I love all things photography, from film to digital to printing and the tech behind them all. I love following photographers and interacting with them and their work on social media. I would love to see your work so please drop links to your accounts in the comment section. One thing I really enjoy is shooting wide open, and seeing images, portraits in particular, shot at fast apertures. I have even owned a f.095 lens and wow. Shooting wide open creates a beautiful dreamy look to our imagery. It also lets us decrease the clutter around our subject and isolate them solely but what if we couldn’t shoot wide open? I think we all, myself included, lean into shooting wide open almost as a crutch. So in this headspace I want to propose a challenge to anyone watching this. For the next 2 weeks, set your camera at f8 and leave it there. I am not suggesting you do this for your paid work but for yourself. Take one camera, one lens, and shoot at f8 for this time for a period of time.
Why in the world would anyone do this? Well in my opinion to stretch your skills but more importantly to re adjust how we see the world. How will you compose your shot if you know the background will be in focus? How will you stage your model? I love shooting this way more and more. Think about this. When you are shopping for a new lens how important is the sharpness of that lens? Does it help sway your decision? If you choose a lens like I do often, that offers character wide open then thats a different conversation that I would love to have later but if you like your images sharp wide open, imagine how much more detail is available at f8? Yes this makes editing a bit different because you don’t have the option of shooting wide open thus having more detail which in turn means more imperfections ( particularly in skin ) as well. I want you to try this because you might see the benefits of often shooting this way but it will also push you to shoot differently. I hope you try it, and I’m hope you grow and I hope you tag me on your socials so I can see the work your making.
#F8only
Let’s go!