Changing perspective - how to make small look big.

A Resort in Golden, BC; left - 16 mm close to stairs.  right - 35 mm away from stairs.

You can alter the relationship between the foreground, subject, and background of a scene by changing the focal length of the lens and your position relative to the foreground.  A good example of this is in the pair of shots above.  I used an ultra-wide lens on my full frame camera for the left shot.  I set it to 16 mm (which is equivalent to about 11 mm on an aps-c sensor camera).  I also was very close to the stairs, in fact only a foot away or so.  Wide-angle lenses, especially ultra-wides, cause distortion and make the foreground look larger relative to the background.

In order to capture the image on the right, I backed up quite a distance (about 15 feet or so) and zoomed in.  With the focal length now at 35 mm the foreground was considerably smaller than before, and the background seemed to magically grow in size.  In order to fully understand the effect, notice that the bottom stair in both shots is the same.  There are four steps on the left and four on the right.  These are the same stairs.  They look so different because of the change in focal length and position.

Although brand-name full-frame ultra-wide lenses are expensive, third party ultra wides for aps-c sensor cameras are very reasonably priced.  For example, Nikon's 16 - 35 mm ultra-wide lens for full frame cameras runs around $1,500 while Sigma's 10 - 20 mm for aps-c sensor cameras costs around $530.  The Sigma lens has a relative focal length (compared to a full-frame camera) of 15-30 mm, so the Sigma lens provides a very similar field of view to the Nikon, with a tiny bit more at the long end.  However, for the economically minded, the Sigma lens represents a savings of 65% and is also much smaller and lighter.

One of the big questions to ask yourself in acquiring such a lens is, "How much will I use it?"  Spending a small fortune on an awesome lens may not be justified if it is going to sit at home in your camera bag most of the time.  Although I love brand name lenses and have never been disappointed, their cost is often prohibitive.  I get around this by buying them used, although there is a risk in that.

You will find an ultra-wide angle lens will be a welcome addition to your arsenal.  It is an especially great lens for landscapes and architecture shots.  I love how you can manipulate foreground and background relationships.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com