One of the reasons I love my digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera is the lens options I have available to me. My camera came with a standard 18-55mm lens. I also purchased a high power 70-300mm zoom lens for added versatility.
The standard 18-55mm lens is a great all around lens. I use it for most of my indoor and around the house candid shots. The short zoom range is very compatible with my flash during indoor use. I can easily use the 3x zoom across the room to get great family shots while not getting in my subjects face. If I am going to be less than 20 feet from my subject this is my lens of choice.
Anytime I step out my front door with plans to use my camera I put on the 70-300mm lens. If you have kids in sports or want to take more candid photos of your family the high power of a zoom in this range is awesome. The lens gets you close to the action from a great distance. There are a few drawbacks from a lens this size. One is the weight at just over 1 pound. Another issue for me is I can’t take photos of people or object in close proximity. And it will not focus on an object under five feet from the lens.
My goal when using my zoom lens is to fill the frame with my subject. Of course my subject is my son or one of his friends. Too much background can be distracting and uninteresting. Zooming in close to my subject creates drama and eliminates clutter from the photo.
Only the lens and the amount of zoom changed in each photo. I put a blue box around the bird in the photos so you could find him. Sorry about not having a more interesting subject but it is very cold and rainy here today.
