APOY 2015 Round 3 – The Wider Perspective – Creative Wideangle

APOY Round 3 The Wider Perspective – Creative Wide Angle

Please visit the APOY 2015 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 pasted into an email entry.

Entries must be received by midnight (UK time) on 31 May 2015

The Wider Perspective (Creative wideangle) is the subject for the third round of APOY 2015. It should go without saying, but choosing the right lens for your scene is perhaps the most crucial factor 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 home the viewer’s attention into 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 and if you’d like some tips to set you on your way, then carrying on reading!

This month’s prize

Win a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM and a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Diagonal Fisheye lens

The Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM’s super-wideangle capability makes it a powerful tool for both indoor and landscape photography. It is designed to optimise results with DSLR cameras incorporating APS-C-sized imaging sensors. This lens is equipped with an inner focusing system, and the HSM design provides quiet, high-speed autofocus and manual focusing.

The winner will also receive a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX DG diagonal fisheye lens. This digitally optimised diagonal fisheye lens is equipped with multi-layer coating technology that reduces both flare and ghosting. This also ensures an accurate colour balance and high-definition results. With a minimum shooting distance of only 15cm (around 5.9in), this lens has a maximum magnification of 1:3.8. The close-focusing capability, together with a large depth of field, allow close-up photography that covers objects surrounding the photographic subject.

That’s a total prize value of £1,279.98 for APOY round three.

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

Cityscapes

Walk through any capital city and it’s difficult not to be blown away by the architecture. This is particularly true when you can gain access to a building that offers a sweeping view of the surroundings. A wideangle lens allows you to emphasise just how impressive the scene is. Above is Jarrod Castaing’s entry from APOY 2011. Jarrod was standing in the optimum position to include three roads in his shot. However, why not also try shooting city skylines? It’s a subject that benefits greatly from pan stitching.

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 Matteo Colombo’s entry from APOY 2011, for example. It’s a beautiful and quiet image, yet one that still shows you so much more than a telephoto lens could in this situation.

Landscapes

Wideangle lenses really are the ideal optic when you’re out there facing the sweeping vistas of the natural world. Where a telephoto lens will help you home in on the smaller details of a location, a wideangle will allow you to capture the epic scope of a scene. Wideangle lenses have a greater depth of field at any given aperture than telephotos, meaning you can include more sharp details in the fore, middle and background. This also means you can achieve front-to-back sharpness throughout your image without having to resort to ridiculously small apertures.

**Please visit the APOY 2015 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 pasted into an email entry.

Entries for APOY 2015 Round 3 The Wider Perspective must be received by midnight (UK time) on 31 May