Using Foreground Interest With a Wide Angle Lens in Landscape Photography

Wide angle lenses are the bread and butter workhorses for most landscape photographers, but they come with their own considerations to make successful images. This helpful video shows how adding an object of foreground interest can complete a wide angle shot.

Coming to you from Mike Perea Photography, this great video shows the importance of considering foreground elements when working with a wide angle lens in landscape photography (though really, the principle applies when using such a lens in any genre). Wide angle lenses are great for capturing a lot of a scene, but the problem is that they essentially push distant subjects away. This is why a grand scene of distant mountains or the like can look great in person but rather underwhelming when captured with a wide angle lens and with no visual interest near the lens. Adding a foreground element corrects this issue. But beyond solving that problem, a properly placed foreground element can lead the viewer's eye into the image and to whatever grand subject you have in the background, creating a strong sense of depth. Check out the video above for the full rundown.

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out "Photographing the World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing!"

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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Yawn!