UWA is not for getting it all in

Image via WikipediaI'm still learning with my Ultra Wide Angle. It can be quite an intimidating lens - it's not demure, genteel or anything like that. Well it is, if you use the bow tie third of it's range - the 12-14mm (24-28mm EFL). But the other third of it's range is emotional, passionate - the 7-9mm.

Here's what Ken Rockwell says about this kinda lens. 

I think there are two kinds of approaches (perspective is a heavily used word in photography).

You have to decide whether you are recording a scene without personal emphasis vs whether you are artistically interpreting and emphasising the scene for the benefit of the viewer.

Some people will say that to shoot the photo, you are already recording a perspective and an emphasis - it's the emphasis you record without explicitly agreeing that you have chosen an emphasis. And that is correct if you are awakened to your power as the photographer. To others, who don't think of themselves as photographers, they just want the scene "as is". Except that they are unaware that people "see" with different eyes, not to mention, from different heights and from different distances.

In this one below, I have decided to emphasise the two ducks, with the rocks and sky as very strong decorative elements. Yes, the ducks are real small but they are the point of the photo.

From Blackburn Lake

In the one below, yes, it's there but not quite there. I wanted to emphasise the retro-ness of the car, the large mudguards, the bulging headlights, the thread pattern on the tyre.

From Zuiko Digital 7-14mm

The one below is actually of a smal sportscar, a SMART. I wanted to emphasise the bulge of the bonnet.

From Zuiko Digital 7-14mm

This last one is scenic and calm and lonely to me. There is no particular shape or geometric emphasis of the bench or the buildings. But the sweep of the foreground grass strikes me as an emphasis. Because it is so quiet an emphasis, it is almost a bow-tie shot.

From Zuiko Digital 7-14mm