Friday 26 October 2012

Why Shooting At 24mm Is Ideal

By Amy Renfrey


Have you ever wondered what is so special about taking pictures in 24mm? Or, have you ever thought about what focal length is nice for landscape scenes is but in no way been completely sure what it is? The fact is that there are many angles you can quite easily photograph at. Each time you zoom in or out, you will be affecting the total appearance and sense of your photo. Let's look more directly at the 24mm angle. Why is it so good?

There are many wonderful things about taking pictures at 24mm. I use a Canon photographic lens at 24mm for landscape scenes. The best 24mm lens is one that will be likely to continuously give you with an adequate range or width. Any Canon 24mm lens (or Nikon 24mm lens) tends to eliminate the awful "bulging" that comes with subjects photographed too close with the ultra wide lenses. If you don't know what this means, simply head to the Internet and search for a few wide angle photographs of tall structures taken up close with lenses a lesser amount of than 17mm. In some landscape photography situations it can work fine, and in others it can't. Sometimes, when you photograph at an ultra wide viewpoint, the landscape you are shooting can look like it's bending in the middle. If this occurs, then why not try taking pictures at 24mm?

When photographing landscape photos we want to take aim for "wide", but not "bending" in the heart, as some ultra wide angle lenses can create. This is where the wonderful 24mm focal length comes in. It produces a large scene without looking unnatural or over widening effect at the center of the photo. Not only is it a good overall length to shoot at, but you may shoot at 24mm to shoot panoramas. What I mean is 24mm makes for a beautiful single image AND it can be an ideal shooting length to stitch multiple single photos together to create a panorama.

You see if you took a handful of pictures captured at 17mm or less, and stitched them as one, you may indeed see an awkward bulge. This is what occurs when ultra wide images are stitched to make an individual panorama. Unless you are trying to create a fisheye effect it will not work well. When shooting with 24mm this dreadful outcome does not happen. We are left with a wide angle perfect for for an individual photo and just right to generate a series of images for a panorama.

To get a good idea of the quality of the average 24mm wide angle lens, ask yourself does the photo have a sensible perspective? For example, do you notice any unnatural warping or bulging in the horizon or the length of the foreground? No, we can't. That is usually a sign that the 24mm focal length is just right for the purpose.

Is this 24mm lens generally "wide enough"? Yes it is. And the beauty about this focal length is that we can bring three single images at 24mm and create a gorgeous panoramic scene. Some lenses that are ultra wide, such as the 17mm or less, can bulge a composite too much.

You can photograph a succession of photos taken from the same perspective and using a tripod to ensure good results. Then use Panorama Maker Pro 6 photo editing software to merge or stitch the shots together into a sole frame. You will discover that 24mm is ideal because it does not bulge the panorama in the middle as a 17mm series of photos would.

Once you stitch your 24mm photo succession together then examine if the image is effective because of the extra scenery at the edges. The answer is going to be relative because it has to do more with individual preference and the intention of the photographer.

Once you have stitched a handful of 24mm photos together to produce a sole panorama, sit back, and take a good look at it. You will find that it looks like a realistic scene.




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