Despite the deep depth-of-field offered by the wide-angle lenses, you can still create shots where the foreground is sharp and the background is blurred. Opening up the lens aperture fully and moving in close to the subject will produce this effect. By closing down the aperture, you can bring both near foreground and distant background into sharp focus. These flexible features are the special attractions of using wide-angle lenses. To shoot portraits in a natural setting, a close-up of the subject will also allow you to include the background for a more natural photo. The close focusing characteristics of these lenses make it possible to shoot close-ups of small objects such as flowers, with a different feeling than those shot with a macro lens, including their ambience. Wide-angle lenses are indispensable for news event like this (EF 28-80mm) Glamour and fashion photography as well (EF 28-70L USM) Exaggerated perspective distortion for this carvings (35mm) Greater depth-of-field for extended zone of focus (EF 22-55mm) Another display of a wide-angle focal length's exaggeration Special effect with a fast wide-angle lens (EF 28mm USM) Available light shooting with the EF 28mm f/1.8 USM City landscape shot with the EF 24mm f/2.8 AFD Of course, wide-angle lenses are also a great choice for such applications as indoor snapshots, group photographs and landscapes. Another feature of single focal length wide-angle lenses is that they are not very much affected by the distortion, making them the best choice for shots of buildings. Wide-angle lenses are especially compact. Their large maximum aperture settings are particularly well suited to indoor photography or night scenes using existing light. Because of their short focal length, it is possible to avoid blurred pictures at speeds as slow as 1/8 second during hand-held shooting. This advantage allows you to shoot in natural light without using a flash at events such as weddings, birthdays and similar parties. In the EF line-up, Canon has six wide-angle lenses, they are the EF 24mm f/1.4L USM, EF 24mm f/2.8 AFD, EF 28mm f/1.8 USM, EF 28mm f/2.8 AFD, EF 35mm f/1.4L USM and the EF 35mm f/2.0 AFD. And there are about a dozen or more zoom lenses having the wide-angle focal lengths in the designs, from the budget-priced types for beginners to the L-series versions for advanced amateurs and professionals. The fast aperture lenses, like the EF 24mm f/1.4L USM, EF 28mm f/1.8 USM and the EF 35mm f/1.4L USM, are the favorites among press photographers and photojournalists. How to use the super wide-angle and wide-angle lenses effectively I think most of the Canon EOS users and other photo enthusiasts alike already know what these lenses can do for their photography. So, basically I am going to show how to use both the super wide-angle and wide-angle lenses to create unusual images out of ordinary- looking subjects. As these lenses are well known to exaggerate the perspectives of the subjects, it is a case of how to combine this tendency to create the images you see in this page. Some of the actual subjects may be dull-looking in reality but it is the vision of the photographer who makes the difference in producing the great images using the equipment he/she has. A streetlight among the shadows (20mm) Shadows of flag poles (24mm) Tree branches and buildings (20mm) Parking lot for bikes (24mm) I don't know why I shot the first picture (above), anyway. As the streetlight itself is already black and covered in shadows, it doesn't really make for a good shot but just adds to the mystery. The shadows of the flagpoles were a different story. It was nothing interesting to look at, really but having it recorded on film made it an interesting shot. As for the tree branches, they were added to give a feeling of size between them and the buildings in the background. As for the bikes, the exaggerated nature of the wide-angles made them bigger than the building in the background. Chinese New Year decorations (20mm) Car and commercial complex (24mm) Road sign against Telekom Tower (28mm) Streetlights against UBN Tower (17mm) The Chinese lantern closest to the camera was recorded as the biggest among the three. The perspective distortion of the wide-angle lens made it possible to shoot it this way. The white car was also exaggerated, where it made a stark contrast against the commercial complex behind it. The 28mm focal length created an interesting angle for the road sign against the Telekom Tower in the background. At 17mm, the UBN Tower's rooftop became a cone-like shape instead. As for KLCC Suria and the Petronas Twin Towers below, there is no need to explain further as the dramatic angles shown already gave you an idea of how they were all recorded on film. Streetlight and Petronas Twin Towers (35mm) Streetlight and Petronas Twin Towers (17mm) Streetlight, Twin Towers and KLCC (20mm) Inside KLCC Suria (20mm) Text and photos by Philip Chong. Copyright 2000 by Canon Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd. << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 .