Ultra wide lens application

[jumanji]

Im curious what subjects do you usually shoot with an ultra wide lens, like a 65mm on 4x5 or 125mm on 8x10? Im about to use one and the only thing i can think about is interior. Is it too wide for landscape?

[Ari]

I like to shoot stuff near my home.

75 on 4x5:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8048/8389080425_31f56ca976_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/dMjekF)


115 on 8x10 (try to ignore the camera bed :))

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3680/9512186904_d1d3c24d7f_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/fuyrLu)


150 on 8x10:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5568/14913147085_c83429df94_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oHPM4B)

[mdarnton]

65mm on 5x7. It didn't even cover, but I wasn't disappointed:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/14174772411_f3dec08af5_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nAzpZM)

Adams St (https://flic.kr/p/nAzpZM)
by michael.darnton (https://www.flickr.com/people/118045067@N03/), on Flickr

[Jac@stafford.net]

I am nowhere near my stuff at the moment, but the 47mm f/5.6 Super Angulon works with 4x5"
. (http://www.digoliardi.net/super-wide-4x5-1.jpg)

[fishbulb]

Im curious what subjects do you usually shoot with an ultra wide lens, like a 65mm on 4x5 or 125mm on 8x10? Im about to use one and the only thing i can think about is interior. Is it too wide for landscape?

Most of the time, I think you are correct in that they are *most* useful for interiors, or for architecture in general. But they can certainly be used for landscape.

To me, landscape photography is all about layers. With ultra-wides, it can be difficult to organize a thoughtful layered composition because there is just so much in the scene. You often have to be creative about your compositions, and close to your subject, if you don't want just a big empty landscape.

That said, there are many times in landscape photography where an ultra-wide is useful - when you want to see the forest, but you are in the middle of it. When you are really close to a tall rock formation but want to capture it (say, inside a slot canyon, up against a waterfall, etc.). When you have a lighthouse, a sunset, a rock jetty and a tidepool and you want to get them all in the frame. When you've got a huge thermal pool in Yellowstone but the walkway goes right up next to it. When you're hiking along the edge of the Grand Canyon and want a sweeping shot that goes from your feet all the way to the rim on the other side of the canyon.

On view cameras, it's also important to note that you will usually need to bring along a bag bellows for most cameras with lenses 75mm and wider - in general. It depends on the camera. I can use a 75mm on my Sinar F with the regular bellows, but I have almost no movements at all until I switch to the bag bellows. The 90mm has a lot more movement, but still benefits from the bag bellows if I put it on. This adds to the extra stuff you have to bring along if you want to go ultra-wide.

[Lachlan 717]

I am nowhere near my stuff at the moment, but the 47mm f/5.6 Super Angulon works with 4x5"
. (http://www.digoliardi.net/super-wide-4x5-1.jpg)

The XL version covers 4x5"; the non-XL doesn't. (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?77654-Schneider-Super-Angulon-47mm-f5-6-verses-47mm-XL)

[Thomas Greutmann]

I use my 47XL Super Angulon quite often for landscape and architecture. In fact, is has become one of my most-used lenses.

Subjects that are particularly suited for ultra wide lenses are dynamic cloud patterns in landscapes, or dynamic (curved) shapes in architecture. In general, anything where you want to picture subjects from the very close foreground in an unusual relation with background subjects is something that calls for an ultra wide lens. It is not so much the wide angle that I like in these lenses but the depth of the image that they create.

Greetings, Thomas

[invisibleflash]

I used a 75mm Super Angulon on a Toyo for street shots. Loved it.

http://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?museum=&t=objects&type=exact&f=&s=printed&record=459

[Bill Burk]

I was going to suggest looking at what Bill Brandt did with ultra wide.

[IanG]

Ma Paardoes, a famous home brew pub with a 65mm SA on 5x4:

http://lostlabours.co.uk/Uploads/ma-pardoes1_sm.jpg

http://lostlabours.co.uk/Uploads/ma-pardoes2-sm.jpg

In the first image the man on the left drank the whole of his pint during the exposure :D

Another 5x4 65mm SA shot, Lydney Upper Forge, Forest of Dean:

http://lostlabours.co.uk/images/lydney.jpg

Ian

[jumanji]

Thanks all for your sharing. I'm still finding a nice subject for this first ultra wide shot.

[Roger Thoms]

Nana Sousa Dias, who is a member here, does excellent wide angle work. Many of his images are shot with a 47mm lens on 4x5.

http://photo.net/photos/nanasousadias

Roger

[Mark Stahlke]

I use ultra wide angle lenses when I want to push space into a scene as opposed to using a long lens to compress a scene.

These were shot with a 55mm Apo Grandagon on 4x5.
128461128462128463128464

[StoneNYC]

I use ultra wide angle lenses when I want to push space into a scene as opposed to using a long lens to compress a scene.

These were shot with a 55mm Apo Grandagon on 4x5.
128461128462128463128464

I'm really impressed with how those images come together, I feel like I would shoot that and it would look really wide in an uncomfortable and awkward way where the image would seem stretched somehow, or maybe that's the quality of the lens? But I would think it's probably the photographer skill, I just don't have the skill to shoot wide like you, pretty amazing, I especially like that first one.

[lenser]

For me, architecture, especially interiors; and some landscape particularly when wanting to emphasize near far relationships.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I'm really impressed with how those images come together, I feel like I would shoot that and it would look really wide in an uncomfortable and awkward

We're the images cropped to eliminate the awkward extremes!

[VictoriaPerelet]

Im curious what subjects do you usually shoot with an ultra wide lens, like a 65mm on 4x5 ..
People?
72mm xl
http://www.victoriasphoto.com/models/Tasha/big/t55-neg-1-f.jpg
47mm xl
http://www.victoriasphoto.com/models/Fenne/big/t55-1.jpg

http://www.victoriasphoto.com/models/Fenne/big/t55-6.jpg

[StoneNYC]

People?
72mm xl
http://www.victoriasphoto.com/models/Tasha/big/t55-neg-1-f.jpg
47mm xl
http://www.victoriasphoto.com/models/Fenne/big/t55-1.jpg

http://www.victoriasphoto.com/models/Fenne/big/t55-6.jpg

I feel like with your work, I've seen it before and it always seems to almost emphasize the stretched perspective, so I'm wondering if you have any work with these lenses that doesn't skew the models body? Just curious. And to be clear this is not a criticism, this is an observation of the style of your work.