How and what do you photograph with a super wide lens? I find it so difficult.

[Steven Lee]

rectilinearly correct

Never cared. Never will. I can bend any image to be anything I want it to be, but as I said earlier, a wide angle lens can't make an image worth bending. Not with my average level of talent. The SWC collection on Flickr is the proof. Rectiliniearycorrectness doesn't stop it from sucking.

 

[beemermark]

I love superwide lenses 21mm and wider. Just keep the horizon in the center
.

 

[images39]

Interesting topic. I rarely use very wide lenses. But there was one time that I could have really used one. I had seen photos of "Flat Rock" in Torrey Pines State Park, north of San Diego. I thought it looked unique, and wanted to get there some day to photograph it in black and white, maybe with some long exposures. Here's what it looks like (this is not my image):



So... I finally got there a couple of years ago, and got in position (there's not much leeway in terms of how far back you can stand, due to the rock formation behind you). Then I realized that I didn't have a wide enough lens to get the framing that I needed. I had a 35mm lens on my Mamiya 645. That's the widest I have for medium format (and it might be the widest that Mamiya made for that camera). Went all that way, specifically for that shot, and was stuck without a wide enough lens. I was too close to the rock to get a good composition. Oh well...

Dale

 

[Pieter12]

Sometimes you want that perspective (a tribute to Ed Ruscha).

21mm equivalent

 

[Kino]

My first outing with the 30mm Arsat on the Kiev 88. Nothing great but fun to shoot...

 

[Sirius Glass]

My first outing with the 30mm Arsat on the Kiev 88. Nothing great but fun to shoot...

View attachment 363397 View attachment 363398 View attachment 363399

The more that you use it, the more you will learn how to take advantage of it. If you were to take a photograph of a natural rock formation which does not have 90 degree angles or regular forms on it, one would not know that the photograph was taken with a fisheye lens, for example.

The same goes for the SWC. The more one uses it, the more one learns how to take advantage of it. It takes experience and knowledge to appreciate and use the rectilinear optics of the SWC.

 

[grain elevator]

I cannot offer any advice or suggestions, other than share that I am in the same boat. IMO only very few talented photographers can shoot with wide angle lenses. The rest of us are stuck producing wide-angled garbage or repeating the same 2-3 templates like "one large object in the foreground with a grand view behind it" or "intentionally exaggerated perspective".

I have this page bookmarked. Every time I get hit with an SWC GAS attack, I open it and the pressure goes away.

[EDIT] I guess I can offer some advice: have a quick way to remind yourself of mediocrity commonly produced by wide angle lenses to make yourself feel better.

I wanted to say that I did a double take when I read the beginning of your answer: Had I replied to this thread before?
Than again, I followed the link to the swc group and I'm pleasantly surprised, about 1 in 10 among the first couple dozen pictures make good use of the wide angle IMHO.