The Benefits of a Wide Angle Lens

For beginner photographers interested in advancing their photo skills, upgrading to a wide angle lens is a great way to start capturing unique perspectives of outstanding photographs. The problem is, as a beginner, you may not know all the great benefits and possibilities of a wide-angled lens—Abt is here to help.

First off, we need to understand exactly what a wide-angled lens is.  Simply put, it has a wider viewing angle than a normal lens, allowing for more of the scene to be captured in the image.  Think of the last time you took a picture of a large group of people. In order to capture everyone in the shot, you had to continually move backwards until everyone fit into the frame. A wide angle lens lets you remain closer to the group, while still capturing everyone in the shot (in detail) and create a greater sense of depth from the foreground to background. A wider angle lens will capture wider images, but must shrink elements to do so. A big advantage in enclosed spaces, the wide angle lens will let the photographer stay close to the image but, lets them capture the surrounding scene as well to give the viewer a complete impression of the capture.

A wide angle of view means that both the relative size and distance is exaggerated when comparing near and far objects.

Benefits of a wide angle lens:

• Emphasizes the foreground within a large field of view
• Provides an increased sense of dimension and depth
• Increased depth keeps details within all regions of the frame.
• Gives the viewer an impression of being in the moment of capture

For the visual learners, check out these amazing wide angle lens shots or for more detail, check out this article on using wide angle lenses. Here are a few tips from Brighthub.com to help you start shooting with a wide angle lens.

1. Compose your photo with a primary foreground object. This helps create a sense of depth and adds to the intensity of the wide angle.
2. Try taking a photo by getting close to your subject; it can give you interesting and fun results!
3. The distortion created by wide angle lenses can be used creatively for some shots, in other instances they may have to be corrected by using software.
4. Typically, portraits are shot with medium telephoto lenses or standard angle lenses, try using a wide angle for portraiture!
5. Wide angle lenses are great for panorama photography. Since they cover more of the frame, they provide much better looking panoramas.
6. Try taking photos of children with wide angle lenses; they’re one of the best subjects for wide angle lens portraiture.