Camera Lenses See the World Differently

The lens you use can have a significant emotional impact

Consider this first image for how it feels:

The bird’s plumage is slightly soft-looking, and this emphasizes the rough and tumble appearance. This is a very cute bird!

Now consider this image, taken with a different camera and lens:

This bird has a very sharp look, every feather rendered perfectly. The bird looks dignified, in control of its life.

There are real differences here. The first bird is young, scrambling to try to make it in the world, maybe not completely up to handling its self-grooming yet. The second bird is adult, already successful, able to get enough food and rest and water and take care of its grooming.

But there’s another layer of difference here: how the different lenses rendered these images. The first image was take with an older lens (maybe 20 years or so old), and it’s not as sharp as modern lenses. But it adds a subtle warmth to its subjects, which makes them (to my eye) more sympathetic.

In addition, I used processing to ‘cool’ the look of the first bird, adding a little blue to create more visual texture, emphasizing the disheveled look. In the second image, I left the colors naturally warm, and the combination of fine detail and warm colors seems to work pretty well.

Each picture conveys different ideas and emotions. Everything involved in a photograph can affect the story it tells, how it feels. The more photographs you take, the more you learn about how to express yourself with your photographs.