (this is film, not digital but you should use the equivalent), I adore my Nikkor 105mm, one of the sharpest lenses I have ever seen. Never shoot wide angle on people unless distortion is what you are going for.
 
I would defintely bring your flash to experiment with, but another option, if you are bringing another person along, is to bring a reflector. Foam core board actually works very well. That will help to fill in some of the shadows.
I have very little experience shooting people shots, but I would probably skip bringing a tripod, though many will probably disagree.
 
My own bias against on-camera flash would suggest that you turn it off and never, ever turn it on again. There is no such thing as good lighting from on-camera flash. I would try to shoot everything with available light if you don't have an external flash unit. Your lenses will work fine. Good luck with the shoot.
 
I wouldn't dismiss flashes all together. Even in bright sun they're useful to kill face-shadows under the nose, or during magic hour you can use them as fill.

http://www.planetneil.com/faq/flash-1.html

Some good insight there.

In short - get the SB-600 and a diffuser of some sort, I don't think you'll need any new lenses. A tripod wouldn't hurt for group photos (if that's a concern) but it's not necessary and could even be an encumberance.


--Illah
 

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