How To Use A Wide Angle Lens With Macro?

While a macro lens captures the fine details of the subject, a wide-angle lens conveys the tale of the person or thing being photographed. It’s no surprise that people are interested in wide-angle macro photography.

The finer features of the subject are brought out more clearly by macro lenses with medium to long focal lengths. However, in doing so, they restrict everyone’s perspective to solely that of the subject matter. Have you ever observed that when you photograph little things with a wide-angle macro lens against a beautiful background, the subjects appear to be much larger?

That is why individuals seek wide-angle macro lenses, yet others are baffled as to how to combine a wide-angle lens with macro photography in general. This essay is intended to be of assistance to those individuals, and it will give some vital guidelines for excellent wide-angle macro photography in general.

So, how to use a wide angle lens with macro?

When focusing near to the subject, the macro lens offers an advantage over wide-angle lenses, which have a larger field of vision. Adding extension tubes between lenses, such as the Canon EF 12, or the FUJIFILM Macro Extension Tube MCEX-11, can allow you to capture some incredible photos.

What Does A Wide Angle Macro Lens Do?

If you want to take close-up shots using a wide-angle lens, you may use a wide-angle macro lens. An extension tube may be used to attach the two lenses together, while some photographers choose to utilize the wide-angle lens alone to create closed-up shots.

Wide-Angle Macro: The Essential Guide

Following your first successful macro image with your wide-angle lens, you’ll be a lifelong admirer of this kind of photography. In this section, I’ll explain how to photograph using a wide-angle lens and a macro lens.

Lenses for Wide-Angle Macro Photography

There are a variety of wide-angle macro lenses available, such as the.43x wide-angle lens with macro or the 0.45x wide-angle lens with macro, that may be used in conjunction with lenses of specified focal lengths, for example.

You may, however, do the task using any wide-angle zoom or prime lens that is readily available. Even if there is a difference in quality, it’s clear since certain lenses are just better than others, isn’t it?

The gap between the closest focus and the lens’s focal length is the most important issue to consider. The distance between the sensor plane and the subject is referred to as the sensor plane to subject distance. You may be able to find the information you need in the spec sheets. It is preferable if the minimum focus distance does not exceed 30 centimeters.

Prime vs Zoom Lens

When it comes to wide-angle macro photography, prime lenses produce far superior results than zoom lenses. All you need to do is choose a larger thread length, which will allow you to get closer to the subject and concentrate better.

Although not ideal, zoom lenses aren’t completely useless, especially if you’re the kind that enjoys seeing the variety of images taken at various focal lengths. On the other hand, I would not advocate utilizing a zoom lens with a broad focal range since it will not be able to maintain the vast field of vision.

The optimum zoom for wide-angle macro photography would be a lens with a maximum zoom of 2x, such as the 16-35mm or the 10-20mm, or a lens with a comparable focal length. Because of the complicated mechanism and construction of these lenses, they are slightly more expensive than the kit zooms.

Selection of Extension Tubes

The other method of achieving wide-angle macro photography is to use extension tubes between the lenses you are using. It is, in essence, a metal ring that is inserted between an interchangeable lens and the sensor of your digital camera.

When it comes to choosing extension tubes, the rule of thumb is that the shorter the focal length, the thinner the tube will be. Tubes can be used in conjunction with one another to create lenses with longer focal lengths. People frequently combine the 20mm and 30mm lenses together when shooting with a 200mm lens in order to get as near to the subject as feasible while keeping it as sharp as possible.

It is important to remember not to use a tube that is too long for the focal length of the lens since this will reduce the amount of depth of field significantly, resulting in a poor focus on the subject.

If you have a lens with a shorter focal length, such as a 60mm lens, you may utilize extension tubes with appropriate focal lengths, such as 8mm or 12mm, to capture macros with a shallow depth of focus for the primary subject. By employing a narrow aperture, it also creates the illusion of a landscape in the backdrop.

The fact that the focus point is directly in front of the lens when using lenses with lower focal lengths, such as a 16mm lens, is another crucial consideration. Even a tiny extension gets the subject so near to the lens that it might result in illumination issues in some situations. Also, whether the subject is an animal or an insect, they may become alarmed by your presence and the shadows cast by your lens.

Once again, the 24mm lens features a focal point that is somewhat rearward, allowing the subject to be focused while yet retaining some background detail.

Wide Angle vs. Fisheye

When purchasing a lens with an extremely short focal length, many individuals become perplexed as to the difference between fisheye and ultra-wide lenses. A possible explanation is that manufacturers create lenses with the same focal length but label one as fisheye and another as wide-angle. This is a common practice among manufacturers.

The most significant distinction between these two types of lenses is the degree to which curvature distortion is corrected with each. In order to make the ultra-wide-angle lenses appear authentic, they have been adjusted to be as rectangular as possible, allowing the straight lines of the frame to stay as straight as possible in the shot. Fisheye lenses, on the other hand, are not adjusted, resulting in straight lines seeming bent, giving the image a dramatic appearance.

I advocate using a wide-angle lens attachment rather than a fisheye lens for wide-angle macro photography while shooting at a macro distance.

Tips for Wide Angle Macro Photography

Get Close Enough

Wide-angle photographs necessitate the inclusion of significant background detail. You should thus approach the topic and, if feasible, take the photograph at ground level in order to acquire a close-up of the subject. It’s possible that you’ll have to lay on different surfaces, but you’ll notice the difference after the image is shot.

Use A Tripod

A tripod should be used whenever possible in order to get the sharpest possible image at the appropriate time of day.

Adjust the Alignment

When it comes to macro photography, the ability to adjust alignment is critical. The depth of field is quite small, and even a tiny tilt up or down may radically alter the perspective of the photograph. As a result, while photographing wide-angle close-ups, it is important to conduct a trial and error session to ensure that the camera position is correct.

Control Depth of Field Using Aperture

You must choose a tiny aperture such as f/16 or f/22 in order to achieve the most depth of field possible. On the other hand, if you want a backdrop with good bokeh, you may choose a full aperture of f/2.8 or f/4, which will give you a wide range of options.

A distinct feature of this technique is that it depicts blurred backgrounds in the form of bubbles, which many people find visually pleasing and appealing.

Conclusion

Wide-angle macro photography is quite popular because it produces images that are just breathtaking. The most astonishing thing about these wide-angle macro photos is that they individually convey a story about the background.

With the information in this article on how to utilize a wide angle lens with macro, you should be able to take stunning photographs. Learn how to make your own wide-angle macro lens with this tutorial. Please share your thoughts in the comments area.

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