But My Friend Has That Lens and He Shoots...

It’s bound to happen. You’re going to have a friend who’s a serious photographer, and you’ll hear that he’s using a fisheye lens to shoot executive portraits or a 400mm super-telephoto lens to shoot baby photos. Then you’re going to say, “But Scott said fisheyes aren’t for portraits, and you should use a portrait lens for babies!” Here’s the thing: if you buy any one of those lenses, you’re going to try it out on other stuff. In fact, you should—it’s your lens and you should try it on as many things as you’d like. That’s half the fun of it. You may find yourself enjoying taking fisheye shots in a courtroom, and tilt-shift lens shots of your kid’s high school graduation. In fact, your tilt-shift lens may become your go-to lens for shooting graduations, and there’s nothing wrong with that. What I hoped to do in this chapter is send you in the right direction and give you a starting point for what type of lens is commonly used for what, but because it’s a lens, it will take a photo of anything you aim it at when you press the shutter button. So, don’t feel bad (or feel it’s wrong) if you use a lens that’s commonly used for one thing on something completely opposite. There’s a name for doing stuff like that: creativity. Have fun with it, and don’t get put aside by all the lens bullies. It’s your lens. Fire away!