|
|
 |
A Fresh and Widening
Perspective
Peter Madeley Many photographers start off with a standard lens in the 50mm range which is often termed a 'normal' lens as the perspective is very similar to that of the human eye. Most people today are familiar with telephoto perspectives from watching wildlife and nature programmes on television. The wide view is much less often seen unless you have visited an IMAX cinema. The super wide angle gives the opportunity to see and explore perspectives not possible with our own eyes. Towards the end of last year I felt that much of my photography was starting to become a simple record of the subject and I really didn't feel I was putting my soul into the images I was making. So often when I thought of wildlife and nature photography I recalled huge monster lens sat upon tripods and indeed this sort of equipment has produced some spectacular images. For me wide angle lenses were for landscape photographers, not for plants and animals. Then during a background reading session, I came chanced upon an image of a Grey Wolf feeding on a carcass photographed by Joel Sartore (http://www.joelsartore.com/gallery/wolves/wp20.htm) in a book called 'The Wildlife Photographs'. The image had such 'in yer face' impact, I just had to try and find out how it had been done. Fair enough, the animal was a captive, but it was the use of a 24mm lens which had given the startling viewpoint to produce such a memorable image. This year I promised myself I would where possible (and safe) to use a wide angle lens.
Most standard zoom lenses have a wide angle setting of 28mm or 35mm. These make an ideal starting point for wide angle photography and it is where I started. My first successful wide angle image was made with a 28-105 lens on the Farne Islands of a, very bold, nesting shag. It gave me the inspiration to go further and be more extreme than I had imagined possible. Choosing a super wide angle lens There are basically two choices when considering a super
wide angle
Most manufacturers offer prime and zoom lenses in these ranges and the introduction of digital cameras has meant that ever wider lenses have been produced to compensate for the increase in focal length of digital cameras. The zooms tend to be a smaller maximum aperture and this can be limiting when light levels are low but you do have more control over precise framing without altering your shooting position. For my EOS camera system, I finally went for the Sigma 20mm f1.8EX for the fast aperture, wide angle of view (94.5°) and the very close minimum focus distance of 20cm/7.9inches that this lens offered. I wanted to do a lot of close up flower portraits so this feature (in fact a reproduction ratio 1:4) was going to be important to me. As I already had a 28-135mm lens the 20mm made an ideal wide angle companion to my present gear. A typical photograph can show the extreme angles of view that are possible when using wide angle lenses and perspectives appear even more exaggerated when used up close to your subject I was just a few inches from these cowslips. Distortion Point the camera directly upwards in a woodland or town centre and you get the towering perspective with the buildings converging towards the centre. Some photographers have even gone to the extreme of shooting character portraits with a super-wide lens which create distortion of the nose, hands or feet, making them appear disproportionally larger and often bulbous. It would be wise to check that your sitter is happy to be portrayed in this way!!
Some photographers have even gone to the extreme of shooting
character portraits with a super-wide lens which create distortion of
the nose, hands or feet, making them appear disproportionally larger and
often bulbous. It would be wise to check that your sitter is happy to
be portrayed in this way!!
The first instinct with any lens is to take a horizontal or landscape format shot. This can often lead to a wide angle shot with the subject in the centre and little interest at the edges of the frame. I try to remember to look at the portrait format first. This often gives an imposing effect and makes the most of the subject and its surroundings. It's certainly worth trying a vertical wide angle first. I have rarely seen them in portfolios.
Composition When I first starting shooting with a 20mm wide angle I was very often disappointed when the slides came back. The subject was just too small in the frame and the composition looked flat. Wide angles make you work harder with composition, to ensure you have an interesting foreground, something in the middle ground and in the background. This gives a quality and depth to the image which takes a snapshot of a scene into something with 'wow' appeal. It means that you need to get in really close to your subject to make it imposing enough in the frame. Often this also means using a low viewpoint with the camera very close to the ground. I often use an anglefinder to avoid getting a crick in my neck - it's certainly cheaper than osteopath fees! Getting in close is relatively easy for flowers, architecture and other still subjects but can be a real challenge if animals and birds are your chosen subjects. Great care needs to be taken to maintain the welfare of subject and photographer, particularly if the beastie bites, pecks or stings.
Wide angles and remote wildlife photography Many photographers, myself included, use wide angle lenses with remote triggering devices, so birds and animals take their own pictures. There is a whole range of possibilities, from simple bulb air releases to infra red beam splitters and motion detectors to radio controlled triggers. There are many detailed discussions on such systems, on the internet one of the best being by Joe and Mary Ann MacDonald. http://www.hoothollow.com/DefaultAnswerJuneJuly.htm and of course the feature by David Pike on UKPhotographics.
The simplest way to trigger the camera however, is with a simple bulb air release that I have used on garden birds and more recently an extension cable for my electronic cable release using simple audio connectors. One of my projects for 2003 is to photograph the habituated red squirrels at Formby Point Nature Reserve with the 20mm lens and a radio trigger, so I can be hidden away from the squirrel as it comes into view having been baited into position. I will use a cuddly toy of a similar size and shape to frame up on and wait until my subject occupies the same space. There is no direct control over exposure, focus and framing with this method, but part of the excitement is not knowing what you have got until the film comes back (unless you are shooting digital of course). For more ideas on using remote cameras look at the links section at the end.
Typical depth of field for the Canon EF20mm f2.8 USM lens is available from the Canon museum website. A subject at 1m at an aperture of f8 provides over 1 1/2m of depth of field. The compromise is that many of animal and plant subjects I tend to shoot are just too small in the frame at 1m distance from the lens and I'm certainly not going to shoot some of them at very close quarters as this can cause stress of animal and photographer alike. Watch out for There are a few possible problems you need to be aware of when using a super wide angle lens. It is very easy to accidentally include your own feet or the legs of the tripod unless you frame up very carefully. There is the danger that, particularly when the light is coming over your shoulder very often you'll need to get so close to your subject that your own shadow or that of the camera or even the lens hood can be seen in the framed image. A poor matching or ill-fitting lens hood can also create shadowing at the edges of the frame. I learned this lesson the hard way not having realized that my EOS30 has a viewfinder coverage of 90% so the corner darkening could not be seen, until the slides came back. Take care also when using filters, stacking too many can cause a darkening at the corners of the frame, known as 'vignetting'. A useful tip for those who use square 'system' filters is to dispense with the filter holder entirely and rely on tiny blobs of blu-tac on the edge of the filter mount. I tend to only use 81a, polarisers and a gray grad on my super-wide angle. I haven't yet tried one of the warming polarisers but will be doing this year as I have found that some polarisers make the image rather too cool for my preference. In conclusion Links
|
