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Mastering Wide Angle Lenses • Landscape Photography
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BY SPENCER COX | 33 COMMENTS
LAST UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 • Portraiture
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The first lens a lot of landscape photographers want to buy is a wide-angle.
Intuitively, it makes some sense that the most useful lens at an amazing scene is

VISUALIZE
the one that captures as much of the scene as possible. But that mindset only
works so well in practice. So, for this week’s video, I traveled to Grand Staircase-
Escalante National Monument in Utah to photograph some amazing slot canyons
and talk about how to use your wide angle lens.

First up, especially if you’re interested in slot canyon landscape photography, I

think you’ll find a lot of interesting scenery in this video (and of course it’s also
great for wide angle lens tips):

How to Use Wide Angle Lenses - Beginner Explained

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Also, on Youtube below the video, we’ve got a discussion on which wide angle
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same topics. I’ve refreshed it to be up to date today: How to Use Wide Angle
Lenses.

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About Spencer Cox

I'm Spencer Cox, a landscape photographer based in Colorado. I
started writing for Photography Life a decade ago, and now I run
the website in collaboration with Nasim. I've used nearly every digital camera
system under the sun, but for my personal work, I love the slow-paced
nature of large format film. You can see more at my personal website and my
not-exactly-active Instagram page.

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33 COMMENTS Newest

Christopher J Dubea
May 26, 2019 5:42 am

Spenser,
Firstly let me say that I’ve recently found this website and in particular find your input
extremely insightful. The rest of the authors are very good but your words and ideas
resonate with me.

Typically I don’t do YouTube videos. Several other photography sites used them extensively,
and I feel they are a crutch to overcome less than stellar writing abilities.

In reading the comments to your video, I was encouraged to view it and I’m extremely glad I
did. It’s wonderfully done and extremely informative.

Thank you for sharing you talents and skills with us. You are making all of us better photos!

1 Reply

Spencer Cox Author

Reply to Christopher J Dubea May 26, 2019 4:02 pm

Thank you for the kind feedback, Christopher!

I admit, I’m also not much of a Youtube video watcher. I tend to prefer articles instead.
So, I’m trying to make the videos useful for people who are the same way. Happy to hear
you thought this one meets that goal.

0 Reply

Chris
Reply to Spencer Cox May 26, 2019 4:53 pm

Sorry for the typos in my reply. Cheers!

0 Reply

GW DePauw
Reply to Christopher J Dubea December 13, 2021 6:32 pm

I could not agree more. I’ve tried to watch other photographers and photography
channels and I always come back to PL, and Spencer in particular. They’re so concise
and easy to comprehend. I’ve watched Spencers video so much that I can actually read
his articles, and in my head, hear his tone and cadence. He is truly a gifted individual in
photography and instructing.

0 Reply

Martin
May 25, 2019 5:09 am

Spencer, yet another very well produced and informative video. What I do appreciate is your
very good spoken voice and the relaxed way in which you deliver the talk, without tripping
over!It was great to see the slot Canyons and read the comments about various locations. I
am planning a visit from the UK and have added them to my trip notes. Best wishes

Martin

0 Reply

Gary
May 24, 2019 3:28 am

Outstanding work Spencer (as always! :))

Thank you for the detailed and informative tuition
Regards,
Gary

0 Reply

Philip Bush
May 22, 2019 9:06 pm

Spencer
Very helpful and concise video. You clearly covered a lot of ground in u minutes. Are you
going to post a photo and description in “photo spots”? Which slot canyon did you shoot? Is
there a “better” time of year to shoot GSE slot canyons?

0 Reply

Spencer Cox Author

Reply to Philip Bush May 26, 2019 4:05 pm

Thank you, Philip. In terms of the time of year, so long as the temperature isn’t too
extreme, it is not really a factor for photography. But time of day can make a difference.
It’s hard to avoid bright spots of sun on the canyon walls, so either morning or evening
will be preferable. Or, visit on a bright day with thin clouds. Just be careful of visiting on
an overcast day, since it may mean rain in the surrounding (100+ mile) area, and water
can flow in strange patterns there. This is just about the worst place to be during a flash
flood.

As to specific canyons, Rustin named them in his comment earlier. On some trails you
can do multiple canyons in a single hike, so if you’re there for a shorter number of days,
that’s where you may want to focus.

0 Reply

Sandro
May 22, 2019 12:16 pm

Great article, great movie, great pictures, great explanations and last – but not least – great
motivation to pick up the camera and buy a ticket for Utah … ;-)

Thank you for the excellent series of tutorial Spencer!

Sandro

0 Reply

Michael Croudson
May 21, 2019 11:38 am

Your mastery of the subject is a given. Your mastery of the language is a big bonus. Not an
“er” or “duh” in the whole presentation. This not only makes it a pleasure to listen to it helps
grasp the points you make. Your wide angle presentation is particularly good. Clear and
concise

As I use a DX camera and with most landscapes a Nikkor 12-24mm f4 equivalent to a full
frame 18-36mm, and a very good semi-pro lens, I wonder if I am missing out not having
something wider.

Michael Croudson

0 Reply

Klaus Schleicher
May 21, 2019 5:39 am

Thanks for this very useful video. With my Nikon F System I had the 16-35/4 but I haven’t
used it often below 20mm because the corners got so soft. Now with my 14-30/4 I want to
dive into the world of wide angel landscapes. Your video will help me very much. Again thank
you, Spencer!

0 Reply

Mr.T
May 21, 2019 4:36 am

Of my four lenses I have in my bag (all prime), the one that is attached to the body (FF) 99,9
% of the time, is a 28 mm. I do also have a 15 mm, but I kind of like the angel that the 28 mm
produces. My main interest is landscape photography, but also in some aspect, travel
photography. However, I think that the 28 mm is a superb lens for all-round shooting and you
can have a lot of fun with it, not at least if you play around with the perspective.

The 15 mm is in some contexts just to wide, but I also use it sometimes. However, I have to
be honest with the fact that I´d never tried a 24 nor a 35 mm lens, even if i think that a 35
mm it’s to close to a 50 mm (that I already have in my bag), but I could consider a 24 mm.

0 Reply

Mazen
May 21, 2019 2:51 am

This is a very practical and concise video! Well done! I’m heading to Utah for a tour of several
parks/monuments in mid-October for some interesting fall color as well. I wasn’t aware there
are slot canyons in the Escalante so it was even greater to get this piece of valuable info as I
plan. I’m checking online and it seems I can find some locations, but I would be grateful for
any pointers.

I was wondering if you or any of PL readers knows what the situation in Yellowstone will be in
terms of fall color between October 11 and 25 as I’m considering to spend 2 full days there
as well.

Keep up the great content ! Thx

0 Reply

Rustin Cohle
Reply to Mazen May 21, 2019 11:49 am

I can’t comment on Yellowstone but for slot canyons in GSE you should focus on Hole in
the Rock Road just outside of the town of Escalante (Zebra, Tunnel, Spooky, Neon,
Peekaboo and others) and then south of Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Around the southern edge of the park at the Utah- Arizona border is another batch of
slots. Note that some of these are on First Nation lands and require permits or guides,
including the very famous Antelope Canyon.

Don’t expect to easily get between these two areas just because they don’t look too far
in the map!

A final thought: Somewhat hidden, the eastern side of Zion NP, east of the Zion-Mt
Carmel tunnel, has a number of mostly namely slots right off of the road (Hwy 9).

0 Reply

Mazen
Reply to Rustin Cohle May 21, 2019 4:15 pm

Thanks a lot Rustin for the reply. I have no doubt of the time it takes. I usually look
things up in google maps and then add 30 mins or even 1 hour depending on how
winding the roads are for each 2 hrs of pure driving. Plus as u probably know, one
ends up finding worthy subjects along the way, and u just HAVE to make that stop
and the next and yet the next (in the meantime, wife is going haywire in the car)…

Cheers and thanks again !

0 Reply

Spencer Cox Author

Reply to Mazen May 21, 2019 1:37 pm

Mazen, Rustin’s comment covers everything I was going to say and more! All of the
photos in this article/video were taken at slot canyons off Hole in the Rock Road. Not the
smoothest or shortest of drives, but worth it.

As for fall color – it varies by year of course, but you’ll be closer to arriving late than
arriving early if your range is somewhere from the 11th to 25th. There will still be some
pockets of color, but a lot of brown too, especially near the end of that date range.

0 Reply

Mazen
Reply to Spencer Cox May 21, 2019 4:44 pm

Thanks Spencer. I’d like to get some forest/mountainscape time given the
relatively long period of red/desert-like rock landscapes we will encounter. I will
not get bored myself of the latter type of landscape (I can probably spend a
lifetime there!) but my wife just might as she is not used to this and is not a
photographer, so I thought Yellowstone provides variety since I will probably fly
in/out through Salt Lake City.It’s less useful if it ends up being brown, although
Yellowstone has the allure of its geysers and odd vibrant colors regardless.

Really appreciated your feedback. Thanks!

0 Reply

Thomas
May 20, 2019 11:32 pm

Very good and helpful. Thank you!

0 Reply

Spencer Cox Author

Reply to Thomas May 21, 2019 1:33 pm

Sure thing, Thomas!

0 Reply

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