ObsessionHave you ever become a little obsessed with one aspect of your photography?

I have.

The last time it happened was in the weeks after buying a new fast lens – a f/1.4 50mm lens. Having something so fast resulted in me virtually setting the aperture at it’s largest setting (f/1.4) and shooting everything at that setting!

The problem was that all my shots became very similar to one another. Lots of shots with very very small depth of field.

It’s happened to me before in different ways.

  • Format – I went through a ‘patch’ a year or two ago when I realized that all my shots were taken in a horizontal (landscape) framing and that I rarely went into vertical (portrait) mode.
  • Shutter Speed – Another time (years ago) I had a stage of shooting everything at slow shutter speeds (I thought the blur was artistic…. go figure!)
  • Focal Length – I also went through a patch after buying a 24-105mm lens of always shooting tightly framed shots (at 105mm).

Photographic obsessions can take many shapes and forms (I’m sure we could come up with a good long list of how we all do it). They often follow the purchase of a new piece of gear or the learning of a new technique and to some extent they are natural.

In fact they can actually be helpful at times as they help you to learn how to use that new lens or perfect that new technique that you’ve been trying. However they can also have their ‘costs’ and leave you with a collection of images that have a certain level of ’sameness’ about them.

Here’s something to do to assess your photographic obsessions:

Open up your photo organizing tool (whether it’s a program on your computer, an online storage tool etc) and scroll through the last couple of months of images.

What do you notice?

  • What type of subjects are you photographing?
  • What type of framings do you use?
  • Which format do you shoot in (horizontal/vertical)?
  • What aperture are you shooting at?
  • What shutter speed?
  • What ISO setting do you use?
  • What focal length are you using?
  • Do you always use the same lens?

While there’s nothing wrong with noticing similarities between your shots (we all have our own style) it can be sometimes useful to know what your tenancies are and to encourage yourself to step out into trying new things with your photography.

What’s Your Photographic Obsession?

Related Reading – 10 Ways to Add Variety to Your Digital Photography

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