Lessons Learned: Wide Angle Framing

Ever take a picture of an absolutely breathtaking panorama...and then wonder what went wrong when you viewed the results later and saw nothing but a flat horizon line splitting the frame with blank sky above and a dark rectangle of tiny details filling the lower part?

Part of the problem, of course, is that our two eyes see in 3D - giving us the ability of depth perception - while our one-eyed cameras see only flat, two-dimensional images. So, the feeling of space, scale and grandeur is automatically lost when the scene is reproduced in 2D.

How can we express that depth in our photographic images? By including elements that define it. Specfically, foreground details.

In this instance, I was first attracted to the trees reflected in the water on the opposite shore. By using my wide-angle (20mm) lens, however, and including the extended branch of the nearby red maple tree, I was able to recreate the natural beauty of both shores, and also give a feeling of depth and dimension to form a much stronger composition.