The best lens for editorial photography.

Learn which camera lenses can help you tell impressive stories through great editorial photography.

Editorial photos generally accompany articles in print and online publications, like newspapers or magazines. As such, there’s some overlap with commercial photography. However, editorial photography aims to illustrate a particular article by telling a story with pictures.

To tell those stories, you need the right equipment. Let’s explore the best lenses for editorial photography.

Using a 50mm lens for editorial photography.

As with many other genres of photography, the Nifty Fifty — a standard 50mm prime lens — is a good basic option for editorial photos. It has little optical distortion and creates a good balance of sharpness between the subject and the background. Prime lenses lack mechanical zoom, but you can usually simply get closer to your subject if necessary.

Many 50mm lenses also have wide apertures, which makes them suitable for even low-light environments. Even if you buy additional lenses, your kit should always include the good old 50mm.

Use a 70-200mm lens for portraits.

Another great option for editorial photographers is a 70-200mm portrait lens. These lenses give you a wonderful focal length range that can reduce distortion and produce lifelike portrait photos. Their mechanical zoom makes them very flexible lenses that allow you to step back from your subject to find the optimal angle.

That said, there’s a learning curve to get the most out of a 70-200mm lens. The best way to master the lens is to get out there and start taking photos, but it’s also a good idea to read up on helpful photography techniques.

Discover everything you can do with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to post-process your editorial photos and bring them to life.