Shoot One Lens, and Not a Zoom

2010-01-10 • SEND FEEDBACK •
Related: How-To

Confine your shooting to one and only one lens for a day.

Do this for as many days as you have lenses, choosing a new lens each day.

If the lens is a zoom lens, tape the zoom ring down so you cannot zoom.

Treat a zoom lens like multiple fixed-focal-length (“prime”) lenses. For example, a 24-70mm lens can be taped to its 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 70mm settings (not necessarily in that order each day).

Why do this? It forces you to make creative choices you otherwise might not make, such as subject matter, distance and perspective, etc.

Don’t have a prime lens (fixed focal length)? Get a cheap 50mm lens. Canon and Nikon both offer them for about US$100.

Don’t feel constrained by just one lens