Wide Angle Woes
The wide angle lens is a much maligned object, incredibly frustrating to some, genuinely hated by many but almost worshipped by an equal number of photographers. So why the controversy, why does this one lens generate so much discussion in the photography world and is it really as bad or good as people would have you believe?
Let me start with the old adage "it's a poor workman that blames his tools". All lenses, no matter what their focal length, are just tools, and understanding what that specific tool is designed for will help you get the most out of it. The wide angle lens is designed to distort and enhance perspective, it is not designed to 'get more in the frame'.
A wide angle lens is one that has a wider field of view than we see with our own eyes. So, on a full frame sensor a 50mm lens is about the field of view of the human eye, on a crop sensor that number is about 35mm. Anything wider than these is a wide angle lens, but the 'superwide' lenses that really bring the strongest enhancement to perspective are around 15mm on a full frame or 10 on the crop.
You won't get the best from your wide angle lens if you are standing up looking at a landscape and everything is the same distance from the lens. That doesn't mean things are actually equidistant, obviously the ground you are on is closer than the mountains in the distance, but your wide angle lens doesn't see that way. The distortion will flatten the scene and the resulting image can often be disappointing, unless of course the flat scene was your intended outcome.
Look at the two scenes below from a recent shoot. In one the foreground ice is flat across the frame, in the second the ice leads into the frame. This small change of bringing in a leading line makes a very big difference to the image, so a leading line is one way to help you create depth when using your wide angle lens.
Let me start with the old adage "it's a poor workman that blames his tools". All lenses, no matter what their focal length, are just tools, and understanding what that specific tool is designed for will help you get the most out of it. The wide angle lens is designed to distort and enhance perspective, it is not designed to 'get more in the frame'.
A wide angle lens is one that has a wider field of view than we see with our own eyes. So, on a full frame sensor a 50mm lens is about the field of view of the human eye, on a crop sensor that number is about 35mm. Anything wider than these is a wide angle lens, but the 'superwide' lenses that really bring the strongest enhancement to perspective are around 15mm on a full frame or 10 on the crop.
You won't get the best from your wide angle lens if you are standing up looking at a landscape and everything is the same distance from the lens. That doesn't mean things are actually equidistant, obviously the ground you are on is closer than the mountains in the distance, but your wide angle lens doesn't see that way. The distortion will flatten the scene and the resulting image can often be disappointing, unless of course the flat scene was your intended outcome.
Look at the two scenes below from a recent shoot. In one the foreground ice is flat across the frame, in the second the ice leads into the frame. This small change of bringing in a leading line makes a very big difference to the image, so a leading line is one way to help you create depth when using your wide angle lens.
While the leading line really helps create depth, the wide angle can do so much more. You can begin by getting closer, much closer to your choice of foreground object. Look at the two images below from a 2017 visit to lower kananaskis lake. Both show the same location, both have the leading line I mentioned earlier, but this time one has the camera lowered until it is touching the foreground ice.
In doing this I have made the most of the distorted reality provided by the lens. The ice crack is now thrust into the eye of the viewer, the small rock at the mid way point has become a large noticeable mid ground object and the mountains are diminished which has the effect of further exaggerating the foreground ice. Now the image has a clear subject, it's not about a general landscape at sunset with some ice and a rock or two. It is now a very specific "look at this wonderful ice crack, with a splash of sunset in the background" shot. The change is clearly apparent and the second shot is the much better image as a result. Having a clear subject makes a significant difference to your images, it directs the viewer to what you wanted them to see, it shows the image you were trying to make. |
It's important to remember that your foreground object need not be a huge spectacular thing like the wonderful ice in the adjacent image, it can just as easily be some snow covered ground. What's important is that you make the most of the distortion offered by your wide angle lens by getting close, really close to the foreground object, whatever it may be. |
It's not all about looking down or staying low, it's about distortion and using that distortion to your advantage. Take a look at the gallery below and take a moment to reflect on the camera position and it's proximity to the foreground object, or consider why the flatter scene was selected. However you use your wide angle lens always remember it's a tool and understanding what the tool can and can't do will greatly help in getting the most from it.