The Photographer's Eye: Graphic Guide

WIDE-ANGLE IMMERSIVE

Wide-angle lenses take more in from the scene. If you’re backed into a corner and still can’t get all that you want into the frame, you use a wider focal length. Simple. But using a wide-angle lens just functionally like this is to miss out on a more interesting effect. Lenses aren’t just about optics, they can also deliver sensation and impression, which ultimately will get you more attention from an audience. I’m not going to start talking about how human vision differs from lenses and photographs, but if you use a wide-angle lens from close, right in the thick of a busy scene, you’re doing what’s called “subjective camera.” In cinematography, this means taking the viewer into the experience of things, saying in effect ...