Not everyone can afford a big, fast, lens. It’s particularly hard to find the loose change to buy a big telephoto lens. While the lesson I offer here applies to ALL cameras and ALL lenses, regardless of manufacturer OR format, it is most apparently impactful when you are shooting with telephoto lenses.

If you can learn to get close to your subject, and especially if you can get as close as your lens will focus (i.e., the lens’ close focusing distance) you can make the background blur even at a relatively low aperture.

Take the example here. I show a theoretical Olympus 300mm lens – at its close focusing distance, delivering depth-of-field of less than an inch – even at f/16!

Fast glass is great. And it’s always nice to have. But if you cannot afford it or access it, that doesn’t mean you can’t get good looking images.

I hope this helps.

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