Beginner WIDE ANGLE MISTAKES to Avoid in Landscape Photography

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

What was your first lens?

[@OldTrader]

Canon 24-105 Zoom, was nice but heavy :)

[@jandeleeuw9568]

18-150 mm EF-M and the 22MM f/2.0 EF-M for the canon M50

[@greenmanhulk]

Tamron 70-200mm G2 for my nikon Z6

[@tylerkeene3805]

First lens was my 18-55mm that came with my camera. After that was a 70-300mm

[@luc_official]

My first lens was a pentacon 50mm 1.8 that I bought used for 30 bucks. That's what started my (still small) vintage lens collection :)

[@S133S]

I just put in practice the "get close and embrace the distortion" motto, last week when shooting with a 16-35mm lens. A game changer for me. This video just reassured me that I am on the right path of getting better while enjoying what we do.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad to hear it was helpful!

[@Centauri27]

Thanks for doing this video, Mark. I enjoy learning from your mistakes. "Scene stuffing" is something I always try to catch myself from doing when I shoot ultrawide.

[@nellielodders785]

Awesome video again! I love how you make yourself “vulnerable” by being upfront about the mistakes you made. Thank you for being yourself.

[@georgenguyen525]

Thank you so much. I just bought my 17-35 mm Nikkor lens. These tips will help me making better photo.

[@TheOnlyGuess]

The best channel ever where learning from one's mistakes is the best way to improve one's photography skills

[@LukeZalvino]

Interesting with my wide angle zooms I always find myself zooming in all the way, I'm a telephoto kinda guy

[@shriharirao8647]

You have explained in a simple way how to use wide angle lens and make landscape photography look really beautiful.

[@calicreations2029]

that flatline tip, absolutely great! thank you for your generosity and willingness on sharing these tips Mark

[@andgiio6544]

Hi, I'm thinking about compositions you are talking about, and I feel that I photographers should benefit from an external monitor as the videographers . Sometimes I feel the same @4:35, something in frame is not right, not enough in frame, something you cant se on the tiny screen of mirrorless camera.

[@MrRideandshoot]

Great video. 2 takeaways for me. Edge patrol and the sign on the wall that says Slow Down.

[@rogalaphotography]

I'm not a beginner but I made a HUGE rookie mistake yesterday evening photographing the sunset...LOw to the ground, long exposure over water & rocks...New landscape tripod with no center column...GREAT for this to the ground shots....BUT...Make sure to look carefully that your TRIPOD LEG isn't in the shot! LOL The legs on my new tripod are a bit longer than my older tripod so I'm still getting used to that. Plus I was under exposing the shot a bit to save the highlights so the shadows closer to me were a bit dark in the view screen. Luckily I saw it when I was looking at the shot while getting ready to go to the next shot. I was able to reset and take it again!

[@ourcalltoadventure]

I’m learning so much from your videos. Thanks very much Mark.

[@vedarius]

Dear Mark, thank you for this video and especially for the nice set of landscape examples! I loved them! As for the lighthouse picture, I would do exactly opposite cropping: I would cut off the left part of the frame almost up (or up) to the place where the road starts being visible after passing the trees... I mention this just to confirm that 1) wide angle shooting gives us space to fine-tune the picture even in the case it was not framed perfectly and 2) photography as an art is about personal taste of photographer and his vision and mood at the moment of shooting and processing. Many thanks for your work again!

[@bobbowring1702]

Thanks Mark, for the warnings on the wide angle lens. I have one but not used it yet so I will now do those intresting low and close to good use, next time I go out will have the wide angle Nikon 12-24mm in my bag. Great subject and good info.

[@allanjackson9370]

Another great informative video Mark. my first wide zoom was a Tamron 10-24mm. Nowadays I have started taking my tablet with me, especially when I am away for a couple of days and what I like to do is get to the area of interest as early as possible take an extreme wide angle shot or two, then send the image to the tablet over the built in wi-fi connection between tablet and camera, this way I can examine the image on the bigger screen (10.1" tablet compared to the 3" on the back of the camera) then begin to roughly break down the wide view image into smaller individual images, so when the light is better and it is time to take the actual photographs, either by zooming in with the wide-angle zoom lens or changing to a bigger lens. Although in saying that, I sometimes forget and still try to cram it all into one or two images.

[@TheJoshuaborden]

Just noticed the Sony Sport Walkman on the desk! Hahah. Love the vids. Keep it up.

[@messylaura]

i prefer the un-cropped lighthouse picture, it depicts the loneliness of the lighthouse, the Moab one was great wide too.

[@deanrumpel]

I was going to say the exact same thing about the lighthouse. It added emotion.

[@juanvenegas278]

Hi Mark, this is the kind of video that makes you pay attention to every photograph you take. Thanks a lot ! Let me ask you something, does photo stacking always requires a tripod ? Thanks. Juan

[@ErnestLloyd716]

I love your examples and listening to your thought process while making corrections. Great video!

[@omenworks]

With this video you have earned my subscription. More tips for beginners please, great content! :)

[@daveknight9381]

A great way to learn Mark, by watching your videos. Thanks for sharing.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

I’m glad you think so Dave!

[@chrisbloodoff5170]

Love the thoughtfulness put into your set design for theses videos.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Really appreciate that Chris - thank you!

[@raziel7997]

Hi Mark. It was first time when I saw your video and must say that the amount of knowledge is amazing! I have Nikkor 10-20 ultra wide lens and I love it. It gives me a freedom to show exactly what I want to show. But there are many traps using such lenses which you mentioned in this video. I need to watch your other videos. It looks like I finally found the channel which contains usefull informations with examples. looking forward for next videos. Cheers

[@FrankieGN]

Fantastic video Mark!....added the bracketing video to my list of videos to watch...TY!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much - hope you enjoy it!

[@dominicpersichetti6340]

My first (and only) lens is the Nikon DX 18-135 mm f3.5-5.6. To be perfectly honest it suits my needs well enough and I will hopefully be purchasing a fast prime lens to improve my portraits soon. Much love Mark keep up the good work.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks a million Dominic!

[@dominicpersichetti6340]

Mark Denney anytime my friend

[@allenbuyck7957]

Learning a lot from your videos and your teaching style !!! Thank you. I am also impressed with the production quality of your videos, including sound. I don't see a lapel mic, so I am curious how you are doing sound and how you light your studio. Please keep the content coming . Next stop will be 1 mil. subscribers!!!

[@RezaRadDM]

Your honesty and passionis appreciated. Thanks for sharing your expereince.

[@MSmith-Photography]

I love shooting with my Tokina 11-16mm lens and usually stick to 11mm. I get some great results, but do find that I have the same issues with trying to stuff too much in. Also, when I shoot the night sky at 11mm, it shows off the distortion on the edges and there's no easy way to fix it, so i need to crop it.

[@kenstickrod840]

Thanks again Mark...... I am heading out this weekend for some Colorado Aspen fall pics and planned on using my Tamron 15-30 and now I know how to use it .... thanks!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Enjoy your trip Ken!

[@chuckdevlin6143]

Just ordered the Tamron 10-24mm lens. First attempt at wide angle lens. Your video was excellent and has given me some food for thought on practicing with the new lens once I receive it.

[@Stewz66]

"getting low". it's really great advice.

[@R2Magnum]

HI Mark, really enjoyed the video. Do you possibly have a tutorial explaining how you get this "satiny" - soft but still crisp look in your landscape photos?

[@titouyou1]

Cristal clear. I'll keep that in mind once I'll use the 16mm I'm gonna get for Xmas. My actual lens is a 24-105mm F.4. Got a Lumix S1R. Cheers

[@timberlinegoldprospecting2358]

Thanks for great, and informative video. I am curious as to the camera attachment that you were using to create these vertical shots? It looks handier than a ball head. Thank you!

[@stevenmichael7004]

Hi Mark. Just catching up on your videos. Growing up in the mountains of NC, I thought I knew most off the waterfalls around the BRP. Please share the name of the one in your last video? Totally agree on using a polarizer filter, especially for the upcoming fall leaves and bright color contrasts with a Carolina blue sky background.

[@AmazingPhilippines1]

I will use some of this knowledge here in the Philippines.

[@alanplummer]

Very good information! Thank you very much.

[@TheKrafty0664]

Mark, can you explain a little more on negative space as well as what you mean by a flat image? Thank you.

[@OntheChemTrail]

Thank you for this video for many reasons as I am reentering the world of photography again with fervency. Another thank you for the awareness that this video's generosity and how the thumbs down is so bogus and arbitrary on so many people's channel. This video was informative, kind, honest and generous - thank you - liked and subscribed.

[@JanieP53]

I always learn something new from your videos! Thank you!

[@jackiethehiker]

Great tips/instruction. Thanks! Would you mind sharing the name/location of the fall waterfall (tall) in the video? Thank you. Jackie (Asheville)

[@patriciablyler6484]

Thank you for your tips on landscape photography. I am a newbie at photography but I do aspire to create some beautiful images as the ones in your video.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much for the kind words Patricia!

[@stevehayward1854]

I started very wide 14-24 and cropped a lot, then I progressed to a 24-70 and cropped, then to a 70-200 and cropped a little bit, now I use a 80-400mm and dont very often crop at all

[@dougdavis5808]

I just got a Canon EF S 10-22 thanks for your information from your video

[@gersonfischer9771]

great video, i really appreciate learning from your shared observations and tips every week, thanks Mark.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much!

[@maureenflexeder7897]

Great advice Mark, What wide angle lens were you using here please

[@donnapezzulli3088]

Oh my God, that last waterfall with the moss covered rocks....beautiful! I have been trying to focus stack, but get lost in photoshop! Afraid I'll mess up the original.

[@joanarling]

wiki.panotools.org/Enfuse might help. Forget photoshop. Develop your raws with rawtherapee to tiff or png (16 bit) then go from there. Beware! Enfuse is command line ;)

[@mitchhoggard7480]

Thanks Mark, another great educational video. I gain knowledge from each video and often think about methods you suggested while framing for a shot. Like spending more time to find the best composition.

[@kevin5268]

Really enjoying your videos Mark, and your teaching style. Very honest, to the point and easy to understand. I'd like to ask you how do you go about protecting the legs of your tripods when they are submerged in water (especially seawater!) If you are using RRS gear you obviously want them to last as long as possible and I know from experience that salt corrodes! Any advice would be appreciated.

[@anamushabbir4086]

Thank you very much again for yet another informative and helpful video.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad to do it friend!

[@niftytwo]

WOW... Now that's what I call a lot of ideas and great knowledge to learn and work with, Mark... Thank you very much.. Never a dull moment.. I'm studying a Photography book written by Michael Freeman... Just part of my every day learning skills venture... Thanks Mark.. Stay safe.. Neville..

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thank you Thank you Thank you Neville!

[@chicatita4753]

Your pictures are amazing!! I'm new to photography. Do I need to use a tripod to take this type photos when using a wide angle lens?

[@hurleygreen927]

THANKS FOR THIS...I find myself always zooming to 24mm on my 12-24mm zoom lens....then further cropping the image in camera or in Lightroom! :)

[@666hobart]

Mark, where'd you find the old Sony Walkman Sport? Those were the BEST back in the day!

[@josephgoodman6979]

Very helpful video. Great images as examples! Could you say a little about WHERE you focus when your priority is getting what is close and underfoot (rocks, grass, flowers, etc.) in focus? Many of your examples are composed with foreground a key feature and in sharp focus. Without necessarily checking hyperfocal distance, would you get focus from what is underfoot, aim about a third into the frame, or go all the way out to infinity? (If needed maybe assume you are at about 20mm and maybe 11-13 f ???) I know there are lots and lots of variables but would really appreciate a bit of practical in-the-field advice.

[@echoauxgen]

Love the experience share!! Wide angler since Canon 1022 and Sony 1635 is great but the Voigtlander 10mm the widest. Like you stated wide is not for "getting it all in" but rather a subject close but getting interesting background. A mistake also is the distortion at the sides say indoors with windows and doors extended widely, better to do a indoor panorama so everything looks normal. Also for panoramas using the wide angle will give a bowl look near the camera so a longer lens setting and you will get more detail sharper of those far off things. Oh! keep it level with a horizon involved, even the camera can show level but it will show. And For those night Milky Ways stars will stream inwards at the upper corners due to lens trying to keep things straight up and down but the wide stretching of doors at the sides indoors happens with the night sky, curved lenses projecting on a flat sensor problem oh and stars are faster moving left and right if shooting eastward faster SS's.

[@Just-a-Guy1]

There ideas you mentioned resonated with me. You talk about leaving your wide angle lens at 16mm and using it as a prime. I recently bought a 15mm prime, manual focus lens and I'm afraid it will make me lazy. Lock the focus on infinity and take the picture. I don't think that is good. The second thing is about not showing parts of what you ae seeing. I tell clients when I'm shooting their houses that I am really good at not shooting things. It always makes them relax. The third thing is I feel locked into landscape rather than portrait and I need to get over it.

[@chicquitab7572]

14-24mm f/2.8 mostly for astro, but, you gave me the confidence to tackle the field in daytime, thank you Mark

[@stevegrooms1142]

Confronted by a scene that can't be captured with a single exposure, some folks stitch several exposures together to form a panorama. I learned the hard way that it doesn't work to make a panorama shot with exposures from a wide angle lens. The wide lens introduces distortions that make it impossible to use them for a panorama.

[@Centauri27]

Yup. I've successfully stitched images at 35mm FF equiv, but anything wider than that and your pano program either gives up or the results are very poor. (Tip: Taking portrait orientation images work great for effective panos.)

[@rosssayer6524]

As always really well put across and very valuable tips, many thanks Mark.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thank ya Ross!

[@grahamegannon9708]

Great tips using a wide angle lens which I will put into practice, thanks Mark.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad you think so!

[@thomasdamore4653]

Mark, very timely video. I found myself doing the same and took notes and will definitely be trying your hints and tips as I head out to shoot foliage this fall both in my local area in Western New York and on a trip through the Berkshire mountains of Western Massachusetts

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Great to hear the video was helpful Thomas!

[@johndoherty6448]

Great vid, Mark. Yes I too thought "wide angle = wide area" capture only. Much more selective today.

[@denaliwildstay]

Enjoy your video. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

[@terrylstarks]

Great show, Thanks!!!!!! The color range is unbelievable. I’d sure love to go out and take the same images with my Canon and see the contrast. I’m very impressed with your new camera!!!!!!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much Terry! I am as well!

[@JerryMarshall]

Learning a lot from you Mark. Wonderful videos and extremely helpful insights on a number of topics!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Music to my ears - thank you Jerry!

[@Mixer000999]

So true! I recently purchased a wide-angle lens 10-20 (15-30 in 35mm equivalent) and found that most of my first pictures were taken at 10mm... Thank you Mark, great video!

[@JoshBrahmERI]

Great tips! I did a shoot at that same waterfall recently and getting up close and personal with a big rock to make a more interesting foreground gave me a more interesting result than just capturing the falls itself. (Although it’s one of the prettiest waterfalls I’ve ever seen!) I wouldn’t have known to do that if it weren’t for photographers like you sharing so many insights on KZbin!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks Josh - really appreciate that man!

[@emagine45]

at 7:06 point where was that picture taken? (waterfall)

[@Larodden1975]

Nice video, relaxed and to the point. Also good point with the composition and trying to put too much in the picture, less is more...never thought about it

[@chirantha]

Thanks for sharing this Mark! Great video!

[@jwp2166]

Quite helpful advice. Well done. Thanks.

[@damienrobertson349]

Great video Mark! Your point about the ‘prime effect’ hit me like a truck. I had a look through my wide images and sure enough I shoot pegged at widest focal length and often crop (sometimes heavily) in post - oof.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks Damien! It was a real eye opener for me as well!

[@Tbak2000]

haven't watched your videos in awhile, but when did you switch to fujifilm and why? great vid!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much! I fully switched a couple of months ago, but have been using Fuji for video for over a year

[@catchlite5196]

You can find an interesting video about his decision on this channel.

[@shanesmithphotography]

Yet again another awesome video Mark 👌🏻 I'm planning on getting out to one of our beautiful beaches here in Sydney Australia 🇦🇺this weekend and put to practise getting down lower and focus stacking. Fantastic tips once again mate, much appreciated 👍

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Awesome to hear Shane - enjoy those beautiful beaches!

[@Sidecontrol1234]

Before I moved to fuji I loved using the Tokina 11-20mm lens, love it and definitely miss it still today. Fuji 10-24mm is definitely on the wish list!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

The 10-24 is great!

[@SandyHansenPhotography]

After you do a few focus stack images, how do you remember where you focused on each image?

[@BraedenRoesler]

Most times you can just zoom in and see what's in focus most. You can also look at exif data to see the focus distance or download plug-ins for Lightroom/etc that shows you the focus point you used for that photo. Regardless, you just take the 2 or 3 pics you shot at different focus areas and align and blend them together in a photoshop file and it figured out what's in focus for you.

[@unodwicho]

First lens was a pana 25mm F1.7 but I quickly jumped on eBay to get a Helios 44m-4, love that vintage glass.

[@vithalmandrekar6101]

Well explained how to get best out of wide angle lens while landscape photography.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@sassytbc7923]

For waterfalls, I like to use a vertical approach. Then you can get a lot more of the details

[@sherwinoira]

You mentioned focus stacking, how about Hyper focusing? which is the best? maybe a short video comparison for the two types..😊

[@SitiodoCanoAmareloPorto]

Loved it. Going to check your focus stack video but why wouldn't you simply close the lens to f16 and try to get everything in focus ?

[@SteveP_2426]

depending on the scene F16 won't always guarantee you get everything in focus and most lenses are sharpest in the f/8 to f/11 range (full frame) hence there comes a point where it's better to focus stack than use a narrow aperture a you get sharper images overall from front to back.

[@Tajhad]

Thanks Mark. An informative and thought providing video, as usual. My first lens was a pentax 50 m lens followed by a Pentax 85 m (God - I loved that lens). On film of course.

[@nancyk9475]

Very informative, thank you! I haven’t liked the images from my 16-35mm and I think I’ve been making these mistakes. Going to use it more now and probably will be happier with the results 👍🏻

[@brianeliel5756]

Mark, I just invested in a nice Carbon Fiber Tripod. At 12:30 into the video I see you spreading the legs into the water. What do you do afterwards to keep your tripod well maintained?

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

If I’m near salt water I usually will rinse the tripod off real good and take apart the legs and clean out the twist locks as well

[@davidligon6088]

Was that golden gat bridge photo focus stacked? Seems like it would have to be.

[@johnaufiero7950]

Very helpful, Thanks. Question, If one isn't proficient enough to consider focus stacking, where is the best place to focus in your example for an acceptable image with a wide angle lens of common size. Thanks again

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

It really depends on a few variables but a very general rule of thumb is a third of the way into your scene, but it really depends on your subjetcs distance from lens and the aperture you're using.

[@johnaufiero7950]

@@MarkDenneyPhoto Thanks Mark, had a feeling that was the spot. Can't wait until I'm more advanced but one step at a time for newbies to digital photography.

[@GenericaQwerty]

As someone who only bought their first DSLR in July, your videos are the highlight of my week 😊 For wide angle I'm using a Canon 10-18mm on a crop sensor (800D/T7i) which I think makes it equivalent to a 16mm? Not quite sure how that works yet. I am definitely struggling to remember on the spot how to add depth to my shots and am ending up with some flat stuff. This was so useful, thank you!

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Happy to hear it was helpful. Yep 10mm on a crop sensor is similar to 16mm on full frame.

[@SteveP_2426]

I had that lens on my Canon 80D up until a month ago when I moved up to an EOS R. Multiply any lens by 1.6 for a Canon so 10-18mm is equivalent to 16-28.8mm Full frame equivalent which is a bit like a 16-35mm traditional wide angle lens. I found the 10-18mm to be a great 'bang for the buck' lens. Not great in low light but use a tripod on a non-windy day and works fine. I used it in Antelope Canyon last year on my USA trip and when shooting Mesa Arch. Use the distortion effect at the edges to enhance the size of mountains or puddles etc like Mark mentioned. I am noticing it more now on my Full frame camera.

[@GenericaQwerty]

@@SteveP_2426 oh that's handy, thank you! 😊

[@bradnovlesky8764]

Love that pic at corona arch…miss that place

[@susanfirth2279]

Good video Mark. I have a 10-24 and find that I usually can't go as wide as 10mm .

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Many thanks Susan!

[@JohnHPettigrewFujishooter67]

Thanks Mark, good advice, just bought the Samyang 14mm for my Fuji. Thanks for sharing

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Glad to do it and thanks for checking it out John!

[@BernhardSchwarz-xs8kp]

It takes a master in whatever - who can assess his own talents or a certain lack thereof - honestly and correctly.

[@rushingrushing3207]

Do you use filters to change the color of your sky or do you do it in post?

[@georgegootee8213]

What is the name of the bracket you used to flip your camera from horizontal to vertical on the tripod? That looks so much faster and easier than manipulating your tripod to the format you want.

[@janepalmer1372]

How do you deal with the issue when you get down and close and the foreground subject appears large, but then the distant mountain/waterfall looks really small!! Do you ever do focal length blending?

[@davidclode3601]

Great video. Thanks Mark!

[@maureenflexeder7897]

HI Mark, I am looking to buy a wide angle lens for my Nikon D 5600 crop lens F mount, I want to upgrade the quality from a kit lens, would you have any sugestions please,Ilove your videos which I find easy to understand and so ,very helpful. Regards Maureen

[@coltoncyr2283]

Some great images! That's interesting I enjoyed the flattened waterfall a lot, my eyes stay in the water. When getting low and close, all I wanted to do was stare at the grass or cactus, not a big fan but photography is subjective art.

[@GONZOFAM7]

Good stuff. In Dubai, going to give these tips a run through today. Fujifilm X-T1 XF14mm f2.8

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thanks Jamie!