 Teresa K. Canady |
How to Use a Wide-Angle Lens I was given a wide-angle lens for Christmas. I need to know what type of shots would I use a lens like this? Is it just for landscape shots, or what?? Can someone give me some ideas of how I can get the most use out of this lens? Thanks.
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How wide is it?
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John P. Sandstedt |
You didn't say how wide - 14-mm, 21-mm, 28-mm. No matter for the general question, however. Wide-angle lenses are traditionally thought of for landscape pictures. The major thing you need to concern yourself with, however, is to make certain there is something in your picture that the viewer can relate to. For example, a tree or a person with the huge expanse of the landscape behind it/him. Wide-angle lenses offer the advantage of greater depth of field possibilities, so you can shoot and include sharper detail beginning close to the camera and extending to "infinity." Wide angles can be used for humorous close-ups of people, but they will render greatly distorted features. Accordingly, they're not normally considered appropriate for portraits. And, they are used for architecture pictures - they allow you to stand closer to buildings than you might if using a normal lens, but you must be certain that you don't induce the "falling over of the buildings" as a result of moving in too close. There's a need for care and consideration/use of perspective control lenses in this type of situation. Remember, like all your lenses, they are another tool in your arsenal. Some folks use a 35-mm wide angle in place of a normal lens. Some folks will not advocate such a practice. You'll need to take a number of pictures and learn what you can do with this type of lens and, of course, any other.
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Teresa K. Canady |
The lens is 10-22mm.
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George Anderson |
You can use a wide-angle lens for almost any subject, as long as high magnification of a distant object isn't a requirement, you have no need to compress background detail, and a degree of distortion is acceptable. These lenses tend to distort the image at the far edges; also when the camera is tilted up or down off the horizontal plane. The famous inward-tilting building photo (keystoning) is stereotypical. Portraits of human faces typically are exaggerated by this focal length - the 'big nose' effect. But this can also be employed intentionally in other situations as an unusual effect. Wide-angles are not at their best when used in a pedestrian manner, simply to cram more of the scene into a photo. Better to include a close foreground object of interest, which can be almost anything, even the ground, when the camera is lowered to ground level. The great depth of field of most wide-angle focal lengths means that you can have both fore and background detail in focus. Conversely, it is sometimes difficult to intentionally blur background detail with a wide-angle lens. Some wide-angle lenses are corrected for close-up distances (CRC) and consequently can be used as fairly good macro lenses when shooting pictures of flowers, etc. For more ideas, I recommend studying a few of the many illustrated books by well-known photographers. Not to copy their work, but instead to stimulate your creativity and spark your own ideas.
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I use a 24mm lens which is glued to my 20D all day long for weddings. I wouldn't go to work without it. It's really great for all kinds of things, but for people photography, it's best for photojournalistic style shooting. For instance, it looks great in crowded rooms, the 24mm opens up the room. Makes it not look so cramped. It's great for dancing, you can get great separation for the subject, but still show alot of the action around the main subject.
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