Occasionally I am asked what kind of equipment I shoot with or what has helped me to develop my eye for an image.  First and foremost, I’m always advocating that the most valuable piece of equipment you will ever own as a photographer is the six inches of real estate in between your ears. Without a creative concept, the drive to be better and the attention to notice everything in the frame, no lens or body will ever make you the photographer you could be.

That being said, I do think there are certain lenses that can help develop an eye. I shoot exclusively with prime lenses – that’s fixed focal length lenses such as the 35mm and 50mm. These light, compact and super fast lenses have without question improved my photography. That’s because they’ve force me to use another piece of equipment most photographers tend to overlook – their feet. Without the ability to zoom, if I want to crop in closer or get extra environment in my photos, I’m forced to move to do it.

While moving back and forth I’ll often move into a frame or perspective I might have otherwise overlooked if all I had to do was zoom to get the crop I was looking for. I’ve found that’s a mistake a lot of photographers make. If they don’t immediately like what’s in front of them, they zoom in or out until they find a frame that’s agreeable, while completely overlooking the fact that if they moved a foot to the right or left they’d create a far more interesting angle. By being forced to move I have to carefully think about how I want to frame every image or sequence of images.

Don’t get me wrong, zoom lenses certainly have their uses, especially within dynamic environments like sports, wedding and event photography. Often times you simply don’t have the option to back up another foot to get the group of four smiling brides’ maids into the frame. But when you have full control over a commercial, editorial or lifestyle session, I believe prime lenses are the way to go.

Added benefits of the prime lenses are their size. Small and light they are easy to carry around for hours and are very unobtrusive. They’re fast focusing for action sequences with the capability to open up to very shallow depths of field for selective focal points. What focal length you choose depends how compressed you want your image. Wide angle lenses like the 35mm are great for lifestyle action, while the 85mm is an ideal portrait lens.

Whether you’re a beginner looking to find new perspectives or a veteran stuck in the same boring angles and crops every session, I highly recommend going out and picking up a prime lens. They’re an affordable way to reinvigorate your photographic eye – or take it to the next level.