Background: The more complex zoom lenses used in high-end digital SLR cameras can be made up of as many as 20 elements, some of which are themselves a composite of elements. The most used material is glass due to its resistance to scratching and its excellent optical properties, although acrylic, quartz, fluorite, germanium and meteorite glasses are also used. Most modern lenses are surface coated to reduce flare, have a UV coating to help with color balance, and features to minimize abrasion.

However, a complex and expensive set of lenses won’t allow you to take great pictures if you lack imagination, intellect, creativity and ingenuity. Many great photographers, like Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern photojournalism, used a single lens most of the time.

However, if you’re looking to go pro, you’ll be looking to maximize your talents with the help of one or all of the following: standard telephoto, wide/mid-range zoom, and ultra wide.

A standard telephoto lens is recommended for portraiture. It will give you excellent definition in both head and shoulders shots and close-ups. If you regularly shoot portraits, you’ll notice the difference in clarity even between an excellent zoom and a standard telephoto lens. It’s also good for wedding and party photography when you want to take discreet close-ups.

For group photos and wedding photography, a mid-range wide-angle lens is great, especially with a zoom that will allow you to alter the focal range as the size of the group increases or decreases.

An ultra wide lens is essential when taking photos of the interior of a church during a wedding service and similarly for large group photos. Some landscape shots also benefit from an ultra wide angle lens.

For interior and architectural photography, an ultra wide angle and wide angle zoom will help you fit as much into the frame as possible. You can get distortion though, so it’s worth bearing in mind that a standard 16mm lens on a normal film SLR, cropped to remove any distortion, may be perfect for indoors, and therefore preferable to your digital camera.

Nature and sports photography tend to involve movement: fast-moving animals or sportsmen or vehicles, and usually some distance between the subject and the camera. Dealing with the first problem of fast motion requires a lens that allows for lots of light, flash, faster film, or high ISO settings if using a digital camera. However, there are problems with each. Letting in too much light can be a problem with the long telephoto lens you might need for a close-up, but your flash may not provide enough lighting, especially if there is a considerable distance between the camera and your subject. A fast lens can be heavy, large, and expensive, and lastly, using fast film or a high ISO setting can mean diminished image quality.

So get the fastest lens (ie largest aperture) affordable, along with a long telephoto zoom, be prepared to crop, but not too much as this can lower resolution in digital, use image stabilization , use fast film or high ISO settings to minimize shutter speeds (although this can also affect image quality), and use a camera with fast focus and minimal lag time.