Canon Explorer of Light Sal Cincotta's Go-To Lenses for Senior Portraits

What's up everyone, Sal Cincotta, Canon Explorer of Light, and today we are here at Union Station in St. Louis, and we're gonna talk about my favorite three lenses for high school senior portraits. So first up, my Workhorse 85mm f1.2. I know a lot of you think, do I really need that extra stop or fractional stop of light between a 1.2 and a 1.4 or a 1.8? It makes a huge difference. This lens for me just gives you that shallow depth of field, right, that bouquet. It's just gonna create a bunch of separation. Not to mention, what I really do love about this lens is what it does to skin. These lenses are so sharp today. The eye is gonna be in focus, and then you're gonna have this natural fall off, and it's gonna soften the skin naturally. So this is for a portrait. I really like this, I like the compression I get. So let's stop talking about it. Let me show you this lens in action. It'll go straight back. Absolutely stunning, give me your eyes. Gorgeous. Love that, let me back up here. So that's the only thing, right? With an 85mm, now I gotta move a little. If I wanna frame her up, hold that for me. That's beautiful. Bring that hand down just a little bit on your waist. Yep, love that. Gorgeous. So let me get you back up on these steps. So now I've got her just popping off this scene, and I just love the depth of field here, yes. Looking away. Other way. Yes. Gorgeous. And then what I can do here, like I'm getting full body, and you'll notice right in the background, everything's falling off, right? So it's just about your subject. So by using this 85mm, I'm getting compression, right? So she's popping off that background. We're making everything look closer together, but with the color and then the shallow depth of field, ah, chef's kiss. Okay, here we go. Let me put you up against this wall right there. Hold that for me. So now I can get this nice vertical shot here. And what I'm doing now is I'm just having fun with composition. Yep. Okay, so super cool, all right, from an 85mm. We could stay with this lens and shoot here all day, but I like mixing things up. So let's go to my next favorite lens, RF 2870 f2.0. I love this lens because I can go a little bit wider with it, and of course, it's fast glass, so I gotta have that fast glass for this. So let's switch things up. So next up, mid-lens 2870 f2.0. Again, I'm gonna photograph this wide open, f2. I do it all the time for all my seniors, really all my clients. This is great for seniors when you're on location, maybe outdoors, park, urban environment, really bring the environment into the shot. This is where I love using this lens. So let's get to it. Love this, one, two, right, and I'm gonna go wide. You can see we're getting the environment in there now. I got the hotel in the background. Oh, that wind is stunning. So now what I like doing is I can zoom in here at 70 millimeter without really moving. Yep, chin down, pop that hip a little more for me. Gorgeous, and now I can change my composition. I like shooting this way. You could see me without even moving, I'm able to change my compositional look. Gorgeous, love this. Oh my gosh. So these are so killer. So this is just another way to use that lens, right? One thing you notice, if I were shooting this with a prime, like an 85 or a 50, anything like that, I gotta move in and out, right? I got wind going, I got traffic coming by, all sorts of elements working. I don't wanna move my subject to get that shot. What I really wanna be able to do, and you're seeing this on your screen as well, is I'm able to change my composition by being able to zoom in a little bit. Now, next up, I want some compression here. This is why I want all three lenses in the bag. Now I'm gonna move to my 70-200, where I can really pull a background in from, you know, if it's deep, this'll make sense. Actually, this is gonna be like a bonus. I'm gonna shoot some portraits now with this 28-70 in the same setup, so you can see the difference between what that prime looks like and what this looks like, so let's do it. Right there, right there, hold that for me. One, two. Good, big smile, let it happen. Gorgeous, here we go, one, two. Yep, beautiful, big smile. There you go, there you go, there you go, good. Okay, so now what I'm able to get is, right now, of course, I'm moving, I'm resetting, but the shot I got that I'm gonna love is bringing in that architecture, a little bit of sun flare in the shot, just makes for a different element. And by the way, when I'm photographing high school seniors, we usually spend about two hours with them, five outfits, multiple locations. But what happens is, is I wanna make one location look different. And a lot of ways to do that is through focal length, right? What lenses are you shooting? So if I'm here with my 85 millimeter, I'm gonna see something completely different than if I'm here with my 7200, or if I'm here with a 28-70, and that's the key. Use the lenses to create different looks, that's what it's all about. All right, so, next lens, my final, my final favorite lens is, I got a lot of favorite lenses, is 7200. So we're gonna use the RF-7200 F2.8. Sure, I'm not gonna get that same shallow depth of field, but that's not the goal with that lens, I want compression there. So, what I'm gonna do is shoot this scene, I'm gonna have the camera turn around. Now, on camera, we've got a 35 millimeter. So, this is gonna look super wide, and probably not overly interesting. What we're gonna do now is use the 7200 to compress this and really bring that background into that foreground, and make it a much more interesting shot. So, let's switch on this. Okay, here we go. Hang tight, let me get the shot. Gorgeous. Now, I'm shooting all of these guys at 200, oh, I love that wind, at 200 millimeters. Yes, love that, love that. You can see how we're really compressing that background. Good, now I can come back, still get my compression, keep her full body, good. Also now, I can come here, change composition again, this is why I like the 7200. Love that. Yep, eyes at camera, love that. Stay there, I'm gonna work this. Let's get this horizontal. Oh my goodness. Yes, love the hand, hold it, don't move. Chin this way. You're a drifter. Gorgeous, all right. All right everybody, that's a wrap. Hopefully you enjoyed this video. Those are absolutely my favorite three lenses for senior portrait photography. Now, I will tell you, by having these three lenses in your kit, it allows you to get those tight portraits with incredible bouquet, but it also allows you to get some compression with a lens like the 7200. And let's not forget the 2870. That's what's gonna allow you to bring in the wide portraits and incorporate the environment into your final shots. By having these three lenses, that's really gonna allow you to create the most diversity for your clients and your portfolio. As always, get out there and create.