I’m sharing five simple tips to improve your wide angle lens photography so you can create more powerful photos!
For those of you who are familiar with my photos, you’ll know that a lot of my photos are taken with a wide angle lens. I have the Canon 16-35mm lens on my Canon 6D mkii. This lens practically lives on my DSLR camera body and I love it! I also have the Canon 10-18mm for my crop sensor Canon 70D along with the Rokinon 14mm for astrophotography.
Now, to be completely honest, I didn’t start off being good at wide angle lens photography. In fact, to be frank, I sucked!
Check out this terrible shot from my newbie photographer days:
Not very compelling is it?
What’s great is now that I’ve been in the game for a few years now, I can easily see what I’ve done wrong in the past. Now, when I go out and take wide angle photos, I typically run through these 5 things to ensure I come away with a powerful photo and those tips are what I’ll be sharing with you today! Let’s get started!
1// Draw the Eye In
What stands out most about this photo here?
If you guessed that it’s the bridge, you’re 100% right! Drawing your viewer’s eye in from the foreground will bring their attention to where you lead it. So, in this instance here, I’ve intentionally composed my shot from the middle of the bridge to draw my viewers in to the island.
It’s the same exact story with this photo here:
The raised walkway in the foreground leads the viewer’s eye towards the path and ultimately to the sun setting in the sky.
So, to quickly summarize, drawing the eye in from the foreground is one sure way to improve your wide angle lens photography. I feel like you’re nodding your head in excitement now! Yes? Perfect! Let’s move on.
2// Interest
Wide angle lenses are just that – WIDE. So, when we’re taking a photo, there’s going to be lots of information in the foreground, especially when our cameras are tilted down a bit.
Because we’re capturing so much in the foreground, it’s important to have some interest in the foreground!
Check out this photo here:
I could just stare at those odd icecap mushroom formations all day! The point is, they’re interesting. Having some foreground interest is much better than a boring bland foreground like this shot here:
What the heck was I thinking! I don’t even know!
For inspiration on how to improve your landscape photography, check out this awesome post: 10 Tips to Make Your Landscape Photos Stand Out
3// Think Midground
Great photos keep the viewer’s eye moving through the image and tell the whole story of a scene.
In order to do this, try to include a mid-ground along with your foreground and background in your scene like this example here:
See how the water in the foreground leads to the line of trees in the mid-ground before heading off towards the mountain in the background? Not only does it tell the whole story but it connects all elements of the photo together. Because of this, the photo feels cohesive and complete.
An easy way to incorporate the mid-ground in a photo is to stand on higher ground and look down towards your scene, like this cityscape:
We’re on a roll. Onto the next tip!
4// Take a Step
Sometimes we don’t spend enough time scoping out the scene before setting up the tripod and taking the shot. I’m definitely guilty of that! When this happens, I find I’m kicking myself afterwards for not taking one step to the left or right in order to remove a distraction from the scene or just simply compose the scene a little bit better.
Thank goodness I reminded myself to take a step for this photo though:
See how the rocks in the foreground nicely lead to the mountain reflection in the water? Notice how they don’t impede with the reflection at all either! Well here’s what the original composition looked like:
The top photo is way better right!? So, always take those extra five seconds to have a look around and see if you can move to the right or left to improve your composition.
5// Frame the Scene
With wide angle lenses, a lot of information is captured in the foreground and the sky. So, if we don’t have the most interesting foreground or sky, framing a scene can work great like this shot here:
Sometimes all you have to do is take a step back, and crouch down beside some grasses or look up and include maple leaves from the branch above.
Creating a frame holds the viewers attention in the middle and stops the eye from wandering away from the scene.
And there we have it! Five Simple Tips to Improve Your Wide Angle Lens Photography. If you’re a beginner in DSLR photography and you’re looking for more tips to improve your skills, make sure to sign up for our FREE 8 Essential DSLR Photography Tips for Beginners.
Click here to sign up for the FREE 8 Essential DSLR Photography Tips for Beginners!
Now pack your camera bag and let’s get out there and play!