My FIrst Prime Lens

I had been using my kit lens (18-135mm) for nearly four months before getting my first prime lens. I remember researching all kinds of lens and following a lot of photographers and finding their blogs. Especially hunting down the posts of “what’s in my camera bag” to better understand how they create the images that I wanted to one day create.

The main photographer I was idolizing lived in New Mexico as a ranch wife telling love stories through her imagery. I knew I wanted my second lens to be a prime lens and she kept posting images taken with her Canon 85mm 1.8 and I really liked the look and feel.

I read more about the lens and looked at comparisons of different prime focal lengths. There’s so many options, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm, made by Canon, Sigma, Tamron, and every lens has their uses. I wanted a lens that would flatter people and animals and noticed the 35mm focal length worked well for the wide angle range without too much distortion, and then the nifty fifty, fantastic plastic, was a great all purpose prime, but once again I liked the look and feel of the 85mm. The 85 compresses the subject which flatters and as a fast piece of glass with it’s wide aperture, I could create the delicious bokeh.

I hinted to my hubby that all I wanted for Christmas was the 85mm. And even though it arrived after Christmas, the wait was worth it. I spent all of January only using my new lens to properly learn how to utilize it in landscapes, birds, and people portraits. My 85mm is still one of my favorite lens with its bokeh and compression for portraits of my pups and portraits of families.