Wide-angle photography is one of the most powerful aspects of photography. Naturally it tends to increase the friction between you the photographer and the scene, along with the elements and objects inside the frame as we see them with our naked eye. To be more specific it is one of the toughest lens sport to play, because there are a few important factors that stand between these lenses and the photographer.
Firstly the wide-angled lenses lets take a look at a few of its Defects & Surprises,
- These Lenses, when rightly used can get you and the viewer to make them feel at the middle of the scene.
- You as a photographer has to get closer, yes really closer to get some fantastic pictures. If you cant get close forget about the “wide-angle”.
- This Lens can exaggerate stuff, yes the anger, emotions, or when around a celebration. The people, the faces, or the location everything seems to overflow within the frame when handled and composed rightly.
- The composition really matters when it comes to this lens, a minute movement with the camera on positioning yourself inside the scene can give drastic changes to the Photograph. Avoid your legs being shot while framing.
- Shooting portraits with wide-angle lenses definitely needs a lot of self lessons and practice. Believe me even professionals find it tough to get a decent shot of portrait. One needs to take into consideration how disproportionate a human can become and how to avoid that. And remember it is not a portrait lens.
Here in this article, we have explained to you the pros and cons of Wide-angle Photography. And some interesting methods to counteract even the negative aspects of wide-angle photography.
#1 Distortion
Distortion is a lens defect, and I am pretty sure that almost all the lenses made, naturally have at least a minute distortion. And when it comes to wide-angle lenses, distortion becomes a huge caution itself. Distortion is the stretching happening at the corners of a picture, making the object or subject look out of shape, giving a weary & unpleasant look to your photographs. It is really hard to avoid them, so the positive aspect would be to convert them into pleasant imperfections. Believe me a better framing would solve it all. And there are a lot of warping techniques available in processing packages which can rectify them to a greater extent.
#2 Framing
Be really clear on/about where would you keep your subject inside a frame. In the center, perfect then one can avoid a huge amount of distortion for there has to be nothing on the corners to distorted or go out of shape. Plus the center framing gives a huge benefit about the nature of the image making it a great wide-angle photograph.
#3 Position & Composition
A Fraction of an inch movement here or a little tilt of the camera can give you dramatic differences within, which is again a good sign in getting the picture right. Keep experimenting and more evaluative trial and error methods could produce wonderful results. More self-analysis and patience would get you wonderful results.
#4 Stunning Examples of Wide Angle Photography
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2 comments
WOW! Great shots and great info! Also you have mentioned about the use of wide angle lenses in portrait shots. I think that would be rarely used, and if at all is used, probably would be for some kind of creative stuff. Am I Right?
Awesome photos and tips. TFS.