Most people tend to think that telephoto lenses are the most useful for photography, but the truth is, they have limited appeal unless you are shooting a sporting event or long-distance candids. Wide-angle lenses, however, open a new vista for the photographer, offering different perspectives on the world. Here are some tips for using them.
Basics
Wide-angle lenses have gotten wider over the years without the distortion previously typical of them. The Canon 8 mm fisheye lens once displayed in the Eastman Kodak museum in Rochester, New York, gave the photographer a very wide angle, but everything was distorted, rounded into semi-circles. The fisheye wide-angle lens has limited uses. Advances in optics took the standard wide-angle lens down from 28 mm to 24 mm, and now with digital, 10 mm to 18 mm are possible. Of course, that number is multiplied by 1.5 for most digital cameras, but that still means the widest lenses run from 15 mm to 27 mm without much, if any, distortion. The field of view allows you to gather all the members of a large family into one portrait and also allows stunning landscapes.
Perspectives
Wide-angle lenses appear to push everything back and away from the camera. Use this to gather more into the scene. Another technique is to place a person to one side of a stunning scene, with the majority of the frame filled by the main subject. For example, you can get a good perspective on the size of the Grand Canyon and add the feeling of contemplation by having a friend or even the tour guide on the right of the image with the expanse of the canyon itself spread out across the rest of the frame.
Different Angles
Get close and try different angles. For example, if you put the lens to its closest focus near a gravestone, that stone will appear huge with the rest of the cemetery behind it spreading back to infinity. Another idea is to turn the camera vertical. This turns the wide expanse into a vertical shot, such as at the base of the Empire State Building looking up. You also can set the wide-angle lens and shoot from the hip. With a focal length of 18 mm or smaller, just point the camera in the general direction of your subjects and shoot. This may seem simple, but it is a good way to capture unposed shots of people and to get a different perspective on your scenes.
Tags: wide-angle lens, Wide-angle lenses