APOY 2016 Round 2: Wide Angle – Width of a Circle (creative wide angle)

***Please visit the APOY 2016 home page to find all the rules for entry, terms and conditions, the APOY ENTRY EMAIL ADDRESS and the disclaimers that must be copied and past into an email entry.

Entries must be received midnight (UK time) on 1 May 2016

Width of a Circle (creative wideangle) is the subject for the second round of APOY 2016. Choosing the right lens for your scene is perhaps one of the most crucial factors in producing a successful image. The appropriate focal length can serve to obscure as much as it can reveal. For example, a telephoto lens can pull the viewer’s attention in to the subject by removing any extraneous details that may serve to distract the eye.

However, for this round we want you either to restrict yourself to using a wideangle lens or, if you’re feeling brave, try your hand at producing a panoramic view. Any subject is acceptable. You can shoot landscapes, cityscapes, still life or street photography. You could even try using your wideangle lens to bring a little something extra to a portrait photograph. You can find appropriate subjects everywhere. As always, we have excellent prizes to give away.

This month’s prize

The Sigma dp1 Quattro incorporates the Foveon X3 direct image sensor, which is similar to traditional colour film in that its multiple layers capture all the information that visible light transmits. Along with Sigma’s proprietary image-processing technology, this sensor produces incredible resolution, precise gradation, gorgeous colour and realism with a 3D feel. In other words, full-bodied image quality. The dp1 Quattro incorporates a 19mm f/2.8 (equivalent to a 28mm lens on a 35mm SLR) high-performance wideangle lens, which is optimised for the Quattro sensor to maximise the sensor performance. The camera body offers a balanced shape, layout and weight distribution.

The winner will also receive a VF-31 optical viewfinder for the dp1 Quattro. This viewfinder offers a framing guide without the use of the colour LCD, meaning accurate framing that is not affected by external light.

That’s a total prize value of £1,079.98 for round two of APOY 2016.

We take a look at some tips and tricks to set you on your way to shooting creative wideangle

Different Scenes

Not every image taken with a wideangle has to be an epic landscape. You can focus on something a little more unusual, as in this shot from APOY 2015 taken by Stuart Brown. Stuart used the wideangle lens to emphasise and exaggerate the features of this basset hound, a visual trick further helped by the fact that Stuart has shot from a low angle.

Pan Stitches

Pan stitches (or panoramas) are fun to produce. Place your camera on a tripod on a flat surface. Set your camera to manual, including the focus. Then pan your image from end to end, making sure you take a picture at certain increments. You may find you have a number of shapes you can use as guides, but you should also make sure there is some overlap as this makes it easier when stitching your images together later. Then, using Photoshop’s Photomerge function, you can produce your panorama.

Small Scenes

We’ve emphasised how a wideangle lens and panoramas can be used to bring out the impressive scale of a scene, but you can also use your wideangle lens to focus on the more intimate details you come across. Take David Scrivener’s entry (above) from APOY 2015, for example. It shows us a view of the world we would never normally see and demonstrates how a wideangle can be used to real creative effect.

Landscapes

Wideangle lenses are the ideal optic when you’re out facing the sweeping vistas of the natural world. While a telephoto lens lets you home in on the details of a location, a wideangle will allow you to capture a much more expansive view. Wideangle lenses have a greater depth of field at any given aperture than telephotos, so you can include more sharp details in the fore, middle and background. You can also achieve front-to-back sharpness without resorting to ridiculously small apertures.

***Please visit the APOY 2016 home page to find all the rules for entry, terms and conditions, the APOY ENTRY EMAIL ADDRESS and the disclaimers that must be copied and past into an email entry.

Entries must be received midnight (UK time) on 1 May 2016