Ultra wide angle lenses are arguable amongst the most desirable pieces of kit for most photographers. Their immense field of view can make images seem dramatic, even awe inspiring, but they need to be handled with care, not only physically, but in the thought processes that go into using them. Today we are going to take a look at getting the best out of your ultra wide angle.
Ultra Wides Lenses Are No Longer Niche
Until a few short years ago, the ultra wide lenses were the preserve of professional full frame photographers, the choice for enthusiasts using APS-C sensors was fairly limited. Lens manufacturers however saw there was a niche in this market that could be exploited and in recent times there has been a plethora of good value ultra wide lenses for the smaller sensor camera. Before we get into looking at how to use an ultra wide lens, let's try to define them a little.
On a full frame camera, an ultra wide lens can be defined as anything from just above a fisheye, 12mm or so up to around 24mm.
For an APS-C sensor, because of the crop factor the ultra wide range starts at about 8mm, but preferably 10mm all the way up to about 20mm. There are now numerous lenses that fall into this category, but as with many things in life, you get what you pay for, the lenses at the cheaper end of the scale, may well have a lot of edge softness and distortion.
Using Ultra Wide Lenses
As we said at the top, using ultra wide angle lenses requires some care and consideration. The first thing that you are going to notice is the extreme, exaggerated perspective. This manifests itself through the viewfinder with the appearance that your foreground and background seem stretched apart. Subjects in the background seem a long way away, whilst foreground subjects seem to be disproportionately large.
You will also notice that to fill the frame with a foreground subject, you will need to be very close to it, sometimes within a few centimeters of the front of it. Because of this exaggerated perspective your composition becomes all important. The rule of thirds, really rules when using an ultra wide lens, positioning some interest on one of the side thirds can lead the viewer's eye through the picture and into the main subject matter beyond.
One compositional rule often works well with the rule of thirds is leading lines. Get down low and use the leading line to bring your eye through the lower two thirds of the shot to a subject sitting on the upper third. Railway lines and straight roads work great for this.
The Problem Of Converging Verticals in Ultra Wide Lenses
One of the hardest things to master with ultra wide angle lenses is converging verticals. As with all other types of lens when you shot straight lines, for example the sides of a tall building, with the camera pointing either up or down, those sides appear to be converging at some distant point. In architectural photography this is generally to be avoided however for a more abstract type of shot, using a ultra wide can create impressive and creative looking shots by getting in close to a building and shooting upwards. If you are looking to avoid the converging verticals then you will need to either step back to the point where you can fill the frame without pointing the camera up or, alternatively, find an elevated position, allowing you to point straight at the subject.
Depth Of Field Is King
One of the prime advantages of ultra wide lenses is their immense depth of field, even at wider apertures. For the landscape photographer, this is a massive bonus, when using a small aperture combined with the extreme field of view, a low angle and some leading lines, ultra wide landscapes can be used to create dramatic sweeping images that draw the viewer's eye deep into the shot.
Even with the deep depth of field, care must be taken with the focus. Autofocus systems may lock onto a foreground subject, losing valuable sharpness in the background. A better option is to focus manually using the hyper focal distance, a point approximately two thirds of the way to the horizon point. Sometimes using a wider aperture, we can defocus the foreground, effectively using it as a frame to draw the viewer's eye to the background.
There’s A Lot Of Glass in an Ultra Wide Lens
Physically, one of the main things that will strike you about ultra wide lenses is the huge convex front element. This in itself can be problematic, wide angles are extremely prone to lens flare. Most lenses will come with some form of lens hood, but to avoid vignetting, this is often very short and stubby, barely cutting out the flare at all.
When shooting, you will need to think carefully about your position in relation to the light source, monitor your images for flare. If you are getting flare, you can set the camera on a tripod, step back a little further and try to limit it by shielding the light with your body.
The other issue with that huge lens element is the potential for damage. The front element of some ultra wides is so convex that it is impossible to attach filters to the front. The Nikon 14-24, f2.8 is a classic example of this. Other lenses may have filter threads but if you use a filter that is quite thick in its depth, for example a circular polarizer, you may well incur vignetting in your images.
This will be more noticeable at the smaller apertures. Using polarizers can also be a tricky issue, depending on the positions of the sun, a polarizer can turn your sky so deep a blue, it is verging on black. If this happens, back the polarizer off a little.
Ultimately, ultra wide lenses are tricky lenses to get to grips with, but by learning and understanding their potential issues, you can overcome these difficulties to create some stunningly evocative shots.