They used to say to first get y‘self a “normal” (i.e. 50mm full frame equiv.) prime lens when starting out in photography. Gonna help you “learn how to see”, they maintained. True, however since the advent of the ubiquitous “kit” zoom lenses the new tune is that zooms can do that even better: Giving you a wide angle, and tele, and everything in between on top of that “boring normal focal length”. Way more opportunities, man! Sounds tempting, but dude I tell ya that’s total BS. Marketing hogwash. You’re getting snowed, right there! Please read on to find out why sticking on to that single, “boring” normal focal length is gonna kick start improving your photographic vision!
Façade mosaic: XF 35mm F/2 R WR on X-Pro3 @F/8, 1/420 sec, ISO 320
Before continuing I’d like to sincerely apologise to my faithful readers for not having posted anything here for so long, at least those of youse who ain’t ditched me yet 😉 (jeezus it’s been close to 4 months now …): Combination of increased day job workload (partly incl. weekends), moving house to a new apartment, taking care of my wife needing surgery on her shoulder, and of course the ongoing Corona situation (yeah, everybody’s kinda using “The Corona Excuse®” nowadays for anything screwing up & needing excusing, so why not me too?)
Ok, back on-topic: You’re an inexperienced photographer starting out or a pro in a rut, not able to find photogenic motif’s? I kid you not, that “normal” prime lens’ll shamelessly expose your photographic deficiencies and by that will force you to learn and adapt. Coz images created with a “normal” focal length approx. the same length as the image diagonal (that’s around 43mm diagonal / 50mm focal length on full frame and 28mm diagonal / 33mm focal length on APS-C) tend to offer a bit of a bland perspective, barring any optical effects. Point is, with a ‘normal’ lens the visual impact of your image needs to come from your seeing & composition skills, not from your lens. Where a wide angle would allow you to get closer to your image, creating a more exciting ‘steeper‘ perspective or a Tele would push you back from your subject, compressing your image, the normal lens does none of that. It just faithfully depicts the scene before you. Nothing more, nothing less! So it’s a lens which is gonna teach you how to see (photographically), provided you bring up the patience to work your images and learn & grow with it, that is!
Waterflow: XF 35mm F/2 R WR on X-Pro3 @F/16, 1/30 sec, ISO 160
In today’s blog for example I’ll only use Fuji’s diminutive but excellent XF 35mm F/2 R WR (53mm FF equiv.) to demonstrate the “work the image” concept: Look at the first image in this post, it lives solely off the geometric shapes and contrast of interacting façades and their textures. No fancy “effect” or anything! Because I could not “zoom” I had to walk forwards and back, bend up and down, try different framings … In the end I shot around 10 images until I’d nailed it! That’s what I mean with “work the image”: A process of moving around, using different perspectives and angles, and experimenting with the frame to drive your learning of photographic composition. Check out this great book Magnum Contact Sheets. There you’ll see that even the world’s greatest photographers don’t just walk around and magically capture iconic images with a single press on the shutter button. No they also work the image, often needing 20-30 attempts until all elements of the composition are perfect!
Digital cameras further support the learning process by giving immediate feedback via their LCD screen, speeding up the image composition optimization (In my analogue days long ago it sometimes took a week until I could see the results after getting my exposed images back from the lab …)
The value of immediate feedback: In the above image of a city fountain I at first used a higher shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. Didn’t like it when I reviewed the image on my X-Pro3’s fold out screen (well, the folding out of that screen somewhat nullifies the “immediate” aspect, but that’s a different story …). Then with a 1/30th of a second slower shutter speed the water comes out slightly blurred and creates those beautiful mosaic shaped transparent reflections! Again the normal lens’s quiet character w/o fancy effects pushes its owner to experiment more, in this case with different shutter speed / aperture combinations or with varying points of view and perspectives
Back alley: XF 35mm F/2 R WR on X-Pro3 @F/8, 1/80 sec, ISO 320
So you see, it pays to be patient and refrain from immediately buying a tele- and/or wide angle lens to give your images added oomph! Then you’re just relying on optical effects to make your images more interesting. Limiting yourself to one lens for a while will allow you to get to know that specific lens’s character and rendering. By experimenting with various distances in combination with the image framing you’ll learn to get the best composition which suits your motif. Of course if you already have many other lenses, just throw them away and your images will improve dramatically (just kidding, folks 😉). Alternatively ask your wife to lock ‘em up (she’ll love that!) or just don’t always take all your lenses with you every time (your back will thank you for that!). I found the above image by moving around until I’d found the optimal position from which the various lines in the frame (roof edges, drain pipe, shadows, wall, …) were in balance. It gave me a similar satisfaction as when pieces of a complex puzzle click into place to finally reveal the picture!
Of course you can work the image with any lens, but from my point of view the “normal” lens is best suited for this because it’s mild angle of view offers the most possibilities. With a wide angle your range of movement is limited because small changes of position dramatically change the image content: Take a step back and you’ll see lots of unwanted elements entering the frame, step forward and lose key parts of your image. On the other hand a tele lens is less sensitive to your position, limiting the potential benefit of moving around.
I hope y’all enjoyed today’s post, advocating return to a more simple, uncluttered approach to your photography - ideally focusing more on using your “normal” lens as the basis for your entire system and for learning to see (again) to optimize your composition!
Please leave me note in the comments below or on my ‘about’ page if you have any remarks, suggestions wishes or ideas!
Wish you a relaxing Sunday evening and a good start to the holiday season, please stay safe & healthy!
Kindest regards,
Hendrik
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