Why wide angle

Due to the short focal length of a wide-angle lens, you have a large viewing angle at your disposal. The only drawback of such a large angle is the distortion of the edges.

But this effect fits well with landscape and city photography. Select a wide-angle lens with a fixed focal length if you only want to make wide-angle images. Select a wide-angle lens with zoom if you want to use more types of photography. Ordered before , delivered tomorrow for free Free exchange Most customer-friendly webshop Business Stores Customer Service. Written by Sanne 1 March What is a wide-angle lens and why should you choose one? A wide angle lens is a lens with a wide angle of view.

This allows you to effortlessly photograph a tall building, or a vast landscape. Even large subjects easily fit within your image frame. This means that straight lines are kept more or less straight in the final image, rather than being bent and distorted.

However, with these types of lenses, subjects near the edge of the frame tend to be stretched unnaturally. For super wide angle lenses, such as fisheye lenses, this stretching becomes very noticeable and distracting, so manufacturers tend to use a "curvilinear" construction instead.

Curvilinear lenses don't have the same edge distortion than rectilinear lenses do, but instead they cause straight lines to curve, an effect known as "barrel distortion". A rectilinear lens left preserves straight lines, but causes stretching at the edges. A curvilinear lens right reduces stretching but causes straight lines to curve.

Image by Marc Lacoste. Wide angle lenses have a greater apparent depth of field because they cover a wider viewing angle. This makes them great for photographing scenes where you have subjects at different distances, such as a landscape with animals in the foreground and mountains in the background, and want them all to be sharp. Wide angles lenses have a wide apparent depth of field, allowing them to capture both foreground and background subjects in focus. Image by Werner Kunz.

The downside to this is that you cannot isolate your subject by using depth of field to blur the background. Instead, you need to pay more attention when you frame your shot, choosing a composition with an uncluttered background. Because of their wide viewing angle and large apparent depth of field, wide angle lenses generally produce photos which are sharp throughout. However, this can be slightly reduced when shooting at very wide apertures, as with any lens.

At very narrow apertures, light diffraction can also cause edges to appear slightly fuzzy. To ensure maximum sharpness throughout your scene, aim to use an aperture in the middle of the lens's range wherever possible.

This may mean using a slow shutter speed, so be sure to use a tripod to reduce blurring from camera shake. In any scene, light levels will naturally vary in different areas. For example, the sky may be bright, while the ground is relatively dark. This becomes very apparent when shooting at such wide angles, and can result in photos which are underexposed in some areas and overexposed in others. You should be aware of this when framing your scene, and be careful to expose the important areas properly, sacrificing detail in less important areas.

A graduated ND filter can be useful in balancing the brightness of the sky and foreground. Because of the wide area covered, it is also common for the sun to be included in your shots, and this can lead to lens flare or incorrect exposure. Lens hoods aren't a practical solution because they can block part of the view.

Most wide angle lens manufacturers recognise this problem and build their lenses to minimise lens flare, but they are not perfect, so you should do your best to keep the sun out of the frame, or hide it behind something in the scene. A vignette is a darkening of the image towards the edges and corners. But you can only correct these images so much.

Get up close to a park bench to frame your image, and the middle section of the back might be slightly bent at a weirder shape than it should have been.

You can sit there getting it just right for hours, but tiny fluctuations in your position will create unfixable issues. Here, as always, experimentation is key. All you need is a good, sturdy tripod , and create panoramas. This is actually a technique that I use all the time in my photography because it solves both problems — get telephoto results with a wide field of view.

You need to keep the same white balance in every image. When your camera is steady and level on the tripod, take the fist image in the center of your frame.

And take the next shot. You can also tilt the camera so that you create an image in a more regular aspect ratio. Some photographers also put the camera in portrait orientation so that they get more vertical real-estate per photograph.

This technique does require a lot of practice to get right! I recommend first trying it through your bedroom window, or close to home. If you want to learn more about shooting panoramas to get past the issues with wide-angle lenses, I created a helpful Youtube video on panoramas here. This is generally not a good look for most people. If you want to photograph a person and flatter them, simply do not use a wide angle lens, period.

You just need to understand the effect it will produce and use is wisely. Use a wide lens to take photos of people that show their environment think the shop keeper in the example above , add a sense of fun or even humour, or tell a story. But know it will likely not be flattering to the subject. If your intent is to flatter them and make a nice portrait — chose a slightly longer than normal lens in the short telephoto range mm full frame, mm APS-C. If you want to learn more about taking portraits you can check out our online portrait photography class here.

Kids are another subject that you can use a wide angle on and have some fun with. Let them explore and get close to the lens. It will adds a sense of playfulness and fun to your images. The resulting images tend to reflect that lack of vision. Can you relate? Be more intentional when you photograph.

Choose your lens based on the feeling or effect you want to add to your image. Consciously look for subjects that will look great shot with a wide lens, and follow the tips above. A wide angle lens is like any tool or gadget. You will have more success using it if you do so sparingly, and when appropriate.

Now get out there and have some fun with it. Being a good photographer, and being able to teach and explain things so others can understand are two different things. Andrew is good at both! Why do some lenses cost so much and others so little? Should you buy a wide angle lens or a prime?

Is that fisheye lens as good a deal as it seems? Mastering Lenses is a page, 38, word book about creating beautiful photos with any lens. Inside the book there are pages covering many different compositional elements.

He shows how to use them effectively and provides excellent image examples.