A wide-angle lens lets you fit a lot of the scene into your photos, and that is why they are popular with landscape photographers. However, you don’t have to be a landscape photographer to benefit from a wide-angle lens. You can use them to take portraits, create sweeping shots and more.
Photography is all about creating depth, and that’s exactly what a wide-angle lens does. It makes the foreground appear more prominent and the background recede, creating a sense of space that’s more three-dimensional than two-dimensional.
While telephoto lenses can help you create depth, they’re less effective at it than wide-angle lenses are. So if you want to add dimension to your landscapes, take the time to find a wide-angle lens and get creative.
The best wide-angle lenses have fast focusing, excellent optical quality and great performance in low lighting conditions. You’ll also love the versatility of wide-angle lenses in terms of focal lengths and zooming options.
A high-quality wide-angle lens from a reputable DSLR camera brand can be a valuable investment. These premium lenses typically fetch decent resale values as well, and can be purchased for a fraction of the price of similar telephoto lenses.
Canon 16mm f/2.8 STM
The Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM is an excellent wide-angle lens, perfect for everyday use and providing reliable performance. It features a fast maximum aperture for shooting in low light, a ring-type ultrasonic motor for fast and accurate autofocus, and a Glass Molded aspherical lens element to minimize aberrations and enhance image quality.
It’s also waterproof and dustproof, so it’s perfect for outdoors.
For landscapes, the XF 8-16mm f/2.8 R LM WR is a good choice. It’s compact, lightweight and features a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture for excellent performance in low light and a range of focal lengths to suit your needs.
One of the most interesting uses for a wide-angle lens is in low-level portraits, where you can create a unique perspective that’s not possible with a telephoto or zoom lens. If you shoot at ground level and up close, you can make a cactus or corncob seem huge in the frame, which can make for some very cool photos.
Another interesting effect is the way that wide-angle lenses can bring leading lines into your compositions. Lines of trees, rivers, bridges and fallen logs can be a great way to draw the viewer into your photograph.
When shooting with an ultra-wide-angle lens, it’s important to maintain a level camera position in order to avoid distortion that can detract from your photographs. This is because moving the camera up or down, and even tilting it left or right can introduce a degree of distortion to your shot.
To reduce the appearance of distortion in your wide-angle images, it’s a good idea to set your camera to Aperture Priority mode. This lets you adjust the amount of depth of field that you want in the scene, letting you control the amount of detail that will be in focus.
