I've been photographing as a career for decades, have written a number of books about technical aspects of photography and also do it as a hobby. But I'm still trying to learn how to use ultra-wide angle lenses better. I know, we're supposed to put stuff in the foreground, etc. but my brain just doesn't see the logical answers to the visual puzzle with so much going on in the frame. But I bought one of those lenses wide angle lenses anyway. And now I'm trying to learn enough tricks to rationalize working with one. It's by no means my first wide angle but regardless of pedigree or specs the wide view still leaves me cold. Tips always welcome.
Anyway, here are the wide images I shot on my walk around the lake and through downtown today. Maybe we can salvage something? It is sharp and I don't see any real issues.... but.....
6 comments:
A couple of things that I just know you're interested to hear about:
I see the world in a UWA sort of way and really don't know what to do with anything much longer than "normal." Weird, huh?
I really like the life-size Jinga tower in Austin, The Independent I think it's called, but I'm also fascinated by, and think you should take more pictures of, the Frost Bank Tower. You know, the one that looks like the world's biggest Roach Clip.
What a gorgeous combination of color, contrast and definition of detail. In particular, the “looking up” shots 7,8, and 9....plus the garment rack. Stick with it; the compositions will begin to pop up like magic given time. Too bad I have neither the budget nor the endurance to lug such a rig around. But I do look forward to the recommended G9. Coming soon - as soon as I can sell a few more items.
This may sound weird, but as a purely hobby photographer, I would say your problem with wide angle is space. You have too much of it, especially in Texas. When I lived in Toronto, I wanted an Olympus 7-14mm lens. Houses in my little Italy area and down china town where tight. Then when I moved to DC area everything was far away. All I wanted was 40-150mm to bring things together. You may need to visit some where with tight perspective to make best use of a wide angle for your vision. Or change your vision and go for super wide close up macro shots. As making models look like witches is popular right?
I like the second and third image. The skyline across the water. Just my personal preference.
What David said about too much space is pretty spot on. I love UWAs but hardly ever use them – still, I usually carry one just in case. They are hard to wrap your head around, but try thinking of how to show spaces filling up, not just empty spaces. The first “up the building” view, with the other building just peeking in, and the sky splitting in different directions works well. It’s just full of depth cues. The other views up buildings and down fences are too busy, and allow to much stuff to intrude around the edges, instead of using little bits here and there to give depth cues without interfering with the composition. The view of buildings across the river works for me too, because there isn’t much UWA look, except for that nice, subtile hint of big space from the foreground water. The clothes rack might be the best example of what I meant about using space around the frame to give depth cues without messing with the otherwise unobtrusively wide composition. The bottom of the bridge is nice, too because it shows a regressing series of planes at different angles and distances.
David is right. Wide angles are not made for modern American cities. Too much space. On the other hand, in medieval European towns, they shine!
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