One Lens Challenge

Everyone loves to discuss the many lenses they use on a regular basis, but when was the last time you did a one lens challenge? When did you last challenge yourself to solely use just one lens for all of the regular photography you do?

I’ve taken this challenge many times. Every single time it pulls me out of whatever funk I’m in, and forces me to think outside the box to get things done! Most often, I’ll use my good old 50mm lens – also known as the “nifty fifty”. It’s easy enough to use outside, and good enough for inside, even in small spaces, if you get creative. So, I’m going to share with you my most recent one-lens-challenge and show you how versatile any lens can be when you really put your mind to it.

Check out Jill’s New Course, Unearthing the Nifty Fifty Lens!

Going Outside

Starting things off, the easiest image – going outside! The great outdoors gives us so much space and all the light we need to make a great image. But how you tackle certain aspects like composition, depth of field, focus, etc, well, that’s all decided on what exactly you’re looking to photograph!

I started by doing a basic portrait of my daughter. She loves being in front of the camera, so these shoots are always so much fun!
On to the next image. Again, we’re staying outside, but this time I’m attempting to get more of my scene into the image. Sometimes this is easy to do by just taking a few steps back. And sometimes you just can’t take enough steps back.

If you’ve ever seen me edit, you know I LOVE stitching images together to really get the full scene into each capture! That is what happened here. I wanted the bokeh in the background, but I also wanted to see all the surroundings, so I tried to stay as close as I could to keep all of my daughter in the image, still giving me that creamy blur in the background.

Moving on to image number three. Believe it or not, I’m still staying outside for this one! Macro photography is something I love to play around with, but I do not own an actual macro lens. But hey, fake it til you make it, am I right?

Instead, I take my lens off my camera, flip it around, and hold it next to my camera body. This is called reverse freelensing. It’s a little tricky to do, and even trickier to get good focus, but it’s SO fun to play with! Any close-up images of mine you ever see are exclusively reverse freelensing!

Indoors

Ok, I’ll bring us back inside now for the last couple images. Next, we’ll move to a portrait image in my living room. Now, I need to start this by saying that I have a SMALL house. Well, maybe not super tiny, but it’s definitely super tight. It’s an older home, so there are no big spaces to use. This gets tricky when using any of my lenses. This is where I need to get creative with my setups. Ensuring I keep my lines as straight as I can in camera, and backing up as much as I can, even if it means no longer being able to see the back of my camera. Yup – I shoot blind a lot of the time. Practice makes perfect. Practicing will help you anticipate where your focus is going to land.

So, this image is a straight on shot of my daughter. The biggest thing once you move inside (if you don’t want to use any kind of flash or artificial light), is to make sure you have enough light in the area you will be shooting in. Often this means being close to a window.

For the last shot, I’m always drawn to the “bird’s-eye-view” type of shots. So, I like to add at least one of these into my one lens challenges.

Above the sink is always my favourite, even though my sink is most definitely not very pretty. For these shots, using a 50mm lens is a little challenging because you can’t get the entire image in one shot. This is when I would use the same technique I used in the outdoor image with more scenery and will stitch a few images together.  I typically combine about 6 images to get one overhead shot. It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s always worth it because I always end up loving these ones the most.
Ok, so now that you’ve my top five shots when doing a one lens challenge, I want YOU to get creative and make up your own! Look at the images you normally shoot. Pick your five favourite areas or points of view, grab just one lens, and get going!

Are you ready for the One Lens Challenge? Show off your images with us at Hello Storyteller once you have your challenge completed. Share them on Facebook or Instagram and tag #hs_onelenschallenge for your chance to be featured!

Happy snapping!

For more inspiration, follow Jill on Instagram!