Which lens setup is best for travel portraits and beach photos on a Nikon D3300?
Asked 6/9/2017
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I have a Nikon D3300 with the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens and I’m still learning aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I’m traveling soon and expect to shoot beaches, parks, museums, mountains, and portraits.
I’d like some portraits with a blurred background and some shots with more of the scene in focus. I’m considering adding a telephoto lens such as the Nikon 55-200mm or 70-300mm for distant subjects.
My questions are:
- Can an f/4-5.6 telephoto lens still give good background blur for portraits, or do I need a much faster lens?
- Is it practical to travel with multiple lenses, or is it better to keep things simple?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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Generally, the longer your lens it set (say at 100mm with wide-open aperture) the further away you can be while maintaining an out of focus background.
However something to think about is "Beach" photography will be VERY, VERY well illuminated, so in order to maintain a wide enough aperture to do this you will need both a low ISO (100-200) AND a strong ND filter (say 8-stop)
You don't want to be swapping lenses on the beach, so pick a good quality "all rounder" lens, I would suggest the 18-55 for the beach and the 55-200 for "far subjects".
The ND filter is the key to wide apertures outdoors.
Originally by user9999. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user9999
9y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—an f/4-5.6 telephoto can still give strong background blur, especially when zoomed longer and used wide open. In general, longer focal lengths help blur the background more, so a 55-200mm or 70-300mm can work well for portraits and distant subjects. With your 18-55mm, you usually need to be closer to the subject to get the same effect.
If you want especially shallow depth of field for portraits, a fast prime like a 50mm f/1.8 is a common recommendation. In bright beach sunlight, though, using very wide apertures may require low ISO and possibly an ND filter to avoid overexposure.
For travel, multiple lenses are useful but swapping lenses on the beach is inconvenient and risky because of sand. A practical approach is to use the 18-55mm as your general walk-around lens and bring a telephoto for far subjects or tighter portraits. Keep lens changes to a minimum in sandy conditions.
Also, bright sun can create harsh shadows, so learning fill flash can help for beach portraits.
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