Gear_001

View fullsize

Shot with a Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm f/2.8. To some people, that would be a big no-no to shoot fully wide angle and wide aperture. Whatever.

Once you pick up a DSLR and seen with it after a while, your friends and/or family will ask you: "Hey, what lens should I buy for <insert situation>?" and at first you're either saying "I don't know." or "well, if you're shooting this, then get that." because you either have that lens or you just saw or heard other pro photographers using them or saying to use a particular type of lens for a particular type of situation. Well, after years of my own experience, I do not believe in any other that. Most would tell you not to use a short prime lens like a 50mm for portraits (which I have done. See my wife's photo which was shot with a 50mm) and that you should use a long lens. Some say to use a 35-50mm for street photographer or else it's not street photography. I've been listening to these people for a while. Now, I think that's all total crap. You use what you have and you make it work for you. I've use anything from wide angle to 50mm for portraits. Using a wide will distort but you can get creative with that. But, I will agree it is not ideal for professional headshots. As for street photography, I just feel if you're shooting in the street, then it's street photography no matter what lens you use. Now, I may get some flak for saying that, but, whatever. Why box yourself in these rules? Photography is freedom. Photography is art. Art is subjective.

Don't be a photo purist. Be a photo artist.

Rules.

View fullsize

I taught myself how to use a DSLR. Ok, maybe that's a lie. A friend of mine taught me how to get proper exposure using the aperture and shutter speed dials and I was good to go. Never used auto features. The only thing thing that was set to auto was the focusing. I love the flexibility from shooting manual from underexposing to overexposing whenever I felt like I needed to. For me, there were no real rules because I never learned them. I've never even heard of the Rule Of Thirds.  I just felt if it looks good to me, then it's ok. But, as I did more research and looked at what the pros were doing, I learned that what I was doing has been such a big no-no. Too overexposed? Bad! Too underexposed? Bad! Not following the Rule of Thirds??? Really bad! I have a natural tendency to rebel against rules. At the same time, I understood why these things are bad and why people want to follow these rules. To rebel takes a lot of understanding of the rules and bold judgement on why you feel they don't apply to your image.

Following the rules can also get really stale and boring as hell because "they" do it. Me? I've been looking at many amazing photos on 500px and following the works of my favorite photographers like, Jeremy Cowart, Joe McNally, and Zack Arias. I've learned a ton of techniques from them and I highly encourage everyone else to also. But, I still do not follow the rules because I do not want to emulate their style or anyone else's style or the standards. Look at what everyone else is doing and ask "How can I do that differently?"

I do my own style. Create your own.