Landscape photographer tells you: how to use super wide-angle lens well

At present, almost all the lens groups of digital SLR cameras on the market include wide angle (such as the common 18-55mm). In APS-C frame, 18mm (equivalent focal length 28.8mm) is wide enough in most cases. Ultra-wide-angle lenses refer to those lenses whose focal length is less than 16 mm, which can stimulate our creativity, but also bring great difficulties to use.

On a truncated sensor camera, the focal length of 30-35mm is what we call the standard viewing angle-basically equivalent to the viewing angle of human eyes. At the focal length of 18mm, the visual angle range can be almost twice that of the standard visual angle, while at 12mm, the visual angle range will increase by 50%, which is far from the standard visual angle we are used to. In this perspective, users will first notice the exaggerated perspective, distorted edges and the relationship between foreground and background.

The trees and clouds in this photo are very funny and usually harmless, but there are also many distortions in the photo. Using a wide-angle lens, the picture will contain more scenes and subjects, some dark, some bright, some close and some far. These contrasts will put forward certain requirements for the dynamic range of your camera.

If the direction of the lens is not kept horizontal when shooting, the vertical line in the picture will "converge" and the building will look inclined, as shown in the following figure:

If you don't want this effect, make sure the camera position is horizontal. In addition, this distortion can also be corrected by post-processing, but this will affect the quality and size of photos.

Due to the exaggeration of the viewing angle, it is usually difficult for a wide-angle lens to ensure the sharpness of the whole photo. It is an effective way to reduce the aperture, but even f/1or f/ 13 can't guarantee perfect sharpness. So you need to decide the focus and the best aperture of your camera and lens.

For wide-angle lenses, autofocus also has some problems. Even if the subject is several meters away, it will appear very small and difficult to focus. At this time, manual focusing may be a better choice. First, determine a visual center, and then focus manually.

Another problem that wide-angle lenses have to face is lens glare. Because of the large viewing angle, there are often bright light sources in the shooting scene, which are enough to produce destructive flares. The best time to use a wide-angle lens is early morning and dusk, which are called "magic moments". It is said that wide-angle lenses perform better in winter, because heavy snow will reduce the light ratio between the sky and the ground.

Use a tripod

Obviously, aiming shooting is a wrong shooting method for super wide-angle lens. Among the shooting points mentioned above, shooting in the early morning or dusk of a day, or reducing the aperture to f/ 1 1, all mean using a tripod. Coupled with the need for manual focusing, we seem to have returned to the traditional photography era-we must carefully compose the composition before shooting, set the camera according to the rules, and then take a photo carefully. For landscape and architectural photography, this is not a problem, but for portraits, sports or street photography, I am afraid it is not suitable.

For architectural photography, contrast is more important than resolution. Another important thing is to find the "convergence" points of all straight lines and focus on them.

Wide-angle lenses are not suitable for portraits unless you want a cartoon-like cartoon effect. When shooting at a very close distance, objects close to the camera will be exaggerated, such as the nose and forehead. However, when shooting environmental portraits, the super wide-angle lens is very useful, which can be shot in shops, offices or studios to show the living and working environment of the characters.

Super wide-angle lens is very suitable for telling stories, which will add dramatic effect to the picture and be more expressive. It can show us scenes that we have never seen before.

Eight rules of using super wide-angle lens well

1. Arrange something interesting in the foreground, or there will be a big blank in the picture. Landscape photography can reduce the number of planes and take in some wild flowers or stones in the foreground.

2. Pay attention to finding lines that are helpful for composition and add better visual effects to the picture.

3. Pay attention to the interesting sky. Because the super wide-angle lens will take a lot of pictures of the sky, clouds can be used to form some lines.

4. Try to keep the camera level when shooting buildings.

5. In clear weather, polarizer can increase color saturation, while in cloudy weather, medium gray gradient mirror is suitable.

6. Close to the theme. The closer you get to the subject, the more dramatic the picture will be.

7. Check the pictures carefully and don't take irrelevant pictures, such as your feet and tripod legs.

8. Use a tripod when shooting scenery.