Here’s a great assignment for equipment junkies who own every lens ever made. Shoot for one entire week using just one focal length.
Choose a focal length you don’t normally use.
If you normally shoot sports with 300mm, 400mm or 600mm lenses, try shooting a game with a normal or wide angle lens – look for ways a different focal length can help you see a familiar game in a new way.
If you shoot architecture with wide angle lenses, try shooting with a telephoto lens to capture details or compress the building as part of the skyline.
If you normally jump extreme wide angle lenses straight to telephotos, shoot with a normal lens for the week to see what you’ve been missing in the middle.
You’re not off the hook if you only own a 16–300 all-in-one-zoom. You can use it, but you’ll need to tape the zoom ring in place to a single focal length.
Explore near and far with that one focal length lens can do. Shoot something very tight wide open, and then move back and stop down the same lens. Try to get every last ounce of mojo out of that single focal length. This exercise will teach you that the most valuable lenses you own are your eyes.
EXEMPTIONS: You get an exemption for any work-related shoots. I don’t want the wrath of a bride who discovers her entire wedding was shot with a fisheye lens.
Go. Shoot. Enjoy.
Miami celebrity portrait photographer Brian Smith photographs Hollywood’s A-List and Fortune’s 500 for magazines and advertising. He’s a Sony Artisan of Imagery, X-Rite Master Coloratti, Adobe Influencer and author of best-selling books on photography.
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Filed under: Shooting, Technique & Tutorials Tagged: Brian Smith, Brian Smith Pictures, photography, seeing 
