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A place to politely discuss the tools, technique and culture of photography.

This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.

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communick@viewfinder.pro

Using a wide angle lens in landscape photography (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by Not_a_shoe@alien.top to c/photography@viewfinder.pro

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I have owned a wide angle (11-16mm for apsc) lens for years now. And it is without a doubt my least used lens in my landscape kit. When I go to a location I can find excuses to shoot anything from 20 up to 500mm depending on the setting, but making good use of wide angle absolutely escapes me.

What tips, tricks, setups etc should I be looking for to get better use out of this lens? What article or videos helped you understand how to use a wide angle in landscapes? I want to make use of this lens and not just haul it everywhere to inevitably leave it in the bag so any help in "seeing" a wide angle shot would be greatly appreciated.

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[–] CommieWithACocktail@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

A 14-24 full- frame is my favourite lens. That being said, it's also difficult to use.

I use it mainly for astrophotography, and when there is a strong foreground element. Think stuff like rocks and patterns on foreground, interesting textures on the ground, a scene like small wildflowers on foreground and huge vistas and valleys and mountains in background, stuff like that. It really distorts the stuff close to the lens, making them appear bigger and compresses the things far away, creating a dramatic and perspective.

I also occasionally use it for some highly stylized portraits, when I want some distortion- elongated legs and hands, emphasis on shoes, stuff like that.

For an wide angle to work, you almost always need a strong foreground (unless you're doing astro and have such similar wide-encompassing patterns/colors in the sky).