I did exactly what the title of this post said. I challenged myself. What was the challenge?
The goal that I set out for myself was to take the Beast out on a quick little walkabout with only a 50mm 1.4 prime. That in itself is not the challenge as while I don’t really do it as often as I would like, I love shooting with my shorty. Using a prime lens encourages you to envisage the composition by the constraints of your focal length. You get set in place to take the shot even before holding the camera to your eye, whereas zoom lenses can make a person lean a bit towards the lazy side.
The more you get used to using just one focal length, the quicker you’ll be able to visualize your final shot by looking at the scene (with your eyes, sans camera!). In my opinion, zoom lenses with their varying focal lengths options don’t encourage you to develop this skill as much. It can actually make a photographer lazy with their compositions and lazy is one thing I am not.
While I do always visualize my final shot even with a zoom lens on Beast, there is something to be said about my feet being what brings me closer to my shot. It actually allows me to connect that much more to a subject allowing me to more accurately emote what I am seeing in my eyes. Let’s not even get started on the depth of fields these lenses with their wider apertures allow for.
While shooting with a wide aperture won’t make you a better photographer, it does allow a higher degree of creative control over your image. Being able to fine-tune what is and isn’t in focus in your picture using a wider aperture is just one other great way to take your photography to the next level. Now on this day, my real challenge was to not only visualize my final shot, it was to produce that final image with no cropping or rotation at all. I wanted simply produce my images exactly as shot with the only editing being by way of color, tone, etc..
That is exactly what I did. I met with my obligations as early as I could in the morning and carved out a bit of time at the Intermodal Center at Miami International Airport. I haven’t shot just for me in some months and I decided that while I was presently wrapping up a set for a client, I would take a little time to work on my craft. Yes, there is another bit of learning taking place for me behind the scenes in my photography, I needed to take the time and allow my eyes to create their vision.
That being said, I am bringing to you my top 5 images from this little project of mine. I did upload a few more to my Facebook page and as always, you are welcomed to click the link and have a peak. Let me know what you think. Are you able to see any difference between what I typically share and what turned out from my little project?
