 Good morning, everyone. My name is Thomas Kovacic, and I'm a freelance cinematographer and YouTuber based in gorgeous Southern California And today I want to give you guys six tips on how to shoot with primes And I am really excited about this video because personally primes have changed so much for me in my filmmaking workflow and just my creative eye as a whole It's just grown me overall as a filmmaker and it's been a really fun process working with primes transitioning from zoom lenses in this video I'm primarily talking about these of prime lenses within filmmaking But if you're a photographer don't fret because you can take these ideas and tips and translate them into your own style of photography And by the way all the music and sound effects you'll be hearing throughout this video was all sourced from art list more on them later I've been shooting on prime lenses consistently over these last two-ish years and I've made a lot of mistakes But I've also learned a lot so I boiled down everything that I've learned into six main tips. So let's get into the video So starting out tip number one is picking out your lenses when starting to build out a kit of prime lenses You need to figure out what focal lengths you want to be shooting with as well as finding a good balance of cost size weight and Aperture speed primes are generally smaller and more compact compared to zoom lenses So definitely use that as an advantage prime lenses can also feature really fast apertures and in general the faster The lens the more expensive heavier and larger it can be the sensor size You'll be shooting on will also play a big role in picking out lenses if you're shooting on a crop sensor You might be leaning towards wider lenses But if you're on a full-frame sensor, you might just be choosing some standard focal lengths And if you can I would try to cover your three main categories when you're picking up your focal lengths Your wides mediums and tights and to cover these three main categories There's kind of two different kits that I've seen that are pretty popular amongst filmmakers kit number one Which is my personal favorite consists of four lenses 24 35 50 and 85 with this lens kit You get your really wide standard wide kind of medium standard and then your kind of entry level Telephoto I shoot the majority my projects with just these four lenses and the 24 and 85 definitely get less use than the 35 and 50 And then kid number two consists of three lenses and that kid has the 28 50 and 85 28 It's nice because it's in between a 24 and a 35 So it has a very unique field to it and a 28 combined at the 50 is a really good one-two punch And then having that 85 for really close-in telephoto shots is just really nice to have there too So if you're not really sure what kit to build out I recommend looking into either kit one or kit two depending on how many lenses you want to pick up But in general as long as you have a solid well-rounded kit of primes You'll be setting yourself up for success and that is extremely important because shooting with primes We just don't have that convenience and variety that's naturally built into the zoom lenses If you're enjoying this video so far, please leave a like down below And if you want more tips and tricks like these consider subscribing to the artless YouTube channel for more. Let's get back to the video So tip number two is to plan ahead planning ahead in any sense It's going to give you a better foundation for success versus just rolling up to set and trying to figure it out then since prime Lenses have a slower innate nature of workflow compared to zoom lenses and we don't have that convenience of zooming in or out We need to be more intentional with our shot selections and having a shot list I always love writing down a shot list with the ideal focal length next to it So then I can kind of visualize and see how many lens swaps I'll actually have to make and if I see that there's tons of lens swaps back and forth in the same scene I'll just reorganize shots So then I shoot everything at 50 and then I can swap to an 85 and then go from there But there are certain times where it's running gun And we don't have that luxury of starting and stopping all the action and you'll just have to either commit to your lens Or just commit to lens swaps, which just kind of the name of the game So having a simple shot list or at the bare minimum even just thinking about the types of shots and focal lengths You want to be shooting at it's going to take away so much stress because when we're on set The last thing you want to do is scramble around and trying to figure out what focal lengths you need to be shooting at You'll end up wasting time doing too many lens swaps and probably end up missing a lot of shots That you would have gone if you were a little bit prepared ahead of time So any type of pre-production to make your life easier on set especially when working with primes is going to be well worth your investment Tip number three is to move around when you're shooting on primes You are locked into one focal length at a time which is often viewed as a downside But you can definitely use that as a strength So when shooting on primes you need to move around the scene use your arms and legs to help find variety in your angles And moving around the scene allows you to be a part of it You feel more intimate as a filmmaker But also the audience feels more intimate with the footage that you're capturing because you're inside of the action instead of Zooming in from far away one thing that I found useful is trying to imagine the entire scene through that one focal length that I have So I visualize the whites mediums and tights and how they can look just because I have a 35 on my camera doesn't mean I can't get mediums and tights with that one lens I can step in really close and if my lens has a close minimum focusing distance I can get some really unique and interesting mediums and tights with a 35 But if I was on a zoom lens I probably would have zoomed into 50 or 70 which gives it a much different look than a 35 get creative with it You'd be surprised how versatile one single lens can be if you physically move around the scene Tip number four is to not be afraid to stop down your aperture Most primes are extremely fast and just because your prime opens up to a crazy aperture Doesn't mean you have to shoot every single shot at that one f-stop just like how there needs to be intention with picking our focal lengths We need to have intention with our f-stop We need to think what do we want our depth of field to look like how much do we want in focus are there multiple subjects are We're shooting an interviewer we're shooting landscape when you have your aperture fully wide open the depth of field is super shallow Where it's really hard to pull focus manually and when you're shooting interviews the eyes may be in focus But the nose might not be in focus and is not ideal for a lot of scenarios And shooting with a deeper depth of field allows us to tell more of the story when we're shooting completely wide open The background is usually a really creamy and blurry mess, which yes looks good But there needs to be intent with that we need to give context to the setting Which helps bring the story along and sometimes shooting a little bit more stop down Allowing the background to be a little bit tiny bit more in focus can do a lot of good compared to shooting fully wide open all the time So yeah, don't fall into the trap of shooting completely wide open on these lenses give yourself some variety by shooting at different apertures Next up is tip number five You're going to need some accessories the most necessary is being a bag case or a large sling These will help you carry your lenses and keep things neat and organized when you're out on location I prefer bags and slings for Outdoors and then cases for studios or bigger sets where I know we're going to be locked down to one location at a time It really just depends on your preferences and needs I recommend having at least one of each because you just never know what you'll end up needing for that project Alongside that since you'll be swapping lenses more so than with zooms You're opening up your sensor and your lenses to all of the elements dust moisture dirt sand You name it So one of the most pivotal accessories that you need to get for yourself is a rocket blower I take this thing literally everywhere even if i'm just going out to film for a little bit And i'm not even shooting on primes and every time I swap lenses I try to make sure I hit both lenses the current one and the one that i'm swapping to In my sensor just to make sure everything is neat and clean because when you're shooting with dust on your lens Or sensor that can pop up into your footage and it is a pain in the butt to fix Lastly you'll probably want some step up rings step up rings allow you to take the diameter on your lens And go up to a larger diameter So I always recommend buying the biggest filters possible So you're not having to buy different sizes of the same filter for each lens for me personally I buy everything at 82 millimeters and all my lenses go from 55 72 77 67 and I have step up rings for all of those that go up to 82 So I just have one set of filters that I use across the board and I'd rather buy a 30 dollar Nice step up ring than a bunch of 150 dollar filters just to fit on each lens The caveat though is that your lenses become a little bit wider Which is kind of a bummer for some of my smaller primes But it's not that big of a deal because I'd rather have the cost savings on just using the same filters across the board These are pretty much just the bare essential accessories for shooting with primes anything outside of that. It's just a bonus Lastly you're going to need to practice in order to get familiar with the workflow shooting of primes go out and shoot anything Landscapes details yourself your friends legit anything just get out and spend some time shooting What looks cool to you with this practice that you'll be doing You'll be primarily targeting the growth within the workflow shooting on primes Because primes are naturally fixed to their focal lengths You need to learn how to swap lenses knowing when to swap them how to swap them efficiently Knowing how to store them and just have like the entire back end workflow of carrying the prime lenses You need to be intentional and know when to pick lenses for the right shot There's so much that goes into it and there's a lot of intentionality and planning that has to go in Before you even walk into set But it's very different to think about how to shoot on primes versus being there on set and actually seeing it go down You'll make tons of mistakes early on but the more time you put in in that low pressure Personal environment where yeah, you're trying to challenge yourself to have a smooth and quick workflow But there's no overarching catastrophic thing that can happen unless you were to practice when you're on set with a client Which I highly recommend you not doing legit with anything Just go out and practice be familiar with your gear before you step on set for that client job And who knows you may love the convenience of zooms right now But once you start shooting on primes, you might be drawn towards that slow or more intentional workflow So yeah, you'll never know unless you go out and practice. So Do your homework So with all these tips combined you should find yourself having a smoother and faster workflow when shooting on primes And because of that you'll be making better videos But on top of all these tips, there's another incredible resource out there to really take your videos to the next level Throughout this entire video I was able to take music and sound effects from art lists to really tie this video together And you might have noticed I used a handful of different songs throughout this video and that was intentional I wanted to create flow between all the different tips and sections throughout this video If I only used one song be really boring and monotonous and ultimately pretty stale and to find these tracks It couldn't have been any easier with art list I like searching for songs based off of genre and mood and for these specific songs I use the lo-fi chill beats genre as well as the carefree mood I also dove deep into the artless sound effects library sound design is often overlooked and completely forgotten about But just a little bit of sound design can do a lot of good for your videos I always love adding a bit of sound design on my title cards and b-roll because without it it can feel very flat So adding that bit of sound design behind the talking head and music can make the video feel full and also enhance the experience for the viewer So if you want to take your videos to the next level check out art list There's a link down in the description below. So with all that, I hope you guys enjoy this video I hope these six main tips can help you out with your journey with shooting with prime lenses The biggest thing is that you just need to go out and practice for yourself and see how they can mesh in with your own workflow See you guys later. Peace