Capturing the vastness and beauty of landscapes requires the right tools, and a wide-angle lens is a game-changer for any photographer. In this comprehensive guide, we'll cover techniques to make the most out of your wide-angle lens for landscape photography, from utilizing lens distortion to creating a story that draws the viewer in.
Embrace the Wide Angle Lens Distortion
The true power of a wide-angle lens begins with embracing its distortion capabilities. When shooting, get up close – so close that you may question the proximity. This closeness adds a dynamic element to your photos, creating a sense of immersion. To accentuate distortion, experiment by setting your camera up above your subject and pointing down.
These aspens already have a really feature. By getting low, I made sure the curve of the tree was framed in the outside of the curved lens, really leaning into the lens distortion and accentuating the curve in the aspens.
By getting low and tilting down, I turned this six foot tall rock structure into a mountain. The wide angle lens distortion helps our foreground by stretching the top of the rock and creating deep crevices from shallow cracks on the bottom.
Get Closer
When using a wide-angle lens, getting close to your subject is key. As you inch closer, be aware of the hyperfocal distance, that sweet spot where everything from foreground to infinity is in sharp focus. You might find yourself so close that your camera struggles to focus, but that’s ok! Lean into it and keep the closest part of the foreground slightly out of focus—this closeness adds a dramatic feel to your shots.
Turning Small Objects into Heroes
Use your wide-angle lens to magnify and emphasize ordinary subjects into focal points that become the hero of the image. Combining the first two tips, getting close and utilizing the distortion, will be the magic formula to helping you achieve this look.
Setting up slightly above and pointing down really stretches those small salt ridges and extends to grab the viewer and pull them into the image. With this angle, the lens is stretching the salt ridges and reflection pool, making those features more prominent. At the same time, the middle of the wide angle lens squeezes the mid ground and takes away attention to what would have been a distracting feature since our hero of the image is helped to stand out by the featureless mid ground.
These primrose were no more than a few inches tall. By getting close, I setup above and tilted my wide angle lens downward to stretch the wildflowers and shrink the Joshua Tree to make a more cohesive composition.
Capturing Grand Scenes in a Single Frame
While the edges of the lens distort and stretch subjects, the center of the frame squeezes everything together allowing us to capture the vast landscapes into a single frame. Strategically using the center of your lens to compact different parts of the scene will help pull different perspectives together to one cohesive scene.
This pond took up a large portion of the area in front of me, but by placing it in the exact middle, the pond is minimized as much as possible while the outside area gets stretched to make for a well balanced composition.
I climbed up on a rock to allow me to be higher and put the middle foregournd in the middle of the lens to help squeeze that together, while the mountain and person are stretched to help make that part of the image the hero.
By tilting down, I was able to stretch the staircase and at the same time squish the staircase and cliff to pull all the elements into a well balanced frame.
Mastering Depth of Field
Focus Stacking for Ultimate Detail
For landscapes that demand maximum detail, try using the focus stacking technique. Create a seamless blend of multiple shots with different focus points to ensure every detailed is tack sharp throughout the image.
I only had to use to different focus stacked images, one on the front rock and the second on the waterfall. Leaving either feature out of focus was distracting and the details of the front rock help anchor the entire image.
If you have a newer camera with automatic focus stacking (focus shifting on Nikon), that feature will be your best friend when photographing cacti. This was 20 different images with different focus points all blended together to maximize the details. I was actually so close, my camera wouldn't focus (and that little cholla attached itself to my carbon fiber tripod 🤯).
This was just three images focus stacked, but without using this method, the bottom third rock would have been out of focus, losing the value those textured rocks have of leading the eye into the image. If the arch would have been out of focus, my hero would be out of focus and we always want to avoid that. If the mountains in the background are out of focus, I can't blend a detailed Milky Way sky into the image.
But sometimes there is a time when everything does not have to be in focus...
Bokeh Magic in Foreground/Background
Create magical compositions by playing with bokeh in both the foreground and the background. This technique adds a dreamy quality to your shots, emphasizing the main subject while maintaining a beautifully blurred background. This allows your hero to really stand out while still being able to tell the story, even with surrounding areas blurry.
Leaving the foreground out focus, the story of a Swiss town full of colorful flowers is still told. Sometimes leaving more to the imagination is better. If I chose to have the flowers in focus, the story told would be colorful flowers in a Swiss town.
Having only the foreground in focus, the hero of out image really stands out. Leaving the mid ground and mountain slightly out of focus still shows the scene without pulling any attention away from the cactus.
Telling a Story Through Wide Angles
Wide-angle lenses are powerful storytellers. They excel at highlighting heroes, standouts, and moments of isolation that grab the attention of your audience. Use this capability to tell narratives that engage and pull the viewers in, making your photographs more than just images—they become stories frozen in time.
Using distortion, I stretched the layers that lead you right into the red rocks of the desert and the leaves of the fern, while keeping the subject in the middle to help squeeze that area together to really accentuate the scaling.
Capturing the Vast Milky Way Sky
A wide-angle lens is your ticket to capturing the expansive Milky Way and night sky. On top of being able to capture a large portion of sky, the wider the focal length, the longer we can open our shutter speed without star trailing or using a tracker, which translates to being able to use a lower ISO, resulting in higher quality Milky Way photos.
If you use blue hour blends or sky replacements, give your sky bank a boost—the next time you photograph the Milky Way, take 4 different orientations: Landscape with Milky Way on the left, Landscape with Milky Way in middle, Landscape with Milky Way on the right and portrait orientation of the Milky Way. Now you’ll have different Milky Way skies to choose from which will make sky replacing much easier.
Conclusion
Mastering landscape photography with a wide-angle lens opens up a world of creative possibilities. From getting close to turning small objects into heroes, capturing grand scenes, and exploring depth of field, each technique adds a layer of complexity to your shots. Remember, the key is not just in capturing landscapes but in telling stories that linger in the minds of your audience.
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