Tag:norway
Wide angle lenses can make for powerful images, with a field of view significantly wider than a regular lens or even the human eye. If you have had your camera a while, you have probably considered buying one. But do you really need one? How do they work, and when do you use them? Or maybe you already have one but aren’t happy with your shots?
What is a wide angle lens?
The commonly accepted norm is any lens wider than the human field of vision is a wide-angle. Lenses in the 24mm – 16mm range are considered a wide-angle lens, and less than 16mm is deemed to be ultra-wide. Fisheye lenses are those less than 8mm. The most popular range is 16-35mm.
So What’s a “normal” lens?
A standard lens is one that, on a full-frame camera, has a focal length of 35mm or more. This is multiplied by 1.6 for canon and 1.5 for Nikon on a crop sensor. This makes the “normal” lens for a crop sensor 24mm, as this equates to 36mm on a full-frame camera.
When to use a wide angle
Wide angle lenses are used for capturing as much of the scene in front of you as possible. Therefore, they are convenient for interiors in real estate photography. Landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes and architecture are the other main categories that shine. However, as they include so much, you need to be especially mindful of not having distractions or negative space in your image.
How to use a wide angle
The most common mistake people make when using wide angles lenses for landscapes is to use them for every big vista or a standard lens. i.e. straight horizontal or vertical. This, however, creates a scene with the horizon across the centre. However, if you angle the lens down, the horizon becomes the top third of the image, and the foreground becomes the star.
It becomes more important to find a foreground subject because your background being pushed further to the back. Otherwise, everything in the frame will be too small to be of interest. So get as close or low as you can to your foreground and have a definite subject, preferably in the midground (to avoid distortion) in the image. My subject was the lake with autumn trees leading the eye in the picture below. I was on a sloping hill and couldn’t get closer to them than about 8ft – but the ‘trees’ in the lower edge of the frame were really only low shrubs though they look like small trees.
Not for every landscape shot
Bear in mind; the wide-angle lens won’t be the right lens for every big vista. A wide-angle will make everything in the scene look further away. Unless you are shooting close to the ground, in which case the foreground becomes much more significant. While you will fit everything in, you need to be mindful that the background will appear further away and smaller. So if you are going for dramatic tall mountains, then the wide-angle may not be the right lens for the shot. However, if you have an interesting foreground leading to an interesting distant element, the image retains its impact.
drawbacks of wide angle
The two drawbacks of a wide-angle are barrel distortion and lens flare. All wide angles distort the image, especially at the edges of an image, the cheaper ones more than others. You have to be especially mindful of what is in the edges of your images. Anything at the edges will bend inwards and require straightening in your editing. It follows then that you should never have a person on the outer edges of your image. You can minimise distortion by moving further back and zooming in slightly or later in post-processing.
Lens flare – you may like it in images – sometimes it helps, sometimes not. Apart from trying to remove in PS or the like – you can get around this by adjusting your angle, using a lens hood or (my favourite method) blocking it with your hand.
They do take some getting used to, if you have never used a wide-angle before. Like a macro, they aren’t a lens you can just put on and shoot with, which was the mistake I made when I got my first one. I’m not a read the manual kinda girl. You need to understand HOW they work to use them to their best advantage.
Practice makes perfect
When I first bought one, I went out all excited, got some shots, downloaded them at home and was disappointed. The images were uninteresting and had distortion. It then didn’t leave the bag much as I regretted buying it. Shortly before a big overseas trip, I changed camera systems and bought a wide-angle as well as a zoom and walkaround. I knew I wanted to get interiors of churches and views from the Eiffel tower, so a wide-angle was going to be needed. Lots of youtube and practice before I left gave me a basic understanding; though I still made mistakes, these were ones I could correct in post. Having said that, it’s not a huge learning curve – and once you have nutted it out, you will be able to capture more interesting and powerful images.
After having only grey skies, alternating showers, and heavy rain for four days, we woke to blue skies and sunshine. On the day we were flying out of Tromso to London. How true to form.
Tromso Airport
Our flight was leaving around 1 pm. So, we organised a big cab to take all five of us plus luggage and headed to the airport. Arriving at the departure door, we were greeted by the view of the mountains around the airport, snow-capped peaks, fluffy clouds, and blue skies. Everyone grabbed their cameras and started firing off shots.
Happy at finally getting some pics that didn’t involve rain, we entered the terminal, checked our bags through to London, went through security, grabbed some lunch, and chilled till the first leg of our flight. Tromso to Oslo is just on 2 hrs. Then we had a two-hour stopover in Oslo before we were back in the air and heading for London. Followed by another two-hour flight. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset as we approached London and landed in the city’s twinkling lights.
London
I would have to say that Heathrow is the worst airport we dealt with on this trip. It took about 90 mins to get to the top of the queue to get our passports stamped at immigration control – a couple of big planes landed, and only two windows open processing people! We had hotel transfers booked, and the poor man was waiting for us forever. It was great to step out of immigration and be met by a driver who took our bags and took care of us.
For the next four nights, our’ home’ was the Glenlyn Hotel in Finchley, about 30 mins out of London by underground – but nice. Comfy, clean rooms with a lovely buffet breakfast included. The only drawback, and shock as we didn’t know till we arrived) was there was NO lift! Getting our large suitcases up two flights of narrow, steep, twisting stairs nearly killed us all the first night.
Visiting Norway in autumn, with plans to travel to the UK, France and Germany, brought excitement. And significant clothing planning and packing dilemma are due to the different climates we would be visiting.
Tromsø, a city in northern Norway, is a central cultural hub above the Arctic Circle. It’s famed as a viewing point for colourful Northern Lights, and average reported temps were between 5C to -1C, so we planned for that. Unfortunately, the actual temps when we were there were around 8C to 4C. This meant our clothing planning and packing for polar conditions was total overkill.
Fails
We took so many packets of hand and toe warmers and didn’t use ONE pack. It just wasn’t cold enough. Also unnecessary were the Heat Holder socks. They may be suitable for winter, but in autumn were too hot. And they are too thick; it’s hard to get shoes on over them.
Clothing – Passes
- Macpac Nemesis Tactical Pants – these are my go-to pants for all travelling through cooler climates. Super comfy, soft-shell pants protect from the weather, are breathable, and have articulated knees and invisible side zips. They can be worn for days, and if they get a bit dirty, you wipe them over with a damp cloth, and they’re clean again. AWESOME for travelling.
- Base layers – thermal tops and pants. Again Macpac, I took the 220g and 165g women’s Tops and Long Johns. Super soft and not bulky, I wore the 220g in Norway and the 165g across Europe. They are anti-microbial and anti-bacterial and can be worn for 3-4 days without smelling.
- Windcheaters – I bought the Macpac Tui Fleece jackets.. they were warm, lightweight, washed and dried quickly and compressed well for packing.
- Macpac Down Vest – worn over the base layer and polar fleece top, it’s thin enough to go under a down coat. It has invisible zippered pockets again and two large internal pockets that are great for holding phone, room keys, purse etc. All safely on the inside of your clothing between layers.
- Macpac Hooded Down Coat – The Aurora Women’s Coat is a long line, light (so easy to pack), has a detachable hood, and is filled with 600 loft duck down, giving maximum protection from the cold. In addition, it has concealed zips on the hand warmer pockets, a high collar that keeps your neck warm when the coat is zipped up, and one internal zippered pocket for phones.
All my clothing came from Macpac, an NZ company, as you can see from above. They have stores in Melbourne, but I bought everything online, and it all arrived within a week. The service and quality of clothing are excellent. The sizing is pretty spot on – but the coats are a little on the small side. For coats, buy a size or two UP from your regular size because of the layers you’ll have on underneath. I have no affiliation with them apart from being a happy customer.
Shoes
For Norway, we needed waterproof shoes and considering we were going northern lights chasing at night when temps were expected to be -1C, I bought Columbia Omni Heat Heavenly snow boots. They were comfy enough to wear all day and warm with a pair of woollen socks underneath. I had purchased a size larger than I needed to allow for thick socks but still couldn’t get the super thick heat holders under them, but they weren’t required. So feet were toasty with just the woollen socks.
Hats and Gloves
I packed a couple of woollen hats lined with polar fleece to keep the head warm. Similar to the Thinsulate, but not that brand. One had ear flaps to keep the ears warm. The others were just beanies. Outside, the hats never came off. Ears were frozen if you didn’t wear them. Gloves – I took the Aquatech Sensory Gloves. They kept the hands warm – but I still found it tricky to change camera settings with them on. It was hard to poke the fingers out, so I took them off, changed settings, and put them back on.
If you go in winter, I recommend the hot hands. The guides told us that Tromso often has temperatures between -10 and -20 in winter!
About 12 months ago, a group of us (all amateur photographers) signed on to do a 3-week trip covering Tromso, London, and Paris. The price looked excellent – too good to pass up. Add the lure of northern lights chasing, and we were all keen. But the initial cost proved to be only the beginning. I found there are many hidden costs of planning holidays.
While the price was undeniably great, there were hidden costs. Costs that I didn’t consider as a first-time long-haul overseas trip at the time before I said yes. Things you don’t think to factor in with the glow of excitement over an overseas trip to far-flung places. And no, I don’t mean travel insurance and spending money, which I had budgeted in.
No Regrets (do it all)
Considering the vast distances we are travelling to get there, (35 hrs travelling time Australia to Tromso with three plane changes). Add in the likelihood that, most likely, we are never going back due to distance and cost. Therefore, we all wanted to get shots worthy of bringing home. The last words I wanted on my lips at the end of the trip was “I wish”. I wish I had bought a wide-angle lens. I wish I had the new filters I have been looking at. I wish I had a better/bigger/smaller bag; I wish I had better clothing for the cold; I wish I could have afforded to take that extra tour. I wish, I wish, I wish. You see where I am going.
Gear
As it’s a photographic trip, we have upgraded our camera gear. Three of us have new cameras (two wholly changed over from Canon to Olympus. And yes, add all the new lenses that go with that. All of us bought extra batteries to cope with the cold. Some have new filters, others new camera bags, additional memory cards, lighter carbon fibre tripods, new smaller lighter laptops and externals to back up the images, and bigger camera bags to fit in snacks, water, and wet weather gear. The shopping went on and on and on and on.
Clothing
Also burning through the credit cards and savings was clothing. It’s forecast to be between 1C – 5C in Tromso. So thermal underwear, snow boots, waterproof hikers and photography gloves were on the shopping list. We also bought photographers gloves, designed to keep the hands warm but engineered work the cameras were purchased.
Add down coats, thermal hats, snow socks, and windproof, waterproof pants. London and Paris will be a little warmer. We had two nights booked out northern lights chasing. Plus day trips out on arctic wildlife spotting and night trips elsewhere, the arctic gear was the first thing we ordered
Hot Hands and Toes
Hot Hands (little heat-activated pouches that give off heat for 8-10 hours) have been purchased and stockpiled over the winter months to take with us. Sorry if you went to chemist’s warehouse and there was none left. But we needed them? One hot hand in each pocket to keep batteries warm (they go flat quicker in the cold), plus one in each glove. Buy packing cubes to find things when I need them instead of going through my suitcase like police with a search warrant. Add a couple of small laundry bags and cubes!
Electronics
Travelling overseas, everyone realises you need special power adapters. Travelling to Europe and the UK, we need one for each country. Add a powerboard to simultaneously charge camera batteries, watches, iPhones, iPods, and laptops. A power bank for charging phones on the go and recharging batteries quickly after being out shooting all day before going out again most of the night. Add a double camera battery charger.
Tours
Since we had some free days and followed on from the ‘no regrets’ mantra, we also planned to see and do as much as humanly possible while there. Cram as much in, see as much as we can, photograph everything, sleep when we get home. So, we needed to fill our ‘free days’ with tours, right?
In Tromso, add an arctic wildlife experience and add another night of northern light chasing to maximise our time. Add tours in London to Cornwall, white cliffs of Dover, Cotswolds, Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, Tower of London, Alice in Wonderland High Tea. in Paris, add a skip the line Eiffel tower to the summit and Mont St Michel. Stay an extra few days, travel to Germany, and take the train rather than fly. It’s all about the experience, right?
Add tours to the Castles and another to Salzburg, Austria. Oh, excellent, look, another $2k gone. Tetanus shot (doctor’s orders). Oyster cards, global sim, convert Aussie dollars to cash in three currencies, so we have some folding stuff on landing. Letter from the doctor for medications. New packets of said medications have to stay in their boxes and not be in pillboxes.
Forgotten Anything?
Ummmm, I don’t think I have, but despite that, we have more gear, backups, and planning than Roald Amundsen or Scott of the Antarctic. Despite covering every eventuality I can think of, I am confident when I get on the plane. I will remember something I should have bought or packed!