ADDRESS COMMON MISTAKES
Recognise and regulate the aspects of wide-angle photography that most commonly diminish the impact of images
Equipment misuse is the number-one reason for images failing to deliver to the photographer’s expectations. Wherever an item of kit is more challenging to use, there are a greater number of opportunities for mistakes to be made. Moreover, in the case of wide-angle lenses, once errors have been committed, these can be highly visible to the viewer due to the exaggerated sense of depth and prominence of native distortion. The first main area of concern relates to framing, incorporating subject arrangement and foreground balance. As we have discussed previously, the closer an object is placed to the edges of a wide-angle frame, the more distortion it receives, manifesting as a stretching effect. However, beyond this, the distance from the camera must also be factored in, since relative distance between areas of the scene is more apparent, which can make an environment seem unrealistically spacious. For interior imaging, when making photographs for estate agents for example, this can be undesirable, where an authentic representation of a room is critical.
The next most common mistake made by newcomers to the field of wide-angle photography is poor attention to foreground population. When using the widest focal length of a 14mm lens for example, the areas closest to the camera become stretched and the middle and backgrounds appear significantly further away. This often leaves a large amount of empty space in the bottom third of the frame. Unless used for artistic reasons, such as to contrast with another busier area of the scene, this can be distracting, since it does not contribute to the composition. This situation is made even worse where there are areas of high frequency detail, such as grass or sand, as this breaks the uniformity of the colour and tone – enough to draw the eye, but without sufficient interest to hold attention. It is also a misconception that when using a zoom it is always best to use the widest setting.
You should certainly try to get the most out of the feature you bought the lens for, but sometimes the best compositions, free from edge distractions, are only a millimetre away.