How to get great contrast, sharpness and beautiful light like these photographs?
Any special lenses to achieve these kind of great shots:
http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2012/09/review-nikon-28mm-f1-8g/
The 28mm f1.8g is a little expensive for me, but I have the 35mm f1.8g and an old Nikon d70 and can't get such pics.
Added (1). Hi The Last Anon (or anyone else who might know) - how would you achieve the shot with the couple in front of the wall with sneakers. There seems to be two strobes - one behind the couple and one in front of the guy on the left?
Good lighting & the knowledge & skill to use them. What lighting do you have?
The shot with the sneakers - bare strobe behind the couple is also lighting the guy on the left, there may be a fill card to bounce a little light back onto the couple as they are not totally silhouettes.
I disagree that much of it is post processing - one of the reasons for using flash is to lower contrast & even out the dynamic range.
It has a similar feel to a lot of Joe McNally's work - take a look at his site - he very helpfully often shows lighting diagrams, or invest in his books;
- The Moment it Clicks
- The Hotshoe Diaries
- Sketching Light
About the sneakers, just a frontal light; the most of the others just try being modern with lateral composition. Nothing special really
If you have it already, a 35 mm works well as a wide angle lens; no much difference from a 28
The shortest answer I can give you is the lens is not responsible for the contrast and color that you are seeing and refferring too.
What you are looking at is lit images that have been digitally edited by a skilled person in all but maybe 2 images. I can tell because of either the dynamic range is impossible to capture in a single image, person's eye have highlights from a flash unit, or its obviously backlit.
If you want to make photographs like that you need to learn how to digitally edit images and how to light using flash.
I wish it was easier.
I agree with Blue that the light on the shelf is probably lighting the other guy however I disagree that light is bounced, I think fill flash was used from on camera or above it. Fill would have to either be massive or be close in order to be so effective. If fill was making them lighter on the camera forward side, fill would have needed to come from in front of the camera.
EditL The sun photo is what caused me to think that flash was used because of how light the shadows are, hence my dynamic range comment but then I noticed that the couple is standing in the shaded part and the grass has been brought back with a highlight adjustment of some kind. It was one exposure and no flash was used.