Utilizing Wide Angle Lenses

Wide angle lenses can be an awesome addition to your professional photography equipment, however, there are a few misconceptions about this lens. A wide angle lens has a focal length less than 35mm. In terms of usage, most people assume the primary function of this lens is when you cannot step far enough away from the subject to encapsulate the entire shot. Although this is a way to use the lens, it's by no means the only reason you want to use one.  Sometimes "getting it all in" means you're going to include distracting objects on either side of your subject, thus diminishing the quality of the shot.

Wide angle lenses come in varying degrees of width. The wider the degree, the more the lens will exaggerate the relationship between near and far. They will push back the background while pulling near objects even closer. However, do not confuse this with fisheye lenses, which distort and curve everything.

As I mentioned before, you might think you have to be far away to use these lenses. But in reality, you'll get very impressive shots the closer you are to the subject, like very very close! The subject will be front and center and your eyes won't be pulled away into different directions because of the objects on either side of the photograph. Be wary of what objects are in the corner of your frame. A wide angle lens is going to create a huge depth-of-field, so ensure there isn't anything distracting in the photograph.