• Foundation 1507 posts
    March 24, 2024, 7:16 p.m.

    This subdivision of the site is for those who explore, or who wish to explore, wide angle photography. It is being created by members who have an interest in this genre.

    Wide angle lenses are usually defined in terms of full frame format as having a focal length less than 35mm, but we wont argue about the accuracy of that border!

    A scene that cannot be fit into the angle of a 35mm lens is what we are using as a working definition of wide angle photography.

    Wide angle lenses usually go down to 10mm focal length, beyond that they are usually called fisheye lenses, which can produce interesting effects.

    It is possible to take several photos and stitch them together to make a wide angle photo. Such photos are called panoramas and they are also of interest here. Normally panoramas are thought of as views of the countryside; but, with care, they can also be made of urban views.

    One of the problems of photographing large buildings, like cathedrals, both inside and out, is the inability to move far enough away to take in the whole building. The panorama technique can sometimes be used for these, though not often, and the alternative is to use a shift lens. This is a wide angle lens with a greater diameter than can be focussed on the sensor at one time. The lens is shifted so as to choose what part of its view will illuminate the sensor. In this way, one can effectively get more of the top of the building in the photo, while excluding uninteresting foreground.

    The intention of this subsection of the site is to discuss all the above techniques, equipment, software and more that are useful for the genre, with links to other relevant resources, and to provide a means of grouping together our wide angle photos. Please participate.

    Please be patient and allow us a few days to assemble a couple of basic threads and all will become clearer.

    DavidWien and NCV

  • edit

    Thread title has been changed from Introduction.

  • edit

    Thread title has been changed from Introduction to Wide Angle and Ultra wide-angle Photography.

  • Members 557 posts
    March 26, 2024, 6:41 p.m.

    This post is partly tongue-in-cheek, but also partly serious. 😐

    Being somewhat pedantic, shouldn't "Wide-angle and Ultra-wide-angle Photography" really be within the category "Photographic Techniques" rather than "Photographic Genres"?

  • Removed user
    March 26, 2024, 7:12 p.m.

    Interesting question!

    So it could said that "genre" is more about output rather than about methods by which such output is produced. Perhaps leave it under the genre category and change the title to e.g. 'Wide Angle Imaging' ...

  • Removed user
    March 26, 2024, 10:43 p.m.

    Imagine going much wider than wide. I vaguely recall someone on the other Sigma camera forum doing a fully spherical capture and posting it as like a Mercator projection!