Shooting with a 28mm lens

All of my photography is now with a 28mm lens and, in my opinion, for street photographers it’s a great choice.

With a prime lens you generally get a better image quality and crisper detail, and have a wider aperture, which means you are able to maximise available light.

Using a 28mm lens means there is more depth of field, so that potentially more of your picture is sharp and in focus, and when shooting between F8 and F16 the subject and background will be in focus.

You can’t pull out the subject from the background very easily and it’s all in focus. A 28mm lens can separate them, but you probably need to be wide open. You also have to take more things into account, everything is in the frame and there can be challenges with exposure.

You do have to get in close. You can’t change the composition by zooming in or out - you have to move. Robert Capa saw getting closer as a ‘catalyst for creativity’, forcing the photographer to be more physically involved in compositions, and famously said “if your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”.

With a camera and a 28mm lens there’s nowhere near the weight to carry around. I’ve got a small bag and can also get my camera in my coat pocket.

I’m learning how to compose and frame better and am trying to take a full frame where I can and not crop so much. I just love it.