Mistakes To Avoid When Shooting Primes
Prime lenses are a fantastic way to improve your photography skills whilst maintaining a smaller form factor, better low light performance, better image quality and a simple approach to photography. However just like anything there are certain mistakes that we all make which I think can hinder our experience when shooting with these lenses. Everything I’m about to talk about I have done countless times with the biggest mistake and the catalyst for this video being as recent as my trip to Lisbon the other week. You should definitely check out that video by the way.
Not Moving Enough
The vast majority of us started photography with a zoom lens that we used extensively and became accustomed to just zooming in and out. So naturally when we progress to a prime lens for the first time, we subconsciously still treat it like a zoom and take photos from the same kind of perspective or distance without any real moving around. Even if we did move around, it was merely a few steps forward and a few steps back at most. This is the first mistake we would typically fall into when using primes. To get the most out of prime lenses, you really need to not only move around your scene or zoom with your feet so to speak but you also want to be trying to different angles, different perspectives and just observe how your composition changes as you move around. So if you come across a subject, sure take the standard photo from where you are but then try to go a little lower, then a little higher, come a bit closer or move back a touch. Look around the scene, is there anything that you can use as a foreground element and shoot through something? Make this approach a habit and over time you will start to get more dynamic photos that as a collection will just be a lot more interesting. To piggy back on this topic I also want to add that try other locations which you might have felt intimidated with a big zoom lens. Or maybe when you had a big heavy zoom, you were knackered after 5 miles of walking well with a light prime why not extend it to 10 miles and find some new routes. My point here is that the prime lens opens up new ways to shoot and the first mistake we all make is just not utilising those possibilities because in our mind we are still walking around with a zoom.
Shooting Wide Open All The Time
Just because your prime can go to f1.4 it doesn’t mean every photo you take needs to be at that aperture. When I started out I would only shoot at the widest aperture possible because at least in my mind if I bought an f1.8 prime and was mostly shooting at f4, then I was somehow not getting my moneys worth or not utilising the lens to it’s full potential. A few years later I can tell you that this is utter nonsense but you’d be surprised just how many people always shoot wide open without a clear understanding as to why. Let me now explain how I shoot.
I still shoot wide open and quite a lot but only in certain scenarios such as:
Very low light.
When I need to prioritise a very high shutter speed.
When I want to get the softest possible image as lenses tend to be at their softest wide open.
When I need to completely blur out the background for a specific purpose….. this is a slippery slope as you can quickly go from something tasteful to something that gets shared on a “sick tones” instagram share page.
As for stopping the lens down, I typically do this when:
I am shooting in good light.
I want the best performance out of the lens in terms of sharpness and detail - usually around f8.
When I want the background and foreground to both be within reasonable focus for context if the image requires.
Finally keep in mind that sometimes having something too out of focus or too in focus can actually act as a distraction. For example sometimes having foreground subject at f1.4 will be too jarring compared to having the subject at f4 and vie versa.
Not Having A Go Go focal Length
To be honest I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a mistake but over time this can definitely hold you back. Out of all my primes the 35 is the lens that I take 80% of the photos with. It is the lens that I feel most comfortable with and if I had to live the rest of my life with just one focal length it would be this. I can honestly take it into 99% of situations and walk away with a shot I am happy with. What this means is that if I am ever in doubt, I just go for this lens and I know I am good, in turn saving time and potentially frustration. Finally this is the lens that I use to really hone my skill and my goal is to become pretty much an expert when it comes to 35mm. The obvious question is how does one find their go to focal length….. honestly trial and error. There is no substitute for putting your hours in I’m afraid. Over time you will naturally start to gravitate towards one specific focal length. Obviously take this with a large dose of common sense and don’t just pigeon hole yourself….. so for sure shoot with other lenses and at other focal lengths to improve your overall skill.
Using More Than One
I saved the best till last and this is the very mistake I made in Lisbon and got so frustrated with myself to the point where I have changed my entire approach to prime lenses and how I use them. If we backtrack a little, over the last couple years i made videos about what lenses i carry with me and how I shoot, i always said how i would have the 23mm and 50mm just in case. Or even bring all three and add the 35mm into the bunch just in case because after all they are small and light so what’s the harm. Well this worked great in London where i know what lens i would use in a given location
However when i got to Lisbon, this tripped me up big time because I felt like i always had the wrong lens on and in the process must have changed lenses at least 100 times a day. The reason for this is because I was looking at compositions between 23mm and 50mm because i knew i had those lenses on me. So in effect i was treating my primes like they were one awkward zoom lens. So i would see a composition at 23mm, take the shot but then i see something happening at 50mm and quickly have to change lenses. To the point where i even left the front and rear caps off all day to make life easier…. Which is not ideal. However I wasn’t looking for compositions at 200mm….. and believe me there are tones of great telephoto shots to be had. The main reason I wasn’t looking for them is because I didn’t have that lens on me. So mentally i only focused on what i had with me at the time. Which brings me into the actual mistake which is carrying more than one prime just in case.
From now on i will either go out with one prime only be it the 35 or 23 or even 50 or if i think i need a wide and a telephoto then i will just bring the 16-55 zoom instead. If i only have the 23mm on me, i would not be looking at compositions at 50mm and vice versa. So either just 1 prime or a zoom…. That’s it.