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Articles Table of Contents   Page 1: Keep and Use Classic Lenses For an Unusual Look Page 2: Shoot One and Only One Subject Page 3: Shoot One Lens, and Not a Zoom Page 4: Choosing a Lens by Focal Length Page 5: Fast Lenses—Shutter Speeds / Background Blur (Bokeh) Page 6: Shoot a Fast Lens at Dusk or Dawn Page 7: Blur Can Be Beautiful Page 8: Making Sharp Photos Handheld Page 9: Shoot Another Format (Size or Aspect Ratio) Page 10: Use Manual Exposure for Perfect Results Page 11: White Balance Tools Page 12: Understand Perspective and Size Variance Page 13: Look For Natural Patterns Page 14: Depth of Field Is Oh-So-Shallow Page 15: Depth of Field—How Far To Stop Down Page 16: Depth of Field and Megapixels Page 17: Never Go Traveling Without a Backup Camera Page 18: Don’t Assume a New Lens is Good! Page 19: Infinity Focus Requires Care! Page 20: How to Carry Large and Heavy Lenses Page 21: Shooting Tip: Use Mirror Lockup Page 22: Shooting Tip: Aurora Borealis Page 23: Shooting Tip: Grizzly Bear vs Black Bear Scat Page 24: A brief glossary of photographic terms

Shoot One Lens, and Not a Zoom

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.