How To Use A Wide Angle Lens With Macro | Must Read This

Interested in wide-angle lenses and want to know more? Well, we have figured out the main knowledge about the wide-angle lenses that you need to know if you are getting started with photography. Therefore as basics, we will discuss how to use a wide-angle lens with macro here today.

If you don’t know the difference between wide and macro lenses, we will enlighten you about that as well. Hereby, you will get every knowledge in one place for your convenience. So, buckle up, and get yourself prepared for everything that you need to know as a photographer.

What Does A Wide Angle Lens Do?

If you’re seriously into photography then you must be familiar with wide-angle lenses. But if you are a beginner and want to do better, you should know that wide-angle lenses are not similar to regular normal lenses. In simple words, a wide-angle lens leads you to a wider angle of view than the regular ones.

A wide-angle lens enables you to fit more and more inside the frame and make a perfect scenario to capture. The most exciting thing about a wide-angle lens is it offers you to do expansive jobs like landscapes and cramped interiors in a much easier and more efficient way. You will find wide-angle lenses in a variety of focal lengths. Different lengths can give you different sights.

Usually, they start from medium wide angles which offer a slightly wider angle than the regular ones. And the extreme wide angles are capable of distorting and wrapping the whole scenery in every kind of intriguing and possible way. Wide-angle lenses are an awesome way to give any shot an artistic view with dynamic edges from an extremely unimaginable photography spot.

The way wide-angle lenses do their job makes them ideal for doing the expansive landscapes and cramped interiors. The bottom line is that wide-angle lenses bring all the subjects inside the frame which wouldn’t fit with a normal lens. For example, you can bring a large building or a large field in one frame from a closer point with a wide-angle lens.

How To Use A Wide Angle Lens With Macro?

The appeal for macro photography is great because it can make the subjects look more dynamic and monumental. But as macro lenses are pretty expensive, you shouldn’t let this drag you out of macro photography because you can use a wide-angle lens to get the job done. Since wide-angle lenses have bigger fields of views thus smaller focus lengths, you can get really close to subjects.

Maybe not as close as a real macro camera but decent enough. Also since wide-angle lenses have that distortion effect around the edges, they can make your macro shots look more dynamic than actual macro camera photos. The procedure to take macro photos with your wide-angle lens is fairly straightforward. You take your camera and lens, then adjust the manual focus slider to the lowest and try to get as close to the subject as you can.

You can also get close to the subject and then try adjusting the focus. Different lenses have different focal lengths, so you can get really close to the subject or not too close. Additionally, if you cannot get too close, try using your camera’s zoom. Sure it might affect the quality a bit but it might be worth it.

If you go with zoom, adding a tripod will massively help you keep the camera stable. Try using the wider angle to your advantage by utilizing the background to add a story-telling like appeal to your photos.

Macro photography requires a lot of light to perform as expected, so if you’re planning to take photos outside, doing it while the sun is up is a good idea. In-door sessions can also be done with artificial lighting. You can buy different equipment like extension tubes for your wide-angle lens to really elevate your macro photography experience.

Read next: How to use a macro lens

How Do Wide Angle Lenses Work?

Any of the lenses with a focal length of less than 35mm is supposed to be called a wide-angle lens. The lower the focal length the wider the lens will be as in the wider field view you will get. The main job of a wide-angle lens is to bring the whole scene inside the frame from a closer photography spot.

Often you need to capture a whole building or a whole field from an extremely close spot. That’s when you can make a wide-angle lens work. A wide-angle lens will allow you to do so while normal lenses won’t. That’s how a wide-angle lens works.

However, as you know the less the focal length the wider the lens will be if you see a wide-angle lens with a focal length of less than 24mm then considers that as an ultra-wide-angle lens. That will help you to get the expansive landscapes and cramped interiors done. A wide-angle lens gives the perfect depth-of-field.

Those photos can’t be taken without a wide-angle lens since a wide-angle lens works so that the lens can bring more and more inside the frame and fit them perfectly from the closest possible photography spot. A wide-angle lens starts from the focal length of 24mm and the ultra-wide-angle lens starts from a focal length of 16mm. You can purchase one according to your requirements

What Is The Difference Between Wide Angle And Macro Lens?

Knowing the difference between a wide-angle and macro lens is super important since they end up with different photography results. So here are the differences between a wide-angle lens and a macro lens:

Wide-angle lens	Macro lens
A wide-angle lens is used to capture wider images with a larger field of view.	A macro lens can get very close to subjects to take a photo and thus capture close-up shots with high details.
It can capture more subjects in a single frame.	It can capture only one subject at a time but can pick up very small details.
Wide-angle lenses can take photos of larger and bigger subjects such as tall buildings, a group of people, a natural scene, etc.	Macro lenses are made to take close-up shots thus they can take photos of very small subjects while maintaining photo quality.
Wide-angle lenses generally have bigger sensor aperture so they require less light to perform well.	Since macro lenses are small they have smaller apertures and thus require a lot of light to take decent shots.
A decent quality sensor paired with a decent wide-angle lens can capture great nighttime photos.	Macro lenses are not ideal for nighttime photo sessions.
Wide lenses are typically bigger than normal standard lenses.	Macro lenses are pretty small compared to other lenses.
Most digital cameras can support wide-angle lenses without an issue.	Macro lenses require proprietary hardware to support them properly.
Wide-angle lenses are very popular and common these days as you can find them even on smartphones.	Decent-quality macro lenses are not that popular as most people don’t need to take macro photos.
A wide lens is very useful for day-to-day usage and an average consumer.	Macro lenses are generally preferred by professional photographers and enthusiasts.
Wide lenses can have some distortions around the edges due to the bigger field of view.	Macro lenses don’t have any distortions but they can blur out the background of the subject in focus.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you shoot a wide-angle macro?

The shooting will start with choosing the right lens. You are not bound to use any specific wide-angle macro lens. Any of the wide-angle zoom or prime will work exactly fine. The next step is to emphasize and photograph the subject and the environment, get every single thing in focus, angle your camera downwards and take photos in close quarters.

Can you use a wide-angle lens for macro?

Obviously, you can. But you don’t have to use a special wide-angle macro lens for closer photography. You can use every wide-angle zoom or prime and they will work absolutely fine with macro. Even if they come with compact digital camera equipment, they will be good to go with macro.

Is 18mm a wide-angle lens?

Every lens with a focal length of less than 35mm is considered to be a wide-angle length. So a lens with a focal length of 18mm should be called a wide-angle lens. But there’s another thing to consider, the focal length of wide-angle lenses starts with 24mm. The lens which comes with a focal length of less than 24mm is called an ultra-wide-angle lens. Apparently, 18mm is an Ultra-wide angle lens.

Is it worth buying a wide-angle lens?

If you are a landscape photographer then yes, it is obviously worth buying a wide-angle lens since wide-angle lenses give the greatest depth of field which we can’t get from a normal lens. You will get the whole landscape in sharp focus with a wide-angle lens which is priceless.

Is 18mm wide enough for landscape?

18mm is one of the most suitable wide angles for landscapes. It is an ultra-wide-angle lens that will do a great job with the landscape. Although 16mm can do better, 18mm is worth it as it can bring the whole landscape at a sharp sight as well.

Bottom Line

In our detailed overview, you now know everything about what a wide-angle lens does and how to use a wide-angle lens with macro. Hopefully, our observations have been entirely helpful to you. Even if you are a starter with photography, all these pieces of information will come in handy in every way.

With a wide-angle lens, you can get closer to any of the subjects and gladly this can happen without chopping the edges off, isn’t that exciting? So if you have an interest in wide-angle lens photography, get your gadgets prepared and start the hobby!