Your Wide Angle Lens

The ultra wide angle lens, you either love it or you hate it. I'd say almost 50% of my entire portfolio is shot with a wide angle lens. It is a lens though that it's a specialist lens and if it's not used properly then you might as well not use it at all. So in this video I want to share with you some of the common mistakes with a wide angle lens. First and foremost, this lens, it's all about getting close. Getting close allows us to create an image where the viewer feels like they're right there in the environment with you. It's a way to make your photography more immersive. So the first mistake I see is people are just not getting close enough to foreground. And when I say get close to foreground, I'm talking within a foot or two. It's insane how close you can get. Now, why are we doing that? It's gonna help us build out the diminishing perspective to create a more three-dimensional feel and create some depth in our photography. When you get close, you create that big to small transition and flow. Now, if you don't get close, what happens is everything just looks far away very, very quickly. When everything looks far away, it makes your images look quite flat. Find some interesting foreground, make sure you have separation so you can see the mid ground back there as well, but then experiment getting very, very close. Because it is ultra wide, it means you're still gonna be able to fit in everything in that background. And that's where it can be a little bit confusing at first using these lenses because you're probably not used to getting so close to that foreground. The next thing is make sure that whatever your subject is in the distance, in the background, make sure that it has a strong presence. It has to be quite commanding. You don't want it being too far away and too small. And this is the challenge with this lens. You will find that anything off in the distance will look quite small compared to maybe how the human eye sees the landscape. If I'm capturing mountains in a valley, for example, and I'm using the wide angle lens, I want to make sure that I'm relatively close to those mountains. If they're on the far side of the lake you know quite small in the distance maybe to the eye they look impressive you put the wide angle on they just look very very small so make sure that not only are you getting close to the foreground but whatever is in that background even if it's some sea stacks. that they still look large and impressive otherwise we might be able to lead the eye through to that point but when we get there the main focal point the main subject it's just not that interesting it's not that impressive it's not imposing or commanding some kind of attention within the frame so you've got to make sure that you're flowing the eye on to a more interesting point One of the mistakes we can make as photographers is kind of getting stuck in the mud just getting stuck at a static height especially if you're using a tripod you get a little bit lazy and you start to look for similar compositions at a particular height. The beautiful thing with the ultra wide is that you can make a composition almost anywhere using just about anything but you have to experiment with the angles so try and get down low get up high. Look behind objects through trees, rocks, make natural frames, find different elements within the landscape that you can use to create that depth and flow the eye through to the background and just overall make your composition more interesting. it's a lens that is all about that close proximity as we mentioned in tip number one but it really thrives when you get creative and start to experiment with natural windows and frames that you can find out in the landscape and once you start to see these you'll realize the possibilities are absolutely endless just got to get your feet moving start to think outside the box don't be afraid to shoot high above your head or down right near your ankles This lens is perfect for creating unique compositions just like that. Final tip in this video is your perspective and not getting the horizon in the middle of your frame. If anything, I like to angle down slightly. So I have something to the equivalent of say a 40 to 60 split of my image. I'm basically slightly emphasising. the lower portion of the frame now why am i doing this well if you go 50/50 or even tilt upwards the viewer's eye may just naturally gravitate to that upper part of the frame and 90% of the time what you have up there is your sky you don't have anything there to build out depth or lead the eye to the main subject so the whole point of the composition is being completely overlooked If you angle down slightly you're creating that subconscious message of hey begin here you're standing here with me and we're flowing it through the landscape and then hopefully finishing off in the distance where the main subject should be or the main focal point of the image. So what I like to do in the field something I like to teach my students if you want put the lens front on horizon in the center 50 50 and then all you do is a very subtle tilt down. A very gentle tilt down, and that's enough to just help the viewer go on that visual journey from front through to the background. These lenses definitely work best when you're in environments where you have a lot going on and that is of course the challenge as well. There's a lot going on and naturally what we might want to do is just simplify things and that's where you might gravitate to going back to something like a 24-70mm so you can just punch in and simplify the scene. Now don't get me wrong, I've got my fair share of images like that, smaller scenes, quieter scenes. The wide angle you're taking on that challenge you're saying I want to fit in everything here but I want to make it cohesive and make it work and make people feel like they're right there with me in this spectacular landscape. Getting close little angle downwards and make sure you've got that nice focal point in the distance there that finishing point for the eye. When you position all your shapes you consider balance and flow and you build out that depth with a diminishing perspective You should be able to create an image that works and people will enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you want to learn more, just check out the rest of my YouTube channel. Otherwise, I've got a lot of masterclasses on my website. You can check that out via the link below. Anyway, that's enough from me. Get out there with your wide angle. Let me know how you go and let me know if you have any questions or concerns Cheers