Photography Tutorial: Lenses for Beginners

Discover what each lens has to offer and learn the best times to use them, with urban photographer Gustavo Minas

Gustavo Minas (@gustavominas) specializes in capturing unique moments in urban landscapes using photography. His hallmark style features reflections of every day life that allow you to see different perspectives in a single image.

Urban photography captures daily life, the ephemeral, anything fleeting. It’s a technique immersed in the frenetic pace of our cities. For Gustavo, street photographers are expert walkers. They’re attentive and open to the unexpected, the unknown.

In the following video, Gustavo Minas explains the features of three different lenses. He shows you how to use them so you can step into the world of urban photography. Don’t miss it:

Wide angle lens

At 18-35 mm, this lens is more open, which allows you to shoot broader scenes. It widens the perspective of your image. Which means it increases the distance between the various fields. The more you open the lens, the greater the distortion around the edges.

Wide angle lenses also enhance and magnify anything in the foreground. They’re the best lens to use in closed, limited spaces or when you want to include a lot of information in one frame.

Standard lens

At 50 mm, this is the classic photography lens, because it provides the nearest perspective to that of our own eyes. It’s great for portraits and doesn’t cause too much distortion around the edges.

Photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Marc Riboud and Elliot Erwitt, all immortalized this lens.

Zoom lens

Zoom or photo lenses range from 60 - 90 mm and bring the subject closer to the photographer. They also compress the layers, making things that are actually in the distance appear closer in the photo. This can create interesting effects, making your photos look like a collage.

Smartphone lens

You won’t need all these lenses in some situations. Some smartphones already offer all of these focal distances in one device. Standard cell phones now come with a wide angle lens, and some models already come with a zoom and an ultra wide angle.

Your phone is also extremely practical. You always have it with you and it’s more discreet, which is handy for street photography. Cameras attract attention, but smartphones go unnoticed these days.

Like this tutorial? If you’d like to learn how to use every day life as the inspiration for your own visual language, don’t miss Gustavo Minas’ online course: Introduction to Street Photography.

You may be interested in:
- How to Choose a Camera?
- The Best Photo Editing Apps.
- Professional Photography: Managing Your Freelance Career, a course by Danny Bittencourt.
- Adobe Photoshop for Professional Photo Editing.