The Art of Photography - Exercise: Focal Length and Angle of view

The idea of the exercise is to photograph the same scene or subject at 3 focal lengths, wide, normal and telephoto.

The subject is Chesil Beach on the South Dorset Coast.

20mm - Wide Angle of View. The composition encapsulates a large part of the scene in front of the camera. I prefer wider angle shots like this that convey the vast space we experience for real when in such locations. If we view this as a print from the same spot, we need to hold the print very close to the naked eye, too close in fact.



50mm This is the standard or normal field of view, closest to that of our own eye. The picture is OK but doesn't give us as much, a little like seeing with one eye closed. The composition does not give the viewer the sense of space or does it help to identify the location as well as a wide view.



200mm Now we are at Telephoto, we are zoomed in to the core of the original image. We lose the sense of large space, but here we gain knowledge of what was in the distance. Here if we note the small area that we can see of the building. We note that the depth of field is apparent as it is indeed emphasized with longer lenses.