Macro photography often brings to mind extreme close-ups and tight compositions, but what happens when you pair it with a wide angle lens? This setup offers a new perspective, giving your images context by incorporating the surroundings. Understanding how and when to use a wide angle macro can help you capture more dynamic and story-driven shots.
Coming to you from Andrew Lanxon Photography, this captivating video explores the use of a 24mm wide angle macro lens. Lanxon explains that while traditional macro lenses like his usual 100mm are great for isolating details, they can miss out on the environmental context. By contrast, the 24mm lets you see the subject in relation to its surroundings, making it ideal for nature scenes like the woodlands he visits in the video. Lanxon demonstrates this technique by getting low to the ground and capturing mushrooms from unique angles, creating a sense of scale and place that a longer lens couldn’t achieve.
The key takeaway is the versatility of a wide angle macro. Lanxon shows how you can get both the foreground subject and background elements in one shot without losing sharpness or focus. By using focus stacking and supplemental lighting, he ensures each part of the mushroom and its environment is captured crisply. This approach works particularly well when shooting in low light or shaded areas, as the wide aperture helps maintain clarity and reduce noise, something Lanxon notes is more challenging with traditional macro lenses.
Another useful tip Lanxon shares is how to manage your shooting environment. While capturing mushrooms in damp, uneven woodland, he brings along a plastic shopping bag to kneel on, keeping himself and his gear dry. It’s a practical solution for situations where you might be lying low or positioning your camera close to the ground. Lanxon’s setup—switching between natural light and an LED panel—also shows how small adjustments can dramatically change the look and feel of a shot.
Lanxon uses the wide angle lens to create diverse compositions, from classic overhead shots to dramatic low-angle perspectives. One standout example is when he places the camera almost on the ground to capture a mushroom’s underside, utilizing the LED light to highlight details hidden from the ambient light. This technique emphasizes the mushroom’s texture and structure in a way that feels immersive and unique to the wide-angle view.
In contrast, Lanxon also switches to his 100mm macro lens to show how changing focal lengths alters the shot’s impact. The longer lens compresses the scene, bringing distant elements closer, which works well for isolating specific details. While both lenses have their strengths, Lanxon finds that the wide angle setup offers a more engaging experience by keeping the subject connected to its environment. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Lanxon.
If you would like to continue learning about macro photography, be sure to check out "Mastering Macro Photography: The Complete Shooting and Editing Tutorial With Andres Moline!"
