Creativity beyond limits: top tips for 50mm lens photography

London-based photographer and creative director Ejiro Dafé has a distinctive approach to his commissioned work: he only shoots with a single 50mm lens.

His 50mm lens photography journey began as a cash-strapped student: "I was studying advertising and spent my student loan on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III [now succeeded by the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV] so that I could shoot my own campaigns. I fell in love with photojournalism too, and the photographers I looked up to all shot with prime lenses. So I got the affordable little Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens [now succeeded by the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM] and visited other countries to photograph stories on the streets.

"I didn't intend to have that lens for long, but over time I got used to the angle of view. I liked the way that it came close to my field of vision and shooting with the lens became instinctive – I could look at something and know how it would line up as a shot. That gave me the confidence to shoot even more."

As his paid jobs built up, Ejiro upgraded to the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, followed by the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens. His experience with and enthusiasm for the focal length made him a natural fit to become the first pro to use the Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM, the most lightweight and low-cost standard lens in the RF range.

The Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM’s pocket-friendly proportions (at 160g and 40.5mm long), bright f/1.8 maximum aperture for creative depth of field and near-silent STM autofocus technology make it a discreet option, ideal for street photography, candid portraits and video.

Despite the lens’s affordable price it’s also a strong performer in low light, and is the ideal partner for a Canon EOS RP or Canon EOS R6. Its lens elements and coatings ensure shots are sharp from edge-to-edge, with superior image quality and colours.

Here, Ejiro shares the results of his first shoot with the Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM and offers his tips for creativity in 50mm lens photography.

By restricting yourself to a single focal length over a period of time, rather than just the odd shoot, you naturally become intimately familiar with its angle of view and more instinctive when it comes to framing up a shot. As a result of using only a 50mm lens, Ejiro explains: "When I'm moving around the subject, I can almost feel it in my legs when I'm in the right place without having to look through the viewfinder."

He continues: "Obviously with a 50mm lens you can get really wide shots and you can take tighter portraits and close-ups. Given plenty of space to move in, it's a very versatile focal length, although it can be challenging to work with in a small room. But that in itself makes you really think about every element within the photo and how they interact. It certainly sharpened my composition techniques when I was starting out and made me hyper-sensitive to everything within the shot."

A prime lens pushes you to work for a shot, fine-tuning your compositions by moving the camera. That can help to keep you in shape – creatively as well as physically. "If you watch me shoot, you'll see me rolling on the floor or contorting up into a corner," Ejiro explains. "I'm always moving. I'm constantly turning and rotating my body to try to find the best angles.

"Sometimes I don't even bring the camera up to my eye. Because I'm so familiar with the focal length, I know what I can get in the frame. So, I can hold the camera in these unusual positions and bend down or move around whatever I'm shooting to provide a perspective that people don't normally see. It's not that photography at eye level is boring – you can always make that interesting – but seeing what works with alternative angles can allow you to capture things in a new and exciting way."

Of course, the vari-angle touchscreens on EOS R System cameras such as the Canon EOS RP and Canon EOS R6 means that you can manoeuvre your Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM lens into tight corners and unusual angles and heights without having to contort yourself too much.

"I love taking wide shots where you can see everything in context, but I also really like intimate shots. With the Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM you can focus [to 0.3m], so you can go in quite tight and create these almost abstract images. This type of shot works particularly well with dancers, where the viewer isn't necessarily sure of the context because of the movement and the angles and the attractive shapes within the composition."

To keep the discreet and manoeuvrable advantage of a lens such as the Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM, it pays to strip back the rest of your kit to the bare minimum, advises Ejiro. "Too much choice can cause you to overthink things," Ejiro says. "Even a standard kit zoom lens offers such a variety of focal lengths that it can sometimes slow you down."

The Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM's bright aperture means that you don't necessarily need to use flash when shooting in low light, something that Ejiro is enthusiastic about. While his portfolio is a testament to his ability to read the light around him, he doesn't want to make lighting a complicated affair. "I don't use artificial light very much. I find you can start to get a bit distracted with that extra level of control rather than working with the ambient lighting you've been dealt and using that to the best of your ability.

"Even if it's using the available lamps in low-light situations indoors, I think that looks better than what you get with big bounces. Besides, working with natural light is more fun."