I have a question that is getting more and more difficult for me to figure out...
Here is my dilemma. In my photography class I am having to do a presentation on the "lens" and being that is such a broad subject, how am I supposed to do a 5-10 minute presentation on it and cover the main things?
I am thinking of narrowing my presentation to 5 informative power point slides (1 minute per slide) then of course my title slide and "the end" slide which will add on 30 seconds or so. Doing this would give me about 4 minutes of overtime that I could play with on any slide I want to cover more in depth.
What do you think I should cover on each slide? I am not asking you to do the research for me, in fact I would like to do the research myself. I am just asking for something like this...
You could break down the basics that all lenses have.
Things like Glass elements (number of, how they interact, etc.), Focus ring (infinity focus, relation of distance to depth of field, etc.), Aperture ring (film vs. digital uses and relevancy of), Mechanics (iris shapes, zoom functions, plastics vs. metal mounts, etc.), and finally Speeds. Fast vs. Slow lenses, consumer vs. pro.
You could break down the basics that all lenses have.
Things like Glass elements (number of, how they interact, etc.), Focus ring (infinity focus, relation of distance to depth of field, etc.), Aperture ring (film vs. digital uses and relevancy of), Mechanics (iris shapes, zoom functions, plastics vs. metal mounts, etc.), and finally Speeds. Fast vs. Slow lenses, consumer vs. pro.
This is all fine and good except I will be talking to a bunch of people who do not want to be there. I am thinking that I will do this
1st slide - aperture and its relation to light
2nd slide - focusing infinite to its closest
3rd slide - mechanics (similar to what you said)
then after this I am stumped... again I am talking to people who don't care so I have to keep it simple.
You could break down the basics that all lenses have.
Things like Glass elements (number of, how they interact, etc.), Focus ring (infinity focus, relation of distance to depth of field, etc.), Aperture ring (film vs. digital uses and relevancy of), Mechanics (iris shapes, zoom functions, plastics vs. metal mounts, etc.), and finally Speeds. Fast vs. Slow lenses, consumer vs. pro.
Don't forget the unusual lenses... Defractive Optics and Cat (Mirror) lens, as well as non-telephoto long lenses would be fun subjects to quickly cover.. Also teleconverters, even perhaps a quick overview of digiscoping..
Oh there we go! I like the idea of doing the different types of lenses. Maybe I will go over telephoto vs. fixed on the 4th slide and the 5th one I will go over things like a lensbaby or something.
I find the first thing many inexperienced photographers want to know is how to blur the background in a photo, something they have difficulty doing with a point & shoot camera. Trying to explain that can be a whole introduction to lenses and what they do!
You could break down the basics that all lenses have.
Things like Glass elements (number of, how they interact, etc.), Focus ring (infinity focus, relation of distance to depth of field, etc.), Aperture ring (film vs. digital uses and relevancy of), Mechanics (iris shapes, zoom functions, plastics vs. metal mounts, etc.), and finally Speeds. Fast vs. Slow lenses, consumer vs. pro.
This is all fine and good except I will be talking to a bunch of people who do not want to be there. I am thinking that I will do this
1st slide - aperture and its relation to light
2nd slide - focusing infinite to its closest
3rd slide - mechanics (similar to what you said)
then after this I am stumped... again I am talking to people who don't care so I have to keep it simple.
Oh, you didn't say anything about the people not wanting to be there. In that case, I'd put in a component about telephoto lenses and boobies.
Perhaps mentioning some of the specialty lenses that can create cool effects, and showing examples of these effects might hold their attention. Lensbaby, wideangle, fisheye, super zoom.
What if you take some close up photos of some classmates they will recognize, using a fisheye or wideangle (If you can borrow one from someone) and then use these exaggerated caricature shots in your presentation? That could be an attention getter.
1. Relationship of focal length to angular coverage, with a graphic showing how the "crop" zooms in on a wide image as the focal length increases.
2. Discussion of aperture (f/stop) as a ratio of physical diameter of the opening to focal length of lens, showing how 25mm is f/2 on a 50mm and f/8 on a 200mm
3. Discussion of DOF as a function of the physical size of the aperture, NOT the f/stop itself; i.e, f/8 on a 200mm has same DOF as f/2 on a 50mm
4. Bearing above in mind, use of large apertures and long focal lengths to isolate subjects, vs:
5. Use of extreme wide angle and low POV to bring foreground objects very close and isolate them by perspective.
You might like to consider problems with lenses - Chromatic aberration, barrel/pin-cushion distortion.
I can't help thinking there's something more conceptual/philosophical and less technical to say as well, but being a technical person myself, what you could say escapes me completely.
With all the different ideas can you see where I am having trouble? I would love to have more than the time given because I could talk about this all day.
BTW - It IS a photography class, isn't it? And they don't want to be there???!
Happened to me a lot when I taught at UCSD: about half my students, any given semester, were there because they needed an "art" class to fulfill distribution requirement for a degree, and photography seemed like the easiest to them. Art History was too much learning, they couldn't paint worth a damn, sculpture was too time-consuming, etc etc...
Me and one other person. Who happens to be in an even worse situation. She has to cover the DSLR.
I would expect the presentations of the non-interested class members will be pretty lame.
Hmmm, when talking about telephoto lenses, you could post an example of a telephoto shot looking toward the girls dorm, with just a leg visible. Nothing actually naughty, just implying. (Just brainstorming...)
If they don't want to be there, shoot them! Maybe get a big lens and focus the sun's rays on 'em. Actually one of the neatest things we did as kids was to play with magnifying glasses and examine the disassembled lens from a box camera.
Your big problem will be that 5-10 minutes goes too quickly when you're making a presentation. If you take questions during or after the presentation, you'll need to allow even more time.
Do plenty of dry-runs, talk out loud, time yourself - but make sure you're still speaking clearly and slowly and not just trying to cram as much as possible into the 5 minutes by speaking quickly.
