http://www.digitalcameraworld.com AUGUST 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^59
CAMERA COLLEGEExtension distortion
Foreground details will be emphasised with a wide-angle lens
Using a wide-angle lens
successfully isn’t just about
including the whole scene; there’s
a risk that everything will appear
distant and your picture will look
empty. While this may work with
some images, to make your shots
stand out, you need to get in close
to exaggerate the perspective.
This is especially true with fish-eye
lenses, where anything more than
a few feet from the front element
will appear tiny.
There are a few compositional
tricks that you can use to make
the most of the enormous angle of
view. Look for foreground interest
and leading lines to give your
pictures a three-dimensional feel.
You’ll need to bear in mind the
distorting effects that come from
shooting close with a wide lens.
For instance, if you shoot a group
portrait with an extreme wide-
angle lens, the people close to
the camera will appear larger
than those in the background,
and those at the edges will
have their features distorted.Before
Moving close and pointing a
wide-angle lens upwards means
the building appears to be
leaning backwards. This effect
isn’t always undesirable, as it can
make the building appear taller.After
Using a tilt-shift lens such as one in
Nikon’s PC (Perspective Control)
range means that you can level the
camera to get straight verticals,
then ‘shift’ the lens upwards
to recompose the shot.Camera skills Correct converging verticals
How to fix your pictures of buildings
It’s often tricky to fit a subject
in while still keeping it a
reasonable size in the picture.
Wide-angle lenses allow you
to get close and squeeze
a lot in at the same time;
the trouble is that once
you angle the camera up or
down slightly to get the best
composition, any vertical
lines in the scene end up
being distorted. It’s a
common problem with shots
of buildings and architecture:
when you point the camera up
to get the full structure in, the
walls appear to point inwardsand the subject looks as
though it’s falling over.
There are several options
open to you, should you wish
to remove this ‘keystone’
effect. You can reduce the
effect in software, but this
means you’ll lose parts of
the image when the software
stretches it (something to
bear in mind when you
compose your shot). Second,
you may be able to stand
further back and use a longer
lens to flatten the perspective.
Third, you could use a tilt-shift
or ‘perspective control’ lens...Background
If you’re not fortunate to have
an interesting sky, look for
ways to fill any ‘dead’ space.Foreground interest
Taking a step forward can
make all the difference to
making the frame feel fuller.