A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER’S TOOLS: THE 70-200MM

Second only to the 24-70mm lens in terms of the number of photos I take at a wedding is the 70-200mm. This is another workhorse lens, and mine sees a lot of use in all contexts except my interiors/kitchen work.

In fact, in some weddings, the 70-200mm sees most use. In the chart below (taken from Adobe Bridge) you can see all the lenses used in what I thought was a fairly typical wedding in Oxfordshire last year. The 70-200mm was actually the most used lens – by some way. I was trying to work out why it was quite so dominant – and then realised – Covid!  The longer focal length was useful to maintain better social distancing!

The Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 ED VRII

My 70-200mm is the Nikkor f2.8 VRII. Another version of this has come out since, for the same mount, and Nikon has also produced a Z-mount version. Add in the same focal length at f4, and you can see that even from one lens manufacturer there are a lot of options! And Canon, Sony, Sigma and the rest have the same multiplicity. This article is not a review of any particular lens, though I think my Nikon is very good, but a look at how this focal length serves the wedding photographer.

Bear in mind that all of the above is suited to the needs of a full frame camera user. A 70-200mm lens on a crop frame or MFT body would be rather long for many purposes – shorter focal lengths will do the equivalent job.

One thing that many of the available 70-200mm lenses have in common is that they are very good indeed. The brightness, speed of focussing and overall sharpness these days are breathtaking – certainly wedding photographers of previous generations would be amazed by what is now routine.

I first bought my 70-200 at the same time as my first Nikon D800 body – from that lovely shop the London Camera Exchange in the Strand. When I buy new I always try to use a real shop! The combination of lens resolution and the ludicrous 36 megapixels was pretty breath-taking. I took the lens on a brief break to Paris that summer; these images will show you what I mean.

This shot – of a tourist at the Arc de Triomph – is not a wedding photo, but is a good way of showing the resolution of the Nikon 70-200 on a high-res body. It was taken with the zoom fully extended – so 200mm – on the D800 at f4 1/1000 of a second at ISO100. That is a fairly ideal set of parameters, and you would expect a very sharp image as a result, though f5.6 at 1/500 might have been better still.

Original uncropped image

Crop 1 – top of phone down to the belt, with enough space at top and bottom to not look squashed

Crop 2 – losing the belt

Crop 3 – head only

Crop 4 – landscape, face only, with the phone now visible only as a reflection
For this crop I did a little editing work on skin and nostrils.  

All of those shots are usable, at least for web and moderate-sized prints. In the final one we are right on the limits of that, but to be honest, the challenge is now pixelation rather than a lens resolution issue. The Nikon 70-200mm VRII could actually handle an even smaller pixel size!

When it comes to wedding photography, I have sometimes found that my 70-200 is actually too sharp, and I have had to tone it down in post-processing. A good portrait lens should have some gentleness, some softness. Putting it bluntly, if the bride’s mum has a bit of facial hair, she doesn’t want it coming out in the pictures!

If the bride’s mum has facial hair, she doesn’t want it in her pictures!

Put simply, the 70-200mm picks up where the 24-70mm leaves off. 70mm is a short portrait length – suitable for taking full length or head and shoulders shots of two people, depending on how far back you stand.

200mm is a very long portrait length – longer than you would go to for a formal portrait as it compresses the perspective a bit much – but really good for catching people unaware, for good candid pictures. It is my favourite “hunting” lens at a wedding.

At 70mm, the 70-200 mm can handle a group shot from a distance, giving, in this case, helpful compression through the group, from nearest to furthest.

At 200mm, the 70-200mm is a long portrait lens that can drop the background way out of focus and give you a very pleasing crop on your subjects.

When working as two photographers at a wedding, we frequently work together on the portraits of the couple. The lead photographer stands forward, close enough to talk the couple through the moment. I tend to have either the 24-70 or a 50mm if I’m in that role – occasionally both, on two bodies. The second photographer stands back, with the 70-200mm lens allowing them to come close, even from a distance.

Because of the close distances involved, the 70-200mm rarely comes into its own at the bride’s home/hotel, during the wedding preparations. But I always have it with me. This high-key portrait was taken during bridal preps by my colleague Tim Harman, using the 70-200 on his Nikon D3.

I am very careful to avoid disrupting wedding services as much as I can, but reaction shots during the sermon, when a point strikes home to the heart or brings laughter to the face seem to me to be legitimate. The long focal length of the 70-200 is invaluable.

For the classic head and shoulders or head to waist portraits of bride and groom, the 70-200mm is my go to lens.

The 70-200 is useful for grabbing quick details and “crops” of shots, especially for the second photographer. In this case, under the swirl of petticoat, a glimpse of an Havaiana – Brazilian flip-flop!

Working the big groups with two people means that the lead photographer can work with a wide lens to get the whole group while the 70-200 allows the second cameraperson to focus on individuals or the couple themselves.

My USP as a wedding photographer is that I take photos of all the people at a wedding – I try to get a decent individual portrait of everyone present. Mostly, that means candid shots, although a fair proportion of my clients become aware of what is going on and go along with it. The 70-200mm is my favourite for this. Anything longer (I have a 200-500) is just too long and unwieldy, as well as looking too much like a tank-buster for comfort!

Before I owned the 70-200 I made do with a cheap 70-300 and a 105mm macro. I did good work with them, actually, and looking back, I think that sometimes limitations on gear forced me as a wedding photographer to get the very best from what I’d got. But I was really happy when I had earned enough with my camera to move to this classic wedding photographer’s lens, and I have never regretted buying it.

To contact me to enquire about my wedding photography use my Contact Form or just text (07983 787889) or email me at Andrew@AndrewKingPhotography.co.uk

Photos © copyright Andrew King Photography or Timothy Harman Photography where stated.