Tips for shooting with an ultra-wide angle lens

[mark amy]

Hello,

 

I'm going on a trekking holiday to the mountains that border Tibet and I'm going to be taking my Sigma 10-20mm

lens. The majority of the shots are going to be landscapes taken at f8 / f11 on a tripod. I have a Nikon D300

and I'll also be taking my Nikkors 17-55mm and 18-200mm. I've read that with lenses like the 10-20mm, it's not

just about getting a wider coverage, but more about creating depth so that the images don't look too flat and 2

dimensional. Can anyone give me some tips on how best to achieve this? Is it just about including foreground?

What do you do if there isn't much in the foreground? Is it always better to get down low or does it really

depend on what you're shooting?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Mark

[colin carron]

Mark,

 

here are some things I do when using an ultrawide. As with all rules there are times when they need to be broken...

 

1) Include something(s) of interest in the foreground otherwise you will get vast expanses of nothing. In landscape this can mean going low to include foreground flowers for example or getting really close to rocks so that you can see the rock grain.

 

2) Look for strong compositional lines as this will add drama to your shots. This happens naturally with wide lenses anyway so you are just working with the natural perspective of the lens.

 

3 Look for interesting skies as ultrawides capture wide expanses of sky and emphasis the lines in the cloud formations.

 

4) Try to keep the camera as level as possible especially when photographing buildings.

 

5) The PS 'Transform' function is very useful in adjusting perspective where necessary.

 

Have fun!

[colin carron]

...and looking at your portfolio you are obviously already aware of these ideas.

 

Onelast rule I use is where necessary to use a polariser in clear weather and ND grads in cloudy weather. Watch for the uneven affect of polarisers across an ultra-wide angle of view.

 

Good luck and have a great trip!

[greytata a.nogueira]

Wide angle shooting is great. If you are shooting landscapes, the most important rule is to level the camera.

 

If you want great dramatic effects, when shooting a subject, the more closest you are to that subject the most dramatic you can be and the camera levelling is not that important. Depth of field is not that important if you shoot with a superwide angle

 

I shoot with a Sigma -10-20 on my D200 and I love it.

 

You can also get some important tips here: http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/m_Mastering_Wide-Angle/m_Mastering_Wide-Angle.html

 

Have a nice trip

[mark amy]

Thanks Colin and Artur, that's really helpful!

[sknowles]

Good tips, to which I can only add, watch your feet. This means don't forget to look down (at the bottom of the viewfinder)

to ensure you don't inlcude the tripod or your feet in the shot. Too often we get enamored with the scene and trying to

balance the foreground and background and the land and sky and we forget about the immediate foreground. Good luck.

[mark amy]

Cheers Scott, I've done that before! Actually, I find using live-view helps with that. I seem to notice more when I'm looking at the scene on the LCD with both eyes.

[jeffpolaski]

I'e had lousy results with my CV 15mm, but the consensus is that the next time I take it out, I use a tripod with a level. Tripods slow down the composition, and I'm an unreformed grab shooter.

[JDMvW]

Also, although the depth-of-field is great, make sure that the focus is on something that you want in focus. In a word, pay attention to which focus points are lighting up.

[lightsmith1]

Flash used judiciously on foreground objects also can be used to great effect. A real master of this is Frans Lanting. His website and images are well worth your time to see how this can be done. It would not hurt to look at the images of Galen Rowell and Nevada Weil - both great travel photographers in their own very individual ways.

[gordon_lukesh1]

I use a Leica M6 with a 21mm lens and B&W film. I love bright days with high clouds as I can shoot at 1/60 and F/11 or better so I get great depth of field, even with an orange filter. I will confess to having my shadow appear! Buildings can be difficult because even the 21mm Summicron at about $1000 has field curvature. Landscape is gorgeous but as one on the site said be sure to have something close in, preferably not your boots!, otherwise you get lots of little "specks".

[bobby_niel]

In response to the market demands, many manufacturers have produced ultra wide angle lens specially for DSLRs with APS-C sized sensors. They include the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED, Tokina AT-X 124 AF PRO DX 12-24mm f/4, Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM, Tamron SP AF11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di II LD Aspherical [iF]. The first two are for Canon and Nikon photographers, respectively. The other models offer versions that are compatible with various camera manufacturers, such as Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, etc.

 

Thanks for above posts!